As a family of five, going out to dinner and to a movie can become quite costly. As an alternative to this, when my children were young, I began planning monthly Disney-themed movie nights. When we first began, we would beg, borrow or rent the movies we used each month. This became tricky when there were older or hard to find selections I wanted to feature for movie nights. This is when we chose to join the Disney Movie Club. Not only are we able to purchase some of those rare jewels, but we also earn points for cool rewards, like the Disney Edition Pictopia game featured in my Disney Family Game Nights article.
Our movie nights have become one of the highlights of our month year after year; we have been doing these for SIX years! Many of our movie nights are inspired by holidays or seasons of the year. As summer approaches we think of picnics, camp outs, and circuses…

Dumbo Movie Night-Photo Credit Connie Sink
For this movie night we had two families join us, one came from out of town for our Dumbo Movie Night! We had so much fun with the decorations for this one! As I stated in my Hercules Movie Night article, we try to keep these movie nights easy on the wallet. This leaves more money to fund our vacations to Walt Disney World.
For Dumbo, our dining room was transformed into a Big Top with only the cost of a few disposable tablecloths and a bit of card stock.

Dumbo Movie Night-Photo Credit Connie Sink

Dumbo Movie Night-Photo Credit Connie Sink
Our menu was all about the sticky, greasy, gooey, and not-so-good-for-you food you find at the circus!

Dumbo Movie Night-Photo Credit Connie Sink

Dumbo Movie Night-Photo Credit Connie Sink
Everyday DIStracted Tip: When decorating, if you are short on ideas for the table – simply create buffet cards, staying with the theme of the night. These can be printed on card stock and effectively give your table a very festive look!
Ony a week before we hosted our Dumbo movie night, I discovered that I have a gluten allergy. I was very pleased to find THIS recipe on the Betty Crocker web site for gluten free corndogs. All of our guests ate them, and everyone agreed that they were quite yummy!
DIStracted Tip: Just because you or your children have food allergies does not mean you have to miss out on any of the magic! Check out this wonderful article on enjoying tasty treats at Disneyland, even with multiple food allergies!
For our activity this night, my talented husband DREW Dumbo on a poster board for us, and the children colored it. We grabbed a feather from our craft box, and the game was ON! Pin the Feather on Dumbo’s Hat was a lot of fun for everyone! If you do not have anyone artistically gifted in your home, I am sure you can find Dumbo coloring pages online for free. You could use them as is, or if you have access to a great printer/copier, you can resize it to make it larger.

Dumbo Movie Night-Photo Credit Connie Sink
Our Dumbo movie night was a smashing success! We had great food, enjoyed a fun movie, and made wonderful memories with friends. Have you tried hosting a Disney Movie Night of your own yet? I would love to hear about it in the comments below. For more Disney Movie Night ideas, don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest.
Make sure to follow Magical DIStractions on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+. You can also sign up for Magical DIStractions newsletter and watch videos on our YouTube channel. We also have a Magical DIStractions Facebook group where you can chat, ask questions and get help for our knowledgeable Magical DIStracted staff!
I was so glad we were able to drive up and join you for the Dumbo movie night! Such a fun time and great memories!
It truly was so much fun! Next time we need to add a zoo visit to the agenda, too!
Definitely!
Such fun ideas, you are trully amazing and bringing Disney to home, when you cant be in the parks.
Thanks, Amanda! We do love to have as much of the Mouse as we can in our lives. 🙂