Traditions | Love Dwells Here

Jennifer October 6, 2021 Family

Christmas Movie and Dinner Combinations

Our family is big on traditions, and we have a wide variety that we incorporate throughout the year ranging from a visit from the leprechauns on St Patrick’s Day to watching “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” the night before Thanksgiving. But topping the favorite traditions list in our house are the Christmas movie and dinner combinations that we enjoy throughout December! In early November, I write out our schedule to make sure we have time to get through all of our favorite combos. We do have five kids after all and five kids worth of activities to attend, so the planning definitely gets done early!

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So without further ado, here are our favorite Christmas movie and dinner (or a treat…) combos!

Home Alone 1 & 2

With Home Alone, we always have pizza for dinner. Sometimes it’s from our favorite pizza place, sometimes it’s homemade, and sometimes it’s take & bake, but it is ALWAYS pizza. Because really, at its core, Home Alone is a movie all about pizza!

And for Home Alone 2, we have ridiculously big ice cream sundaes. Our kids LOVE ice cream (who doesn’t?!), and while they definitely have their fair share, we don’t usually go all out with the toppings, so it’s a special treat when we break out the hot fudge, caramel, whipped cream, and cherries and watch Home Alone 2.

A Christmas Story

While A Christmas Story isn’t one of my favorite Christmas movies, the kids definitely get a kick out of it, and since we get Chinese take-out for dinner, I’m totally down with it for movie night! Our Chinese take-out isn’t quite the same as eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant while being serenaded by waiters (“Deck the harrs with boughs of horyyy, Fa-ra-ra-ra-raaa, ra-ra-ra-raa!”), but it still makes for a fun night!

Holiday Inn

One of my all-time favorite movies, Holiday Inn, is fun to watch year-round, but we especially enjoy watching it at Christmas. Since the movie goes through all of the holidays in the year, we pick out dinner from a different holiday to enjoy. Our go-to pick is the 4th of July, and we have a summer barbecue in the middle of the Christmas season!

Christmas With the Kranks

When we watch Christmas With the Kranks, we get take-out Peruvian from our favorite Peruvian rotisserie place, Viva Chicken. Why Peruvian, you ask?? Because the daughter in the movie travels to Peru with the Peace Corps!

Christmas Vacation

Christmas Vacation is another favorite in our house. We don’t coordinate dinner with the movie, though the kids said we could do turkey jerky and an asparagus Christmas tree(!!), we ALWAYS have eggnog and green jello since they’re both such a big part of the movie.

The Santa Clause (All Three!)

We always plan a Santa Clause movie marathon on a Saturday in December. We start in the afternoon with the first movie…

And then we head to Denny’s for dinner in Christmas jammies. Why Denny’s?? Because “everyone likes Denny’s- it’s an American institution”! Every year the staff gets a kick out of how festive the kids look in their jammies, and we fill up on all-you-can-eat pancakes. After dinner, we head home to watch the next two movies.

ELF

On the longest night of the year, the winter solstice, we always eat dinner by candlelight and make our “Elf” dinner and watch the movie.

Like Buddy the Elf, our kids LOVE sugar!! Our Elf dinner started because the kids were absolutely convinced that noodles with syrup and crumbled-up pop-tarts sounded delicious, and they realllllyyyyy wanted to try it. We added pancakes and bacon to the mix to add some substance to dinner, and over the years, we’ve added more sugary deliciousness like donuts and candy corn (they are one of the 4 food groups for elves!).

Our annual Elf dinner is easily our kids’ favorite Christmas movie and dinner combo since it’s so far from a “normal” dinner in our house. Still, we all look forward to the fun dinner and movie combos that we do throughout December. Family traditions are a great way to get the kids excited for the holiday season’s fun without focusing on the gift-giving aspect. Our dinner and a movie tradition allows us to spend quality time together doing something that we all look forward to and enjoy!

What’s your favorite Christmas movie?? Do you have any fun Christmas traditions??

Jennifer September 21, 2018 Disney

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Tips

Year after year, one of our favorite things to do at Walt Disney World is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. We live about eight hours away and still feel like it’s totally worth it to drive down for a quick weekend trip every fall just so that we can go to the party! It’s been our tradition for the past few years now and I’m finally at the point where I can share some of our favorite tips and tricks to help you plan a night of spooky fun at Not So Scary!

Tickets

The Not So Scary dates were released in March 2018 for this year’s party and tickets were available over the phone immediately, and available online here starting in April 2018. While it’s not imperative to buy tickets as soon as they’re on sale, the parties do sell out, especially the first one of the season and the one on Halloween.

Dates for 2018

August: 17, 24, 28, 31

September: 3, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30

October: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31

Party ticket prices range from $75 adults/$70 kids to $125 adults/$120 kids if you purchase them in advance. Expect to pay more if you want to buy your tickets the day of the event (assuming they’re not already sold out). If you’re going to one of the earlier parties and you qualify, make sure to check for annual passholder, DVC, and military discounts because they’ll save you enough to buy a Mickey ice cream bar (or a few, in the case of military discounts).

Arrival

Not So Scary technically runs from 7pm-midnight but you can actually get into the park at 4pm or a smidge earlier (and new this year, DVC members can get in at 2pm!!). We totally recommend that you get there as early as you can in order to maximize your time- and your money since party tickets definitely are not cheap!

We recommend making the morning/early afternoon of the day that you go to a party relaxing instead of spending it in one of the parks and showing up tired. We typically sleep in late and spend the day lounging by the pool or we go resort hopping to see what’s new at the Disney Resorts, especially the ones on the monorail loop. We love getting a Dole Whip at the Polynesian, wandering around the lobby of the Grand Floridian, and watching the monorail go through the Contemporary and it’s a leisurely way to spend the morning/early afternoon while still being immersed in the Disney magic.

If you arrive at Magic Kingdom before 6pm (when it officially closes to regular guests) there will be turnstiles open for regular admission as well as Event Entrance ones. If you’re not an annual passholder and you didn’t go to a park in the morning, make sure to go through the Event Entrance turnstiles so that it doesn’t use one of your regular park ticket days for admission. Once you’re through the turnstile, a Cast Member will put a party wristband on your (right!) wrist and then you’re off for a spooky good time!

Costumes

One of our favorite parts of Not So Scary is that the whole family can dress up. While it’s very common to see little girls in princess dresses on a regular park day, you don’t often see older kids dressed up- and the Halloween parties are the ONLY time that adults are allowed to wear costumes in the park!

Our approach to costumes is more dis-bounding than super-elaborate costumes, partly because elaborate costumes are really expensive (and we’re a fam of 7!), and partly (mostly?) because we’re talking about Florida in September (or August/October) and it is HOT! Some years the kids just wear Halloween shirts for the party but my favorite visits are the ones where we all dress up in a group costume- like our Toy Story ones from this year!

While Disney does allow people of all ages to wear costumes to the event, they do have a costume policy- make sure to check it out here to ensure that your costume will be allowed. For the most part, as long as it’s a family-friendly costume, does not include a weapon that guests may mistake for an actual weapon (so plastic swords are fine!), and does not have a mask, you should be good to go!

Candy

When you enter the park for the party, they give you a small trick-or-treat bag with your first set of treats and starting at 7pm, treat locations are open around the park. We always bring big, reusable bags to dump our candy into because they’re easier to carry than the small bags.

You can go through as few or as many treat stops as you’d like, and you can do them more than once! Our kids love going through the same ones over and over, and as long as you wait in line again, that’s totally acceptable. We usually end up with 20+ pounds of candy by the end of the night!!

Not So Scary Gameplan

With the current ages of our kids and the fact that some years, our only time at Magic Kingdom is for the parties, the rides are the biggest draw for our crew. We make sure to arrive at the park by 4pm and then do as many rides as possible and eat dinner by 7pm when the party officially starts.

We spend our party time doing a mix of rides, trick-or-treating, and enjoying the party entertainment, but we never do the character meet and greets- mainly because we have limited time in the park and our kids don’t want to waste it standing in line. If you want to meet characters (especially the popular ones), make sure to get in line for your first choice well before 7pm (like at least an hour early) so that you don’t waste official party time waiting in line.

We definitely take a different approach to MNSSHP than most people and I think it’s partly due to the ages of our kids, as well as not being locals and needing to buy so many tickets (so we really want to get our money’s worth out of our time!). For our family, Not So Scary allows us to spend 8+ hours in the park with lower crowds than usual, at night (which is our absolute favorite), participate in some Halloween fun, and go on lots of rides with much shorter lines! If you’re an annual passholder or are doing the party as part of a longer trip, I can absolutely see the appeal of doing character meet and greets and spending the bulk of the night focused on party exclusive events and entertainment!

Rides

The PeopleMover is one of our favorite rides and we go on it at least once every time we’re in the park- and usually more than once because we like riding while it’s light out and after the sun goes down!

For MNSSHP we typically go to Tomorrowland first so that we can ride the PeopleMover and take a spin on the Carousel of Progress since it’s always closed during the party. While a majority of Magic Kingdom rides are open during the party, several are closed (including Jungle Cruise) so make sure to check ahead of time if there’s something specific that you want to ride.

New this year, there are REAL pirates roaming the Pirates of the Caribbean line AND in the ride itself! Make sure to ride during the party hours and see if you can find Gunpowder Pete!

PhotoPass

We don’t stop for every PhotoPass photographer or magic shot that we see, but we do like to do a couple of new ones each time we’re there. As our family’s official photographer, it allows me to be in some of the pictures and it’s a great way to get new and unique photos.

The Headless Horseman Magic Shot outside of the Train Station is one of our favorites! They don’t start doing it until the party officially begins so if you enter the park early, don’t forget to do it on your way out at the end of the night! The PhotoPass photographers are usually out front doing this one until 1-115am!

Fireworks and Shows

HalloWishes, the exclusive Not So Scary fireworks extravaganza, cannot be missed and runs every party night at 1015pm. The best place to watch the show is from the hub/Main Street so that you can see all of the castle projections- they are phenomenal! If you’ve already seen the castle projections or you want to avoid the crowds on Main Street, Storybook Circus and Rivers of America are both great places to watch from with fewer people.

Kicked off by the Headless Horseman, the Boo to You! parade runs nightly during Not So Scary at 915pm and 1115pm- it starts in Frontierland and makes its way down Main Street. I absolutely LOVE the parade but since they’ve already seen it, the kids veto my request to stake a spot and watch since it uses up so much party time (ie. they don’t want to give up ride or candy time to sit on a curb). If you’ve never seen it before, I would definitely add it to your must-do list at the party, and remember that the second run of the parade is significantly less crowded than the first- especially in Frontierland!

The Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular is another party exclusive and it runs three times every party night (at 830pm, 1045pm, and 12am) on the Castle Forecourt Stage. We love watching the midnight showing because other than arriving a bit early to get a spot, it doesn’t take up any official party time. We walked up at around 1145pm and had a great view of the stage (though obviously, we were not in the very front).

We always wrap up every Magic Kingdom night with ice cream from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor while we watch all of the people stream down Main Street and out of the park. It’s funny how something as seemingly inconsequential as an ice cream cone at the end of the night becomes such a treasured family tradition- even the kids look forward to it!

And once everyone has left the park, we stick around to take a few pictures on an empty Main Street- at least until we start getting pushed out by security!! We usually get a couple of family pictures with a PhotoPass photographer and then I end up taking a few of just the kids though we do try and hurry since I know that the Cast Members want to go home, too.

We always have a magical time at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party which is why we keep going back year after year. It’s one of our favorite ways to kick off the fall season, and while it’s still hot in Florida in Aug/Sept/Oct, being around all of the fall decor (like the Mickey pumpkins!) is the perfect way to make it feel like fall!

THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR MICKEY’S NOT SO SCARY HALLOWEEN PARTY

Dress up! It doesn’t matter if you wear a full costume or a festive shirt, it’s so fun to see all of the people walking around the party in their Halloween best. We try and get ideas for what to wear to our next party while we’re there since so many people dress up!
Get there early! While the party officially runs from 7pm-midnight and those are the hours for the exclusive party offerings, you can get into the park at 4pm with a party ticket (or 2pm this year if you’re a DVC member). Spend your morning/early afternoon relaxing and arrive right before 4pm in order to maximize your time in the park
Get lots of candy! Bring a big, reusable bag to empty your little treat bags into- they hold more candy and are easier to carry.
Buy your ticket early! You don’t have to buy your ticket as soon as they’re released but if you want to go to the first, last, or a Friday party, definitely buy your tickets sooner rather than later.
See if you qualify for any discounts! Tickets are $75-$125 depending on which night you choose (earlier in the season is cheaper than later) but there are discounts for military, AP, and DVC for some of the Aug/Sept parties so double check before you buy.
Check the weather! Not So Scary runs during peak hurricane season in Florida and the party has been canceled due to weather before. Always bring ponchos (you can get them for less than $2 each at Target, whereas Disney sells theirs for $10) because it’s Florida and rains a lot.
Have fun!! Go with a plan, especially if you want to see a lot of the party exclusive characters, but take time to soak in the atmosphere. Magic Kingdom all done up for fall is an amazing sight to see and just being immersed in the fall magic is one of the most wonderful parts of the party.

Have you been to Not So Scary yet this year?? What’s your best tip for a first timer??

Jennifer August 21, 2018 Disney

Why We Go To Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Every Year

It’s that time of year again where the pumpkin Mickeys are lining Main Street and adults and kids alike are showing up to the Magic Kingdom in costume. As other parts of the country start to cool off and it’s obvious that the beginning of fall is in the air, fall is happening in the Magic Kingdom too, just without the nice drop in daytime temps!

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party started back up this weekend with a sold-out party and the earliest start date in history! Even though mid-August doesn’t scream Halloween (our kids haven’t even gone back to school yet!), the Halloween parties are starting earlier and earlier every year, allowing more people to attend and more to experience the magic of the Magic Kingdom decked out in its fall finest!

The Halloween Party has become a tradition for our family over the past few years and even though there aren’t many changes from year to year, we still find ourselves booking a quick weekend trip so that we can attend a party!

One of our favorite aspects of the party is that it’s okay (and even encouraged) for everyone to dress up. Because we’re talking about Florida at the tail-end of summer, that means it’s still HOT and humid almost every day, so our costumes are always lightweight and breathable to make sure that everyone is comfortable. My absolute favorite costume that we ever did was the year that we all dressed up as characters from Peter Pan!

Though the party is technically from 7pm-midnight, you can get in at 4pm (and new this year, DVC members can get in at 2pm!) and enjoy the Magic Kingdom for a few hours before the party officially starts. Since we don’t do a big Disney trip where we go to all 4 parks every year, we make sure to arrive by 330pm so that we don’t waste any time in the park at all!

With the ages of our kids and the fact that some years the parties are our only time in the parks, our priority on party nights is going on as many rides as possible. The Jungle Cruise is usually one of our earlier stops so that we can ride while it’s still light out- and this year it’s not open during MNSSHP so make sure to ride between 4-7pm if you’re interested in riding!

As day turns to night and the spooky fun officially starts, we always make sure to pick up our trick-or-treat bags even though we don’t typically start trick-or-treating until the lines have died down a bit.

One of the nicest things about trick-or-treating in the Magic Kingdom is that you can go through each line as many times as you’d like. One year, we got stuck in a torrential downpour and the kids went through the Pirates trick-or-treat line repeatedly for about half an hour and they ended up with TONS of candy. We always bring big reusable bags to dump their smaller bags of candy into so that they don’t get stuck carrying around really full and heavy bags.

And then it’s always back to the rides. Because the party starts so late in the day (and runs late!) we make sure to sleep in that morning and have a relaxing day so that everyone is able to stay awake for the whole party.

Hallowishes, the fireworks show during MNSSHP cannot be missed! This extra-spooky fireworks extravaganza happens once each night at 1015pm. The best place to watch the show is from the hub where you have a clear view of the castle projections, but some years we watch from wherever we happen to be in the park– Storybook Circus has a surprisingly good view of the fireworks even though you can’t see the projections.

Of course, for the kids, the highlight of the event is the trick-or-treating and they get tons of candy! We’ve found that the more they interact with the Cast Members, the more candy they end up with.

We usually end up with 15-20 pounds of candy by the end of the night and we typically take it home to pass out on Halloween! Our kids definitely don’t need to eat that much candy and it means we don’t have to spend more money buying candy after we’ve paid for party tickets.

After the fireworks and trick-or-treating, we finish up our night going on as many rides as possible. We’ve watched the Boo to You! parade before and while it is a great parade, we don’t like to give up ride time to watch it (we do the opposite at the Christmas party though). However, if you want to watch the parade, stick around for the second run and it’s considerably less crowded, especially if you watch from Frontierland. We also watch the midnight showing of the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular for the same reason.

We always finish every Magic Kingdom night (whether its a party night or just a night in the park) with ice cream from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and we eat it while watching the hordes of people leave the park.

And once everyone is gone, we’re able to enjoy those empty Main Street and Cinderella Castle views!!

We make sure to get pictures with (almost) every PhotoPass photographer on our way down Main Street.

The kids love doing all of the special PhotoPass Magic Shots that are offered during the parties but we save them until the very end of the night so that we don’t have to wait in long lines.

All of the pumpkins, especially the Mickey ones, are one of the things that keep us coming back year after year. I wish I could get one of the Mickey pumpkin wreaths for our front door!! We typically attend a September party and it’s a great way to get in the fall mood!

Since we go into the park before the party officially starts, we aren’t able to get the Magic Shots on the way in, but the photographers in front of the Train Station hang out there until well after the party is over.

The spooky Train Station at the end of the night, or technically, really early in the morning!

Our family takes a very different approach to MNSSHP than most people, in part because we have such a large family and tickets to Walt Disney World are expensive no matter what you’re doing. We can’t afford to do a big Disney World trip every year (even though we’d love to!) so some years going to the parties is our only time at the Magic Kingdom for the year, especially since a party ticket is cheaper than a one-day park ticket (assuming you go to one of the earlier parties). Because of that, our kids would rather spend their time going on rides than doing character meet and greets and other party specific activities. For us, it’s a great way to spend 8+ hours in the Magic Kingdom and enjoy some special Halloween fun, but the rides are definitely the focus.

We keep going to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party year after year because it is an excellent value for our family. We get to enjoy a fun-filled night at the Magic Kingdom for less than a one-day ticket and it’s a great way for us to kick off the fall season. We always go to a party in early September (I draw the line at celebrating Halloween in August!) because tickets are cheaper than closer to Halloween. MNSSHP is the highlight of our fall activities for our crew and now that we’ve gone the past few years, it has been cemented in our “family tradition” lineup.

For those of you that are locals or that are adding a party to your regular WDW trip, I can definitely see the appeal of the Halloween party exclusive activities. The Boo to You! parade is great and really shouldn’t be missed if it’s your first time at MNSSHP. The character meet and greets are fantastic as well, but the lines are long! Get in line for your top pick early (like in the 4-7p window) so that you don’t use up as much official party time in line. There are fun dance parties throughout the park where you can dance the night away with characters but they will not stop and pose for pictures. And of course, loading up on Halloween candy is great fun whether you’re at your first party or twentieth!!

Things to Remember for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Dress up! Whether you wear a festive shirt, disbound, or wear a full costume, part of the fun of the party is seeing all of the cool costumes that people come up with. Plus, it’s the only time that adults are allowed to wear costumes in the park so definitely take advantage!
The party officially runs from 7pm-midnight and those are the hours for character meet and greets and all of the extra party magic, but you can get into the park at 4pm with a party ticket (or 2pm this year if you’re a DVC member). We plan a relaxing morning/afternoon and get to the park just before 4pm and stay until well after closing in order to maximize our time at the Magic Kingdom.
Bring something to empty your little treat bags into so that you can get more candy!
Buy your ticket in advance because the parties do sell out– especially weekends and the closer you get to Halloween.
Tickets are $75-$125 depending on which night you choose (earlier in the season is cheaper than later) and there are discounts for military, AP, and DVC for some of the Aug/Sept parties so double check discounts before you purchase your tickets!
Keep an eye on the weather! MNSSHP runs during peak hurricane season and the party has been canceled due to weather before- we actually had to postpone our trip a week due to Hurricane Irma last year. That being said, Disney World is one of the safest places to ride out a hurricane because it’s so far inland, so while you do need to be weather-aware, there’s no reason to avoid going during hurricane season.

Have you ever been to MNSSHP?? Are you going this year??

Jennifer July 23, 2018 Family

Christmas In July

Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays- like to the point that growing up, I could never sleep the night before and I was up all night, waiting in anticipation. And by 7am (our family’s designated Christmas morning wake-up time), I was completely ready with hair, make-up, and nails done, having already read a book or two while waiting to get ready. So, it should come as no surprise that I love the Christmas season and want to enjoy it throughout the year.

A few years ago we started celebrating “Christmas in July” at our house, partly as something to look forward to as the summer dragged on, and partly because I love celebrating Christmas! We’ve incorporated some our favorite Christmas traditions into a celebration that we look forward to all year long.

We always make Christmas cookies and listen to Christmas music (and there’s usually some Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers playing since that transports me to my childhood!). In December, we always make multiple kinds of cookies (we love cookies!) including cut-out sugar cookies, but for Christmas in July, we keep it super easy and just do sugar cookies. I typically buy unfrosted, round sugar cookies from the grocery store but we always make homemade frosting and pull out all of the sprinkles and toppings.

Of course, the kids snack while they’re decorating. In Ellie’s case, it’s usually one sprinkle on the cookie, and then one in her mouth. And they ask repeatedly if they can eat the cookies as they frost, but we save them for the end.

The kids love putting their personal touches on the cookies and it’s fun seeing their personalities come out in their decorating. I have one specific child whose goal is to get on as much frosting/sprinkles as possible which makes the cookies absolutely disgusting to everyone but him… so he gets to eat everything he decorates (smart kid!). And a couple kids are very particular with their decorating and sprinkle placement is a precision-task.

After the cookies are decorated, it’s time for dinner and a movie. Growing up, our Christmas Eve tradition was to go see a Christmas movie at the movie theater and then come home and have pizza for dinner. We’ve continued that tradition with our kids but adapted it a bit depending on the year. If there’s not a Christmas movie in theaters or the years that our kids weren’t old enough/cooperative enough to sit through a movie, we watch classic Christmas cartoons at home while we have our pizza, so that’s what we do for Christmas in July, too.

And it wouldn’t be Christmas in July without some presents! Now, while we may go all out on Christmas, we absolutely do not go all out for Christmas in July. Typically I just wrap up things that I found on clearance at Target and have sitting in my closet, but I make sure to use Christmas paper or bags so that it’s extra special.

Every once in awhile their gifts will have more value, but they’re technically things that we were already going to pay for so it’s not like it’s costing us additional money. One year, the kids got tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party as their Christmas gift– we were already planning on going, but Christmas in July gave us the opportunity to surprise them with the trip in a fun way!

I think my absolute favorite part of Christmas in July is the chance to do something together as a family. As the kids get older, I know they’ll want to spend more and more time with friends or they’ll be busy with jobs and activities, but at least for now, they look forward to this day in July and it’s a can’t-miss event for them. And I get to spend time surrounded by those that I love, eating cookies and listening to Christmas carols– what could be better?

Does your family celebrate Christmas in July?? What’s your favorite Christmas tradition??