“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Universal Pictures, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BoxtrollsFamilyNite http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

 

The Boxtrolls is now on DVD!  I picked it up at Wal-Mart last week and we decided to take the chance and make the release into a fun family movie night.  We love movie night!  Mr. Napping even made his own “big screen” so we can use a projector when we watch movies.  My boys think it’s better than going to the theater!  And they are right, it’s a lot of fun.

 

Mr. Napping and I have always loved movies.  On our first date, we actually watched two!  But that may have just been because we liked each other and didn’t want the date to end…  While I was pregnant with Big J, Mr. Napping was unemployed for about four months.  I have no idea how many hundred movies we watched.  We were broke and couldn’t afford to go out, so we stayed in.  Movies have always been a big part of our entertainment choices.  We have been able to pass that on to our kids (so far, anyway).  We have found that using the things they see in movies can be a great way to encourage conversations and discuss things like bad or unkind language, bullying and making good choices.  They can relate to, understand and enjoy the movie, making the teaching moment almost effortless.  We are still selective about what they watch, but when things do come up we try to use it to our advantage.  It helps make our movie nights valuable family time spent not only learning, but we’re also having fun!

A good movie is essential to a great movie night, but it’s not the only thing you need.  Awesome snacks can make a movie so much more enjoyable.  Popcorn is a given, and Pop Secret always has our back.  Their Movie Theater Style Popcorn is the perfect touch for bringing the theater right into your living room.  And it’s the ten-pack box, because we eat a lot of popcorn…  But that’s not all!  A comfy place to spend the next hour and a half or longer is a must-have in my book.  You can’t focus on the movie if you’re tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable.  And your couchmates will not appreciate your distracting fidgeting either.

 

Mr. Napping and I have “our spots” on the reclining sofa, but the boys didn’t have a special place to sit.  They usually just pile on top of us or bounce around the other available seats in the room.  Translation: they jump off the couches and run around the room.  It can be difficult to watch a movie while there are monkeys swinging from from every surface and climbing on their favorite ‘jungle gyms’, a.k.a. mom and dad.  So, I set out to fix that.  Since The Boxtrolls was the movie we had picked out, making them a box couch was perfect.  They felt like they were IN the movie!

 

KID’S BOX COUCH

Materials:

– Large box.  Mr Napping found one at work that was actually attached to a pallet and that’s what I used.  Any large box would work and if you really want the pallet, you can check local hardware stores or garden stores.  Sometimes, they have some they are willing to part with.

– Box cutter

– Pillows and blankets

– The Boxtrolls DVD

– Pop Secret Movie Theater Style Popcorn (10-count pack, because you know you want it)

 

Directions:

– Cut the flaps off your box or tape them out of the way with packing or duct tape.  If your box is thin, you may want to fold them down inside for a little more rigidity and and support.

– On one of the long sides of the box, move in from the corner three to six inches and then cut a long line all the way down to the bottom of the box.  Repeat on the other corner of the same side.  If you want to remove the flap completely, cut along the bottom of the box.  I didn’t remove the flap, it just folds down and acts as a ramp for my kids climbing up onto the pallet and they can ‘recline’ just like Mom and Dad.  It also makes a great slide, as my 1-and-a-half-year-old niece discovered this weekend.

– Place pillows or cushions and blankets in the base of the box to give it some padding and make it nice and comfy.  Stand pillows up along the sides and back of the box to pad those too.

– Cover the entire thing with a blanket and tuck the ends of the blanket over the pillows and blankets, down the inside of the sides of the box to help keep all the padding in it’s place.

 

– Add some cute kiddos.  Turn on a good movie and get out your favorite popcorn!  They now have their own little nook to watch the movie and Mom and Dad might actually get a reprieve from ‘jungle gym’ status this movie night.  And look at those heads… it’s just like the theater!  Actually, since the box is on the floor, it’s more like stadium seating and I was actually crouched down on the floor to get this photo.  A perfect, unobstructed view and no kids climbing on me… it was movie heaven.

Head to Wal-Mart and get your copy of The Boxtrolls on DVD while supplies last!  While you’re there, don’t forget to pick up the Pop Secret Movie Theater Style Popcorn for the ultimate theater experience in your living room!

I put this together and then spent about 30 minutes sitting in it while I was on Facebook (and taking selfies…), waiting for Big J to get home from school.  It was pretty darn comfy for being a box full of pillows.  I also spent an hour and a half watching TV in it later that night (inside a fort, no less).  No lie, you can’t make this stuff up.  While I wouldn’t trade out my sofa for box couches, it’ll be just fine for my crazy boys, the perfect movie night nook.

 

This post is sponsored by PopSecret.  I was provided with compensation for this post, however, all content herein is original, honest and 100% mine.  Pinky promise.

 

In a home with three active boys, you better believe we do our fair share of fort building!  Who doesn’t love a good fort?!  I’ve got about 3 years of fairly regular practice in building forts and my skills have definitely come a long way.  But, my favorite thing about building forts with my kids is not the huge pile of blankets and pillows, precariously draped on, behind, over and from sometimes questionable surfaces.  It’s what happens in that huge pile and the interaction we get to have with each other.  It was while building forts that I realized what a huge imagination Little J has!  I love to see my boys piece the puzzles together and come up with a great fort.  And there’s something about being in a fort that encourages kids to open up.  I love that!

And what makes forts even better?  Awesome snacks, of course.  I have three boys.  And a husband.  They eat A LOT.  And they love to snack.  You can bet we have multiple popcorn boxes stashed away in the cupboards because we are definitely popcorn people.  At least three or four times a week we are popping away those corn kernels.  We love to try different seasonings and toppings.  We’ve found our favorites through years of sampling, testing and trying out different combinations.

 

PopSecret makes it easy to satisfy our desire for flavor diversity.  There are many different kinds to choose from, including cheddar and caramel!  And you can’t ask for an easier or faster snack.  All you have to do is stick it in the microwave.  Big J can do that!  After about 20 seconds of active prep time and just a couple of minutes later, you’re ready to go with your delicious treat.

Engaging in quality with my kids is important to me.  We often share a bag of popcorn inside a fort, as it is definitely one of our go-to activities when we are stuck inside, whether it’s the winter chill or the summer heat that keeps us from enjoying the outdoors.  Building forts is a great way to release some of that built up energy in a constructive and beneficial way.  It’s much preferred to the destruction and bickering that almost never sometimes, okay, often occurs when we’re out of ideas and stuck inside.  The best thing about building forts is that you almost always build something different than the last time and that keeps it fun and exciting to little ones with an attention span of 2.1 seconds.  Last time it was a space ship, this time it’s a pirate cave and we’re digging for treasure!

 

After perfecting my technique for the past three years, I thought I would take a minute and let you in on my essentials for building forts so you end up with a fabulous masterpiece… and how to get them to last more than 15 minutes with the kids tearing through them.

 

BUILDING FORTS: THE ESSENTIALS

– Blankets.  Obviously, right?  But, not all blankets are created equal and not all blankets perform equally either.  Large, thick blankets like comforters or quilts work best to create the walls of your fort.  They will help give your fort a little stability when the kids fall over on the blankets or pull on them.  Flat sheets work fantastically for the roof when building forts.  They are light-weight and won’t sag as badly as a heavier blanket.  And, bonus, they won’t crush your children if your fort caves in.

– Safety Pins and Clothes Pins.  Your fort will last longer if you take the time to secure it.  It’s less likely your kids can pull down a 20-foot-square, ginormous blanket than a bunch of three or four-foot blankets.  I started off using clothes pins, but they can (and will) snap or pop off or the blankets will get pulled out of them.  These are the safer method for preserving the state of your blankets though.  Safety pins are now my preferred method of securing a fort.  They are much more durable, but the possibility of a little hole getting torn in your blanket is more likely than with clothes pins as the kids tug on the blankets.  I switched to safety pins when I got tired of my kids seeing how hard they had to pull on the blankets to pop the clothes pins off.  Hooligans.

– Supports.  These can be almost anything: chairs, tables, couches, counters, boxes, couch cushions, the piano, your antique china hutch.  Uhh, okay, maybe not the last one or two… you should probably lay those rules down from the start.  Get creative!  This is one of my favorite parts of building forts.  And there is NO wrong answer, except for that china hutch.  The piano bench makes a great “secret entrance”, couch cushions make kid-size tunnels when you lean two of them together, and tables are a perfect spot for all the blankets to overlap because it helps support all those edges.  Safety pin those babies together and they aren’t going anywhere!  This fort used large boxes that Mr. Napping brought home from work.

– Pillows.  I have to remind my boys that you don’t have to constantly be running through the fort like a maze.  You can, in fact, just sit in it.  Pillows and their favorite blankets help maintain a fleeting and (very) superficial sense of calm in our forts.  It doesn’t hurt to set it up so they can see the TV too.

– Lights.  These are not actually necessary, but they are fun.  A string of Christmas lights just adds to the magic. And if your kiddo doesn’t like the dark, it’s the perfect solution. My boys also like flashlights so they can “explore”.

– Snack Box. This would be my boys’ favorite part of building forts. In order to have evidence of my hard work for longer than a quarter hour, I usually bribe my little tornados with a fort-nic… fort picnic, right? There is almost always popcorn in their picnic basket.

 

Building forts is a great way to spend some quality family time together. You get to create, problem-solve, and just talk. It appeals to the kid in all of us and it can be a great stress reliever to just stop and play. Those are the days I’m being the mom I want to be, the mom I want my kids to remember.

 

You can post your fort photos to PopSecret’s Facebook page, tagged with #PopSecretForts, and you just might get a little prize package. While you’re there make sure to grab the $1.00 off coupon to make that popcorn even more delicious.  They also have some pretty awesome flags you can print to finish off your awesome fort!

Do you have any tips for building great forts?