I have never read Wicked by Gregory Maguire, nor seen the musical, but some of the songs from the latter have been in my playlist for several years. When the movie adaptation was released in theaters, I really wanted to go see it, but for several reasons it just never happened. So, instead I grabbed a few of the non-perishable food items that were Wicked-themed and tucked them away with hopes of having a fun movie night with my family once it was released to stream. Then life continued chugging forward at an alarming rate, and it continued to not happen.
My kids really wanted to see Sonic 3 in the theater, especially my daughter, because they had been able to see the first two Sonic movies in theaters. Again, with how life has been going, we never got to take them. So, when it was finally available to stream in April, my daughter asked if she could cash in one of the coupons she got from me and Raymond for Valentine’s Day. This one was for a themed movie night.
For dinner I made chili cheese dogs, a side of onion rings or Funyuns, along with a blue drink of choice for each of us. Each of us got a Sonic character PEZ dispenser. There were also powdered donuts for dessert. I served our main course in diner-style baskets with checkered parchment paper (which I already had) to add to the fun aesthetic. As if that wasn’t enough food, the kids also made little snack trays, and popcorn, to go with the movie itself.
As to the movie itself…No one hated it as much as my husband did, but it didn’t get rave reviews from any of us. Of the three Sonic movies, none of which are particularly amazing, it was particularly bad. Still, it was a fun diversion and we were still entertained. Will we watch the next one? …Yeah.
Since this themed movie night was for my daughter and not the one I had initially planned, I didn’t write about it in April. As I reviewed my Forty Before Forty list on my birthday, though, I realized it could still check off the box. It was fun, it was a movie night, and it was themed, even if it was not what I had originally had in mind. However, to make it even more official, we did also get around to watching Wicked last night. Finally!
It wasn’t the big themed movie night I had dreamt up once upon a time, but I did still dig out the Wicked cake pop kit I had purchased long ago. Thankfully, its expiration date was next month, so we made this happen in the knick of time! You didn’t know whether you would end up with green or pink pops until you started making them. Ours were green.
They were pretty easy to make, though, the white chocolate wafers took a lot longer to melt than the box suggested they would. Plus, they tasted like pure frosting. I’m not a big fan of frosting so that wasn’t a selling point. My kids concurred they were way too sweet, which is saying something because my son poured a Baha Blast in his empty tea cup for the tea party portion of our dinner, rather than have tea. In the picture I took, it unintentionally looked on-theme for the movie. (Not pictured, the fizzing, bubbling sound it was making.)
My husband and I really enjoyed Wicked, as did our daughter. Our son, who was only half-watching, said, “It was weird.” Can’t win ‘em all, all the time!
I saved the green or pink, mystery mac ‘n’ cheese for today. I had two, one for each kid, but only my son was brave enough to try his. My daughter had been put off by what she dubbed “Peptol Bismal mac ‘n’ cheese” when a YouTuber made her kids pink macaroni & cheese in one of her videos, so the 50/50 chance of green or pink mac ‘n’ cheese was already unappealing. My son’s ended up being pink. Now, microwaveable mac ‘n’ cheese was a life-saver in college (thanks for sharing your stash, Bridget), but I find it wholly unappealing now. Watery cheese and gummy noodles? No thanks. So, the fact that it was not the stove-stop version was probably not doing it any favors. However, the Kraft version is acceptable to my kids, in a pinch. It was also Great Value brand, and I can’t speak for their microwavable option, but their box mac ‘n’ cheese is not so great. The novelty was enough to sell it, and my kiddo did eat it all, because, “I didn’t want to waste it.” So, it served its purpose!
~This was before it had sat and thickened, but you tell me…Does this look delicious or not?~
Themed movie nights are not an uncommon occurrence around here. Whether it’s an entire meal or just a dessert, with or without decorations, I look forward to creating more special evenings like these with my family. My kids are growing up way, way too quickly, so I am going to soak it up while I can. If that means watching movies that sometimes make my brain hurt, and serving junk food, then I’m ready!
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