Welcome to our newest series. In “Friday Favorites,” our team will share a handful of favorite items. These can range from clothes to beauty products to recipes to books and anything in between.
Our family loves movie night. Savory, buttery popcorn is popped a couple of hours after Friday’s pizza dinner while a flick is usually picked from Disney+. I recline in the comfy chair, and my tank refuels on this uninterrupted, no-fuss family time. Movie snacks are probably the winning element among the youngsters; they actually talk about the popcorn and what might be served with it in the days leading up to Friday.
But the snack smorgasbord has changed quite a bit since the very first candy-laden tray entered the living room. The snack component used to include multiple varieties of candy and sometimes snack crackers, chips, and even coffee mug sundaes. My husband and I quickly realized this wasn’t so great for our waistlines. The popcorn would remain a staple (because what’s a movie night without popcorn?) but everything else couldn’t be a regular thing.
We’ve since cinched up the menu with healthier, easy to serve nibblers. Here are some of our favorite non-candy movie snacks!
Fruit With Whip
Fruit and whip, oh my! This combo can be prepped in a variety of ways: simply strawberries, strawberries and bananas, strawberries, bananas, and blueberries, etc. I crumble a graham cracker beneath the whip on my husband and mine’s, but the kids prefer to go sans graham. This one is velvety delicious, and I could eat it daily if fruit lasted long enough in the house.
For a delicious special whipped cream recipe, click the button!
Jell-O With Whip
Jell-O is such a good movie night treat. It’s fun to eat, easy to prep, and even better with whipped cream. I can enlist the kids to help stir it in the morning if we make it from the box, or I can easily foam up some whip on each one and hand them out assembly-line style. If you have more time for prep during the day and are feeling a bit ambitious, you could slice up some fruit like strawberries and bananas, toss in some pineapple tidbits, frost with cool whip, and let set with the gelatin during the day. This was one of my favorite desserts growing up, and I really should make it more often for the kids.
Salty and Sweet
If one of your children are anything like my middle one, they don’t like popcorn but still want to partake in the salty festivities. To keep him from feeling left out, we’ve served sliced apples and peanut butter. And though we haven’t done this yet, I’m willing to bet he’d also gobble up pretzels served with a small bowl of vanilla or other flavored yogurts. Pretzel rods dipped in milk or white melting chocolates (previously prepped) and Sabra’s Dark Chocolate Dessert Dip & Spread with pretzels are worth a try.
Dessert Cakes
Who says cake has to be traditional? Friday night dessert cake in the Swanson house looks like Quaker rice crisps (especially the apple cinnamon and chocolate flavors) or Quaker’s full-sized rice cakes with a light dusting of peanut butter or cream cheese.
Low Key Charcuterie Board
I whip up a make-do charcuterie board whenever we really don’t have anything else to serve in bulk. I load my white Thanksgiving ceramic serving tray with items like cheese cubes, fruit slices, and Ritz crackers. The kids love the freedom of grabbing and piling up their respective plates that they don’t know the better of my movie evening scrounging. I sometimes take this opportunity to sneak vegetables like sliced bell peppers or baby carrots. I’ve seen they’ll usually pick a vegetable when it’s among the other ‘tastier’ options. Mom win!
