Talk to Cadbury’s about your family nights in and you could win a £200 Love2Shop voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Cadbury’s Marvellous Smashables have asked us to find out how you get the whole family together for a cosy night in.

Here’s what they say, "New Cadbury’s Marvellous Smashables are a fun way for all the family to get involved, so we’d love to hear from Mumsnetters about how they encourage the whole family to enjoy a family night in."

So, what do you do to ensure your busy family spends time together? Do you make sure everyone's favourite meal - or dessert - is on the menu? Perhaps there's a TV show that's guaranteed to gather you all in one place? Or do you use more direct tactics like bribery?! Maybe you cut off supply to the wifi or have made the lounge or kitchen an irresistably cosy place to congregate?

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[OutToGetYou]

We have 'chips and dips' on the rug in front of the TV, with a family film. Sometimes play a board game (Settlers of Catan is favourite, though the boys also like Risk).

[HairsprayQueen]

DS1 is just getting to an age where there's things he's interested in watching on Saturday nights now, like BGT and X Factor but DS2 is still too little to stay up so we don't have any Saturday night traditions as such yet.

We do like something special to eat though, a little bit of chocolate as a treat and then wine for me. You can see that DS enjoys this extra time and trying stuff he doesn't usually get to have!

[Coffeethrowtrampbitch]

We start family nights in with a mini disco, we put music videos on the TV and all dance around and laugh.

Then later we cosy down on the sofa with lots of sharing snacks, watch a film or play a board game together (sometimes the kids and adults split up and the grownups play poker while the kids play computer games).

No one ever wanted to take the dog out in the cold after snuggly nights in, so now we compromise and all go together, but make hot chocolate as a treat before bed to warm ourselves up!

[madhairday]

We don't get as many nights in together now our oldest is 15 and galivanting off everywhere, but when we do we still all love the PJs and blankets on the sofa combo, watching favourite films or a new one we've chosen to download (much more fun than when they were younger and having to watch endless Disney princess movies)

The kids like it best when we have Dominoes but sometimes we make our own and pile the toppings on. Ice cream tends to feature, as does chocolate - we all like those packets of things like twirl bites and wispa bites, very family friendly size for a night in :-)

[elizaco]

Like many other Mumsnetters it seems, we love a film night round the TV. A dvd from Lovefilm, a takeaway, a couple of family size bars of chocolate and a glass of wine/mug of hot chocolate. Now and again we also love a board game session - Scrabble, Bananagrams and Dominoes - a great way to get the kids to leave the technology and revert back to being kids!

[DollyTwat]

We get a takeaway delivered and settle down to watch whichever show we're following, so Big Brother or Bake Off or choose a film and snuggle on the sofa

[Loulabellet78]

The only film our 16 month old little boy will watch is Mary Poppins, so we put that on in the bedroom and cosy up on the bed together. He watches for a few minutes then charges around the room picking things up to show us. We make sure there are some treats for him to find so that we can enjoy snacks together. Plus lots of tickling!

[mrsronswanson]

We enjoy watching films together. As a family of 5 it's expensive for us all to go to the cinema, so we take the cheaper option of waiting for films to come out on DVD. It makes it more of an event if there are nice snacks.

[littlemonkeymum]

Special roast dinner followed by a chocolate eclair for us all (apart from the baby), PJs/onesies on and a family-friendly film on the TV.

[lisylou21]

I bring mine and the childrens duvets downstairs and we all snuggle up and watch films or tv, while eating treats

[rupert23]

i let the kids choose what they want for dinner pizza /burgers etc and they make cakes then we watch their favourite films and eat the cakes!. It doesnt take much to keep them happy and i can chill out with them

[Lailai84]

i usually order a film from the Sky store, while my Son is at school, ill go to tescos and get allsorts of snacks, bread sticks and dips, biscuits, fruits etc, my son and i love to make our own pizzas,so we will make our pizzas, have our baths and put our pj's on and we always have to wait for my partner lol, my partner and son build a fort with duvets and blankets and its almost like a lie in cinema. Ill put the food in front of us, relax and enjoy the film

[sog74]

We all get in our pyjamas, some blankets on the sofa and we end watching Frozen or Peppa Pig until the little girls fall asleep

[bamblolo]

Me and my kids love to get comfy with a bowl of snacks and treats and watch X Factor in the ad breaks the kids do their own auditions and we pretend to be the judges.

[CrumblyMumbly]

My dh works shifts through the week so we make sure we all have family nights at the weekend. We have a 'make your own feast' like fajitas followed by a chocolate fondue. Then we will play some silly games like Buckaroo or table football. Then just before bedtime we will snuggle up together and look at some photos and videos of the family growing up together. Recharges your soul for the week ahead...aah

[Icyblue]

My daughters and I would be all sitting on my kingside bed and playing with our favourite board game Scrabble.

[MooseyMoo]

My DC are 3 and 5 and both love a carpet picnic with their favourite tea (jam sarnies, sausage rolls, cheese, cucumber, grapes) whilst watching a DVD.

[spanglisher]

We start by baking cakes together then youngest choosing a film to watch. He then prepares the room to be pitch dark while eldest brings in refreshments. We'll then watch curled up on the sofa until youngest gets bored (autistic boredom threshold) and everyone returns to their own activities

[Sarahb8990]

We let the kids decide what we do. It's always between watching a film or playing board games. We get some treats in like popcorn and sweets. Bring the beanbags down and settle in for a nice family night.

[icklekid]

My little one is a bit young for it to be in the evening but a treat at the weekend is sunday lunch together and a cuddle on the sofa with a short dvd to enjoy. Love summer playing outside together but winter is great for fire on blanket covered cuddles!

[runner2]

For us, it's our favourite weekend tv programmes plus snacks - that means "Gogglebox" on a Friday, "Dr Who" and "X Factor" on a Saturday, DS and DD in their PJs, with little bowls of our favourite sweets/chocolate. Often DH and I will have a glass of wine as well. It's a weekly event we all look forward to.

[FingerOFudge]

Friday night is curry night in our house. So a meat dish
And a veg dish, rice and naan, beer for the adults and oj for the little ones. We all look forward to it after a week of work or school, it's our beacon of light at the end of the week. We can all talk about the week we've had and the plans for the weekend ahead. I'll be sad when the dds grow up and want to go out themselves. Or maybe they'll just bring their friends to our curry night :)

[IfItIsntOkItIsntTheEnd]

We try to have dinner all together at the weekend. Not possible most week nights as dh too late him from work. As someone else said, ideal night in is having kids in bed by a decent time!!

[MakStout]

Theres just me and the dc, who are only 4 and (almost) 6, and we are pretty low on tech here so most evenings are us all together in the sitting room. If I want a special night for us then a superhero movie, a bowl of popcorn and a huuuuuge blanket to all cuddle up together under tends to get them quiet and we'll behaved for at least half a dvd.

[DesertorDessert]

We have breakfast and dinner together as often as possible. Probably 6 dinners and 5 breakfasts a week.
The kids love swimming, and doing that as a family is always popular.