Family trip to the cinema

Being masssive film lovers ourselves, Oli and I have been desperate to take Leo to the cinema since he was about 1.
Although he could easily watch TV for hours at home, I just kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong at the cinema;
What if the dark scared him?
What if it’s too loud?
What if other cinema goers get annoyed at us?
What if he throws a massive tantrum?
What if he throws popcorn everywhere?
Last week I read these tips from Hannah at mums days and decided to ignore all the what ifs and just go for it. So yesterday with a bag full of toys and snacks and head full of tips, Oli, Leo and I set off on our first ever family trip to the cinema.


The cinema..
We went to our local Vue cinema, a place where me and Oli spent many a date night before Leo came along. Vue cinemas do special kids screenings every Saturday and Sunday, Kids AM. The films they show are not brand new so the tickets are cheaper than normal. It cost us just over £10 for 3 tickets, a child’s popcorn/chocolate/drink combo and a tea and a coffee..very reasonable for a trip to Vue. While Oli was buying everything me and Leo had a run around, looking at the sweet counters, looking at the big posters and watching the small screen showing trailers. When it was time to go in I was feeling extremely tense. Was this morning doomed to be a disaster and a massive waste of time and money? There was only one way to find out. . .

The experience..
As we walked into Screen 1, I was holding both Leo’s hand and my breath. All the ‘what ifs’ came flying to the front of my mind, I was nervous to say the least! My heart sank as Leo came to an abrupt stop as soon as he saw the screen. After a couple of seconds of opened mouthed, staring face he then gave a smile and proceeded to drag me to our seats…phew! We sat Leo down on a little plastic booster seat, it wasn’t very comfy so we padded it out with our coats and Leo had his favourite blanket. Luckily we only had to sit through 5 minutes of trailers before the film started. Leo sat quietly eating his popcorn and chocolate for nearly  half an hour before he started trying to climb down. I took him for a walk up and down the stairs and in the space by the door for about 15 minutes. We sat watching from the stairs for a little while then it was Oli’s turn to take over. There were only about 4 other families there so I didn’t feel too guilty about letting Leo run around. For the last 15 minutes Leo sat on Oli’s lap and by some miracle we made it all the way through the film, success!

The film…
There was only limited choice for the Kids AM screenings, Into the woods or The hero of color city. We ended up going for the latter as I couldn’t see Leo sitting through a film that wasn’t animated. The film was about crayons who have to save their city and their colour from some unfinished drawings. To be honest I wasn’t watching it properly as I was busy keeping Leo happy. Leo seemed to enjoy it though, the bright colours and songs seemed to entertain him, he particularly liked the little unfinished flying creature drawing, waving his arms whenever it was on screen. The film wasn’t very good but Leo enjoyed it so that is all that matters.

The verdict…
I would say our first ever trip to the cinema was a massive success. Leo was really well behaved, he didn’t cry once and no one got annoyed with us..yay! I ended up not needing any of the emergency supplies I packed and we all had a great morning. I am glad we went, me and Oli couldn’t stop smiling at Leo’s little face, he was amazed by it all. I can’t wait to take him again and we will definitely be using Kids AM again next time.

Anyone else taken a child under 2 to the cinema? What was your experience like? I would love to hear about it.
Follow:
Share:

Leave a Reply to Wendy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

4 Comments

  1. May 12, 2015 / 8:03 pm

    Lovely post. So glad you all had a nice time and he behaved himself. I took my little girl as a baby to one of the local mum & baby viewings and was pleasantly surprised at how straightforwards it was. I never was quite brave enough when she was a toddler but she's almost 3 now so probably time to give it a try. #twinklytuesday. Ps. Love your blog name!

  2. May 15, 2015 / 7:43 pm

    So glad this was a success for you. Zach is the complete opposite and won't sit watching tv for hours and barely makes it past the first 30 seconds of a film so I think it'll be a while before we head off to the cinema! It's good that they do those cheap tickets – going to the cinema at a normal viewing is like a blimmin luxury these days! Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday

  3. May 16, 2015 / 7:17 am

    We never got round to going to a special baby screening. I am still a bit nervous about taking him incase he's not so well behaved next time!xx p.s thanks for liking the blog name 🙂

  4. May 16, 2015 / 7:20 am

    Aww..I'm sure Zach will sit through a film one day?!I couldn't believe how well it went if I'm honest, I was expecting major tantrums.Don't get me started on usual cinema prices…you're right saying it's a luxury, so so expensive!Thanks for hosting #TwinklyTuesday xx