The Polar Express Family Fun Experience

Polar Express theme night is a must this holiday season.

The holiday season is the perfect time to gather with family, cozy up on the couch, and enjoy a classic Christmas movie. But why stop at just watching? This year, elevate your movie night by adding a fun and festive theme complete with creative food and drinks inspired by your film of choice!

For our family, we turned our Polar Express movie night into a magical experience with a themed lunch to match the story. Think hot cocoa galore, snowy treats, and playful dishes straight from the imagination of the North Pole. Whether you’re watching Elf, Home Alone, or The Grinch, pairing your holiday favorites with themed meals and drinks will make your family movie night unforgettable.

Ready to plan your own? Grab some inspiration from our Polar Express-inspired feast and get creative with your family’s favorite Christmas movie!

Our Polar Express Theme Food:

Mom went all out when she was planning all this and it turned out super cute. Here is everything that we had for the kids to enjoy (plus the adults enjoyed them as well).

Polar Express pinwheel sandwiches-

Simple little wraps rolled up and cut into bite size sandwiches. Make with your favorite lunch meats and cheese. We had Salami, Ham and Turkey for our warps.

Caribou Crossing Fruit Tray-

Gather up all your favorite fruits to make your own caribou crossing fruit tray.

North Pole Donuts–

These were so cute and easy to make. The base was a mini powdered donut with a red and white stripe paper straw in the middle. On the top of the straw was a red m&m that was held on with icing. The kids loved these sweet treats.

Hot Chocolate Pretzels-

Classic chocolate covered pretzels. I had fun with ours and made snowman themed ones and fun reindeer pretzels. These were so fun to make.

Snowman– Take 4 thin pretzel sticks. Line them up and dip the bottom half of the pretzels in white chocolate. Let the chocolate harden. Then turn around and dip into milk chocolate. Take a half piece and dip into the chocolate. Place that piece on the bottom of the chocolate piece where it meets the white chocolate. Once everything is hard now you can add the eye and mouth with the milk chocolate.

Reindeer– For these I took 4 pretzel sticks and dipped them in melted chocolate. Pulled them out and added candy eyes and a red m&m as the nose. Let them harden and then enjoy.

What’s a Polar Express theme night without some Hot Chocolate? Mom made some yummy crockpot hot chocolate for this. Two simple ingredients perfect for a large group.

Crockpot Hot chocolate-

• 1/2 gallon chocolate milk
• ½ cup of Swiss-miss hot chocolate mix
• marshmallows

In your crockpot mix the chocolate milk and swiss-miss together. Spinkle on some marshmallows on the top to melt. Let it warm up for a couple hours. Pour into a cup and top with some more marshmallows and enjoy!

Want to add some fun?

We couldn’t do a Polar Express movie night without a conductor! My 12 -year old was a good sport for this. He dressed up and acted the part for us. He passed out the train tickets like they were the kids in the Polar Express.

When it was time to check them he went around and punched them just like the movie. When the hot chocolate song came on that’s when he passed out all the hot chocolate cups to everyone. It was super cute.

When it was time to head home in the movie he came back out and handed out new train tickets that said believe. Mom took the extra golden tickets that she had and used her cricut to cut out “believe” on them.

Add trivia into movie night-

If you have older kids watching the movie add a small trivia into your movie night for some added excitement into the night. Here are some example questions you could ask or make up your own.

• What is “the first gift of Christmas”?
• What was the boy listening for in bed at the beginning of the movie?
• What is the boy not wearing when he goes outside?
• What are the words the conductor punches into each child’s ticket at the end of the movie?
• What was in the coffee cup that the hobo gave to Hero Boy?
• When it comes to hot chocolate what is the number 1 rule?
• In which pocket does the boy put the bell?

This is a must do with little ones this holiday season. I know my kids are already begging me for another movie/dinner christmas theme night. If you want to check out more themes we have some pinned on our pinterest page but just search on Pinterest with the movie that you want to watch.

What’s a favorite Christmas movie for you and your family?

We would love to see your movie nights. Tag us in your post on Tik Tok and Facebook!