38. Create a Movie or Game Night

One of the traditions in our home is movie night. After dinner, our family gathers around the television set with huge bowls of popcorn and settles into a movie. After the popcorn has been eaten, we all snuggle together. In the winter we fetch our blankets from their nook inside the entertainment center and settle in to this time that everyone looks forward to and enjoys.

Use this idea as inspiration to create a movie night for a family you know. Include the following:

•  A box of microwave popcorn

•  A large-sized candy bar for each member of the family

•  A two-liter bottle of soda (two of them for larger families)

•  A good DVD or video (see activity 31 for movie suggestions)

•  Movie tickets, such as the example found in the templates section

Can’t find a good movie? Purchase a board or card game for a family. We also enjoy playing games such as Uno, Memory, and Sorry. If you choose to use a game instead of a movie, include a two-liter bottle of soda and some nacho chips with cheese dip.

Take this activity further by making a game instead. If you want to ensure that the activity includes your whole family, or if you don’t have it in your budget to purchase a game, enlist the artists in your family to make the game. Our family made our own Memory game, complete with two-of-a-kind drawings of each picture. We drew pictures of animals, shapes, scenery, people, and cars. You can also write Bible verses on the cards for a Bible memory game. Use card-stock paper and colored pencils to create the game. There won’t be another game exactly like it anywhere—guaranteed!

Whichever activity you choose—movie night or game night—have fun creating a night the entire family can enjoy.

Up for Discussion

Did your family decide on the movie or the game night? What was the reaction of your recipients? How did completing the above activity promote togetherness in both your family and the family who received your gift?

Read Exod. 1—2. Just prior to Moses’s birth, the Pharaoh ordered, “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live” (Exod. 1:22). In the following chapter, in an effort to save her son’s life, Moses’s mother hides him in a basket. Moses’s sister, Miriam, stands guard over her younger brother and watches as the Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the baby while walking to the Nile. Explain what happens next: If Miriam hadn’t been keeping watch over Moses, what do you think would have happened? If Moses’s mother hadn’t placed him in a basket, but had kept him instead, what do you think would have happened to him? God’s plan for Moses included using Moses’s mother and sister to help carry it out. Think about the significance of family according to God’s Word. Why should a family, if possible, band together in both the good and bad moments? How does this correlate with this activity?

“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.

—2 Cor. 6:18