Dumbo Disney Dinner Night

The short version:

Tim and I put together a fun night of circus foods and watched the 2019 Dumbo movie with a borrowed projector and inflatable screen. We served:

• Popcorn

• Cotton Candy

• Peanuts

• Hot Dogs

• Shaved Ice

• Funnel Cakes

• Dippin' Dots

It was so fun and a lot of work. The kids loved it and we all agreed we need to invest in our own projector!

The full version:

The first time we saw Dumbo wasn’t long after it came out, the live action version of course! A small local movie theater was offering wonderful $1 summer movies for the kids and we were all so excited to see one of the newer movies! It was one of those events that stands out in your memory, I had all my kids with me and the movie was in the upstairs theater which we all found to be so fun!

The credits pop up and it says “Directed by Tim Burton”. Leave it to my husband to leave me on the edge of my seat watching a kids movie… In case you haven’t put it together, my husband shares his name with the infamous movie director ;)

This was one of the easier movies to figure out food for! The Dumbo story is based around a circus, so we enjoyed some circus foods!

Several months ago I stumbled upon a cotton candy maker at a thrift shop for $7 and my mind started spinning with ideas for a circus themed dinner.

My oldest is a fellow foodie and was super excited to try out our new toy. We found that you can use just plain sugar but we prefer a mix of hard candy and sugar. You can also buy cotton candy mix online!

This inspired a hunt for a popcorn maker, I have a standard air popper, but I wanted one that looks like one you'd see at the circus or movie theater. I mentioned this to my neighbor who then offered to let us borrow hers, she has exactly what I was looking for! She loves some movie theater popcorn as much as we do!

I had a thought, that a hot dog roller could be fun, envisioning the kids pretending to place their order and clicking my tongs together as I prepared to pull a hot dog off the roller. In the end I didn't find one so we skipped the presentation and just had them ready to eat.

Who doesn't love funnel cake? I remember my brother learning how to make them at home and then it seemed like he made It every night!

I'm part of a wonderful facebook group called "The Buy Nothing Project" where people in my area give and take items that would otherwise be donated or trashed. We've been so blessed by it in the past and decided to ask about the funnel cake supplies. Sure enough, someone had an unused kit we could have! My oldest had a blast making these and they looked just like the real deal!

Can you believe my kids have never had roasted peanuts?! I know I know. So bagged up a bit for everyone to try and told them since we're eating outside they could let the shells fall to the ground! I think they enjoyed that part even more than eating them.

Remember the Buy Nothing facebook group? I asked to borrow a shaved ice machine from a generous grandma who shared her super fun toy with us! She suggested Pinterest for syrup recipes, we try to be a dye free family so that was super helpful! You can totally buy the syrups at Walmart or Amazon. Even make your own from Kool-Aid packets. But we found concentrated juice to be perfect and dye free!

While running around Walmart, I came across a version of Dippin Dots! This is one thing my kids always ask for and I pretty much always say no because of the price tag. What a fun treat to have at home!

We thoroughly enjoyed borrowing our neighbor's projector and inflatable screen! Have I mentioned how wonderful my neighbor is? Same one who lent us the popcorn maker. So that is officially on the wish list for Christmas!

I usually put these dinner nights on by myself but this time my wonderful husband played a huge role, from picking up items to setting up the projector, he was a HUGE help.

My 8 year old declared it, the best day ever, and I realized I may have set the bar too high for future movie nights... Hopefully not!

Either way, we're all looking forward to doing more this summer. Which movie should we do next?