Parenting Adivce — Drive-in Movies with Baby
Author: Mommy Saturday June 27th, 2015 12 Comments
Michael and I had recently grown desperate to go out and see a movie together, something we hadn’t done since I was pregnant. We don’t have a ton of options as far as getting last minute help watching the baby, so we had to get creative. I realize that many people may not have this option in their areas, but I am more so encouraging parents to get creative!
We started researching ways to go on a “date” that was fairly baby friendly. It ends up that there is a drive-in movie theater right where we live on
the beach! We had absolutely no idea that this was there, and I have lived here my whole life! We weren’t sure how it would be taking Noah, our 6-month-old son along with us, but we were going to give it a shot to find out! They were playing the new Jurassic Park movie and tickets were $5 per head, can’t beat that. This particular drive-in theater plays two different movies, one at 8:30pm and the other starting right after at 10:30pm. The sun hadn’t set completely during the previews but once the movie started, the sunset disappeared and the stars came out. It was perfect!
I cooked dinner ahead of time and packed it in little containers so that we could eat it when we arrived. My recommendation is definitely to eat before you leave because while eating in the car during the movie is fun, if you have a little one it can be tough, especially if you are starving! Michael had just come from working out and we were pressed for time but we made it work! Luckily Noah was asleep for the first 30 minutes of the movie from the car ride alone. That made it easy for us to eat real quick but the whole time Michael and I were saying to each other “hopefully he keeps sleeping just a few more minutes!” as we scarfed down our food.
Not long after we finished, Noah woke up. I quickly grabbed him from his car seat and brought him up to the driver’s seat with me. After I fed him, he was pretty content. He was fascinated with the sound of the movie coming out of the speakers and the projection light all the way to the big screen. Here and there we were able to sit him down on the center console between us and he would watch. But for the most part we took turns propping him up on our laps to watch the movie.
It definitely wasn’t movie theater, child-free, date night comfortable, but it was fun, and we needed it! And believe it or not, we can’t wait to do it again! Like I said, neither of us had any idea that we even had a drive-in theater! So if you are itching for a date night and have a baby, don’t get discouraged if you can’t find a sitter. Get on the internet and find out what your city or county has to offer, I bet you there are quite a few things available that you may have never thought about as an option, or better yet, never knew existed!
*Note about the pics: We are the jerks with the headlights on
I jumped out of the car right when we got there while other cars were still paying to get in and the previews were running so that I could snap some pics before it got too dark. Lights were off seconds later!
How did you like this parenting Advice? I would love to hear all about your crazy date nights with a baby or a child!
