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

We eat together every evening but for a family fun eve we get takeaway and have a carpet style picnic and with the older one DVD and popcorn nights.

turn off phones ban laptops, draw curtains, couple of good films on boxset,bowl of popcorn, nice bottle of pepsi max, cuddle up on sofas with a nice snug throw, bliss family time ,laugh together and relax .

Pizza, movie, snacks and a duvet. Seems to be a winner around the country!

Every Monday we have family home evening as its called, where we have a game a treat to eat and a 5 minute lesson on something ie honesty, sharing , loving one another etc which usually involves a little challenge for the week and a story this week for example we did service and each person at the end picked a name out of a hat of another person in our house and this week had to do something nice for them (like a secret Santa) . The kids look forward to it as its routine and know its weekly after diner as well as a great family bonding opportunity they learn stuff too. I really am a believer in making family time a priority , the world is such a busy place now but children grow up so quickly so I love to spend as much time with them as I can x

Early showers and comfy pjs. Pizza in front of the TV, followed by chocolate and snuggles!

Family nights in when the nights are dark are lovely - log burner lit, pyjamas on and snuggled under the throw, watching a film.

For us it's pizza night, DVD, board games and dog/baby/child/parents piggin' out!!! X

My son has just turned three so we are looking forward to family nights, board games, films n a take away and snacks!

My DD and I like to read a bed time story together every night cuddled up on the sofa. At the weekend we always try and fit in an activity together, as I work fulltime, like baking or pretending the living room is a cinema getting popcorn and snacks, closing the curtain and watching a film cuddled up on the sofa. Occasionally we come over all silly and have a little dance off to the music channels.

Dd is only 2 so we bribe her with a bubble bath and a dvd which she picks and is usually frozen or the jungle book. Ds is just 4 months so he usually sleeps or feeds through the film.

We''ve turned the television off and been spending more time together playing games and drawing, reading stories and having good fun.

Family movie or board games for us. Usually kids games as DD is only 4. Some junk food and fizzy juice & we're all set. Always a Saturday night due to DH & I's work patterns.

The DC are too young to stay up for a family night, but a cosy family afternoon usually involves baking something together then snuggling up on the sofa with blankets while we eat the fruits of our labour and enjoy a film together!

We have been doing 'DVD Friday' for the last few years which, thanks to technology changes and busy diaries, no longer has to be a DVD or on a Friday. However, the event is still always referred to as DVD Friday!

It simply involves all four of us (me, DH and two DCs) squished up on one sofa, under blankets or duvets in winter, a bowl of pick n mix sweeties each and a film to watch. We take it in turns to pick the films so some weeks are better than others....any week with Alvin and the Chipmunks means a discreet snooze for me if I can manage it!!!

We are lucky in that we get to eat together around the table almost every evening, with a no screen/wifi rule. This is when we get to talk and listen before all going off again in different directions with homework, screen time, clubs and stuff.

To get us all together at other times, it's normally around the tv to watch a film although it can take longer for everyone to agree to which film than it does to actually watch it! Normally involves getting cosy on the sofa with some treats and snacks - popcorn and sharing bags of Cadbury's! On a Sunday after dinner and baths and everything is ready for school we have a ritual of sitting down together to watch a recording of 'Through the keyhole'. I do cringe at some of the not exactly child friendly bits but love seeing the kids open mouthed reaction to what Keith gets up to in other peoples homes.

This time of year is great for family nights in. We like to light the fire, grab a bottle of wine (or suitable non alcoholic alternative!) and a few sweet treats and then settle down to watch our favourite TV programmes, from Strictly, to Gogglebox, to Grand Designs and Downton.

We have dinner then all go into the lounge and play with the Lego or Duplo together before its time to get the girls ready for bed.

We love family nights. Choosing a film is the hardest. Then we snuggle down with chocolate, popcorn and drinks. We also love game nights playing monopoly, cards or cluedo.

We love a movie night with nibbles - all snuggled together on the sofa. :)

We always have a movie night at the weekend. We have lots of treats and a family movie snuggled up on the sofa.

Great to be selected for the Cadbury's panel - looking forward to the related activities.

In the meantime, "how we encourage the whole family to enjoy a family night in?"
Gone are the days when the family would sit together for a film premiere on TV, but a major sporting event, e.g. Football World Cup Final, still works. It's better if the team you support is playing, so it's a shame that England keep getting knocked out early, be it football, rugby, cricket, but, hey a World Cup final is still a final. Ensure we have crisps/chips and fizzy drinks aplenty, sweets or chocolate (yes, it would be Cadbury's) wouldn't go amiss either.

Me and DP have 1DD and she is nearly 2. She usually sleeps by 7ish so we spend time mostly all together at weekends during day. I try to organise a nice day out even if only to park so that we don't go on phones or watch tv or do house stuff but actually enjoy each other's company and usually we have a nice lunch out!

Well right now we seem to be having a family night in the bathroom, whilst DD has her bath, DH unblocks the shower and I mumsnet entertain with my sparkling wit.

I do make an effort to have a family meal most nights so that we all row catch up. A planned family night in winter would usually be by the open fire and would involve a film or good TV with treat food, chocolate and wine.

Unsurprisingly, family nights in revolve around movies! Thankfully the older Dc are growing out of kiddie films so we've been revisiting some classics think Grease, Ferris Bueller, Stand By Me. It's been brilliant watching these films again, lots of laughing, explaining some cultural references and being aghast at the dc's take on the films!

Yep films and TV programmes feature heavily in our family nights.
Although we do have periods of time where we play a certain game all the time. Latest obsession was Cluedo. Apparently I am never gonna make a detective!!
Popcorn, sweets, and oddly enough Pringles go down very well! I think it must be because I don't buy them often!
Taking the kids to the shops to buy a big bar of chocolate also features heavily!