Top tips for the perfect Family Movie night!

When the nights are dark and cold, there's something really comforting about snuggling up under a blanket with the family and watching a good movie or two.

To celebrate The LEGO Batman Movie hitting the cinemas this weekend, the lovely folks at Warner Bros have asked me to share my top tips for a perfect family movie night.

Choose a theme!

Kids love a theme, so why not go all out? Get them to choose a movie or even a genre and dress up, do some crafts together such as making Batman masks or draw pictures of their favourite superheros.

Prepare snacks together!

A great tie in to the movie night theme is to prepare some themed snacks together! Why not bake a decorate some LEGO cupcakes, make sandwiches shaped like LEGO bricks or   Or even just colour in some cardboard popcorn holders?

Get Comfy!

Why not make movie night extra special by making a den to watch it from? Get together some bean bags or couch cushions on the floor cover in blankets and snuggle up together!

Turn off the tech!

It an obvious one but sometimes it just needs to be said, switch off your phones, laptops and tablets to get into the spirit of family time and watch the movie with your children. It may not be the most exciting thong to watch for grown ups but at least you'll be ale to chat to them about it fterwards and they'll kow you were paying attention!

And Enjoy!

With these tips you should be all ready to enjoy your next family movie night, have fun! We'll be enjoying a LEGO Superhero movie night this weekend and making some LEGO themed snacks to enjoy together...

I'd love to hear all about your perfect family movie nights! Do share your tips in the comments below...

Win a fabulous LEGO Superhero movie bundle over on Twitter

RT & Follow to #win this fab bundle of #WBLEGO DVDs https://t.co/yThiC1m8bO #LEGOBatmanMovie #FreebieFriday E:11/02 https://t.co/OQYB4U1324 pic.twitter.com/WV6USzcDqf

— Mymummyspennies (@Mymummyspennies) February 2, 2017

Twitter giveaway terms and conditions

• This giveaway is open to UK residents only.
• ONE winner will be chosen by a random number generator and announced on @mymummyspennies Twitter account, they will also be contacted by direct message on twitter.
• If they do not respond within 28 days another winner may be chosen.
• Your details will be passed to Warner Bros and will not be passed onto any third parties.
• The prize will be sent directly to the winner from Warner Bros.
• The company reserves the right to substitute the prize for one of a similar value if the stated prize is not available.
• Entries using any automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.
• Competition starts on 02/02/2017 and ends 11/02/2017 11.59pm.

Disclosure: We received a DVD bundle in exchange for writing this post.

4 Films to Watch With Your Kids This Halloween #win

Halloween is almost upon us, and what better way to celebrate than with a spooky family movie night?

Why go out into the cold evening, to trick or treat when you can snuggle up under blankets, eat warm popcorn and watch some spooky Scooby Doo fun?

My favourite spooky stories as a child always involved Scooby Doo and the gang, so I'm delighted that not only are they still making new ones, my children love the classics too!

Scooby-Doo! 4 DVD Halloween Collection

This bumper DVD pack offers great value as it includes four full spooky movies featuring the Mystery Solving gang and lots of extras too!

Scooby-Doo - Franken Creepy: Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma are back in this original movie! Velma discovers she’s inherited her great-great-uncle Dr. Von Dinkenstein’s castle, and the gang persuades her to go claim her inheritance. But when the Mystery Machine blows up as a warning, the crew springs into action…and this time it’s personal!
Includes 2 Bonus Episodes: A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts and To Switch a Witch. 

Scooby-Doo - Stage Fright: Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and the Mystery Inc. crew head to Chicago for a talent show, some museum tours and a wholelotta pizza!
Includes 2 Bonus Vintage Cartoons: Never Ape an Ape Man and; Don’t Fool with a Phantom. 

Scooby-Doo - Moon Monster Madness:Blast off for an epic, otherworldly adventure in this original movie! Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma areoff to space in billionaire Sly Baron’s brand new ship. It’s all gravity-free fun until a mysterious alien forces a landing onthe dark side of the moon! Journey to the outer limits with Scooby-Doo to unravel this alien mystery!
Bonus Feature: Space Travel Is Groovy! Host Mindy Cohn (voice of Velma Dinkley) introduces us to the world of space travel with help from the world-famous Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama 

Scooby-Doo - Music of the Vampire:Scooby-Doo and the gang are geared up for a relaxing vacation. How very Velma to steer them to Vampire Palooza. When a singing theater troupe, led by pasty heartthrob Bram, meddles with an ancient resurrection chant, the vampire Lord Valdrona comes back to life. Now the stakes are flying, and the gang must sing and dance their way out of danger!
Special Features: Scooby-Doo! Vampire Sing-a-long

13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo!

If you have younger ones who may not settle for a full movie, this spooky series is an idea alternative as you can have a marathon watch or just dip in and out one episode at a time!

Super sleuths Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are on the case for ghosts, real ghosts this time, 13 of the world's meanest ghosts to be exact. Once banned to an enchanted Chest of Demons of eternity, all 13 spirits are now loose to wreak havoc on the world and only Scooby-Doo can recapture them because – ruh-roh! – he's the one who unwittingly opened the chest and let them out! Joined by the pint-sized, fast –talking magician/con artist Flim-Flam and guided by the world's greatest mystic Vincent van Ghoul (voiced and inspired by the incomparable Vincent Price), the gang causes mayhem hunting ghosts around the world while cracking fans up in the comfort of their home. Scare up this spooktacular 2-disc complete series collection for a haunting good time!

 Scooby-Doo! meets the Boo Brothers

A feature-length animated adventure for Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy-Doo.
It's the start of a Boo-tiful friendship when Scooby-Doo and Shaggy getup-close-and-spooky with some supernatural siblings in this all-new animated movie! After Shaggy's uncle leaves him a fortune in hidden jewels, Scooby and Scrappy join him for the ultimate scavenger hunt through the trap doors and tunnels of the haunted old Beauregard mansion! Terrified by the ghost of Shaggy's uncle, the gang calls in reinforcements - the wild and ectoplasmic Boo Brothers, a phantom family of ghoul-chasing ghosts!

Scooby Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster

This is a live-action/CGI-animated children's adventure comedy based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series so is idea for kids who may have grown out of cartoon style movies! 

 Shaggy (Nick Palatas), Velma (Hayley Kiyoko), Daphne (Kate Melton), Fred (Robbie Amell) and Scooby-Doo (voice of Frank Welker) go to work at Uncle Thorny (Ted McGinley)'s country club in Erie Point during their summer holiday. When a big green creature shows up at the club, causing chaos, Thorny loses a great deal of his customers so the gang decide to help him by investigating the legendary curse of the lake monster...
Off to a resort with summer jobs, the gang stumbles onto a mystery when the Frog Monster of Lake Erie makes an unexpected appearance, scaring away all the guests. Only Mystery Inc. can save the day, but with a creature on the loose, mystical moonstones and summer romance in the air, will they be able to work as a team and solve the crime?

Win! 

You can win a copy of all these fab movies over on twitter now:

#RT & Follow to #Win these Scooby-Doo DVD's #WBHalloween E:6/11 23.59pm https://t.co/uGj66qlPki #freebiefriday #win #FreebieFriday UK only pic.twitter.com/5a70RPpmeV

— Mymummyspennies (@Mymummyspennies) October 28, 2016

Don't forget you can buy these and other fantastic Halloween themed movies at great prices at Amazon!

What's your favourite spooky movie?

TalkTalk unveils brand new TV player

Over the last few months that we've been part of the Talk Talk family blogger network I've grown to really appreciate the convenience of the Talk Talk player. We don't watch a lot of TV in our house but when we do, it tends to be at times to suit us rather than fitting in with the broadcasting schedule, so I love how easy the TalkTalk player makes it for us to watch what we want to when we want to!

The slick new TalkTalk player is the home of on-demand movies and entertainment and also offers a movie rental service. Which is ideal for those Saturday evenings where you want to cuddle up on the sofa and watch a movie but can't decide what to go for...

TalkTalk Box Office now includes more of the latest blockbusters with new movies being added every week, often on the same day as the DVD release!

You can rent your favourite films from just £4 for 48 hours, which is ideal if a cozy night in with your other half ends up being interrupted by a little one who just can't get to sleep. You can simply carry on watching the following evening!

We've made use of the TalkTalk Box Office a few times, for just £4 and the cost of a few ingredients, we've enjoyed a 'date night' at the movies with homemade pizza, popcorn and no need for a babysitter! An ideal way to spend quality time on a tight budget.

Another aspect of the new player that i'm impressed with is the included channels feature. I don't know about you but I often forget what channels are included in my TV package which can result in one of two things while I'm flicking through the guide trying to decide what to watch. Either reading up about a programme that I really like the sound of, only to find that we don't get that channel, or completely missing out on shows that I would really enjoy as I don't realise that we do get them!

This new feature means that I can now clearly see what is included in my package and what I would need to pay if I wanted something extra! There's no chance of me (or my 6 year old) accidently purchasing anything because our PIN number would need to be entered first.

A few other features available on the new TalkTalk Player are:

•   Powerful search: Find a movie by searching by title, actor, director or keyword
•   Watchlist: Save movies and shows to watch at another time
•   More like this: Find similar programmes to your favourite shows
•   Play all: Press the green button to play every episode in a series back to back
•   Most popular: Your favourite shows and movies in one place
•  Currently watching: If you need to leave a programme half way through, head to the ‘currently watching’ section to return to the exact point where you left off

Tristia Harrison, Managing Director for Consumer at TalkTalk commented: “YouView from TalkTalk is fast becoming a destination for family entertainment and our all-new TalkTalk Player offers more of the best TV and movies at a cost viewers can control. We've made our on-demand movies, kids and Sky entertainment library bigger than ever and the TalkTalk Player is faster, and smarter, making it easier to find shows and films you want to watch."

Roll out of the new player began on 11th June with the service being available to all TalkTalk TV home by the 17th of June.

Are you a TalkTalk TV customer? What do you think of the new player? Are there any features that you've noticed that I've missed?

This post was written as part of our role as TalkTalk Family Bloggers.