It’s December…the perfect time to get your Grinch on! Here’s how to plan a new family holiday tradition – a memorable Grinch themed dinner & movie night including food recipes, dessert ideas, and more festive inspiration!
Even though things in the outside world might feel a bit depressing and hopeless, the one thing I can control is what happens under our roof at home.
So this Holiday Season, I am upping the game on festivities with my kids.
One of the things that we added to our Christmas family bucket list is to watch holiday movies together
(Missed that blog post? You can read about how to make a Holiday Bucket List here)
Which is all well and good but I’m determined to kick it up a notch and have decided to make our movie nights also themed dinner nights.
Hold onto your hats, mamas, cause I can’t wait to show you what I have planned…and feel free to steal any of my ideas and create a Grinch-tastic night for your family too!
First up…Dr. Seuss’s “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”
I mean, planning this one is super easy…even if you aren’t the super creative type, you can throw some green food on a plate and call it a “Grinch Dinner”.
Lots of people love making green eggs which is a good idea but the kids are not fans of eggs for dinner so this is what food we did instead.
Luckily for me, there are T-O-N-S of ideas on Pinterest (check out my Grinch Board here), and that made the planning so much easier for all of us with more fun ideas!
Here is what was on our menu for our first annual Grinch Dinner…If you’d like a copy of this free Grinch Menu printable, it’s all yours here!
I also made a blank Grinch Menu for you if you find other recipes you want to add to your Grinch dinner!
Next year, I plan to add some fun Grinch decorations…or get real crazy, and play some Grinch games! “Oh, the places you can go” with so many creative ideas!! (where are my Seuss fans…did you get it?)
1. Grinch Themed Dinner – Pinwheel Appetizers (recipe here)
This pinwheel appetizer was a new recipe for us, and they were very easy to create.
As you can see from the picture I even made a vegetarian version too omitting the meat, so keep that in mind if you have any dietary restrictions. You can customize it to your preferences!
Next year I hope to get even more “Christmasy” with a tortilla tree appetizer! This adorable idea can be found at the blog “Living on Cloud Nine” here.
2. Grinch Themed Dinner Main Dish – BLT Wraps
Grinch BLT Wraps are basically regular BLT wraps but with….wait for it… green spinach tortillas! #thatwaseasy
I would have made “Roast Beast” since that’s referenced in the movie, but we don’t really eat much beef in our house, so we customized it to meet our dietary preferences with turkey bacon.
3. Grinch Themed Dinner Side Dish – “Who Hash”
“Who Hash” was super easy to make…it’s basically seasoned hash browns, but you can use any type of hashbrown/potato-based recipe to get the job done!
The kids got a kick out of this because when we watched the movie they specifically referred to “Who Hash” in the movie.
4. Grinch Themed Dinner Side Dish – Grinch Santa Fruit Kebobs
You can get the full recipe and “how-to” from this post at the Clean & Scentsible Blog!
Although the pictures don’t do them justice, these fruit kebobs that look like Grinch Santa’s head were super cute and they taste good too… it’s a “must” on the menu list and very easy to make.
Grab your kids and have them help!
5. Grinch Themed Dinner – Salad
Really you can use any green salad that you want to make – we opted for Caesar Salad!
You get the idea, just go with the theme and add it to the list, any creativity is a win!
6. Grinch Themed Dinner Beverage – Grinch Juice
I wanted to make this one with Sprite and lime sherbet, but I could not find sherbet at my grocery store, so I just served Sprite in green sugar-rimmed wine glasses.
You could also use green sprinkles to decorate the edge. The kids loved drinking out of fancy glasses and it made the entire theme that much more fun.
6. Grinch Themed Dinner Dessert – “MAX-Tracks” Ice Cream
Instead of “Mint Moose Tracks”, we called it “MAX-Tracks” in honor of the Grinch’s dog Max.
Yep, just roll with the fun ideas and come up with your own inspiration too.
7. Grinch Themed Dinner Sweets – Other Dessert Ideas
If you are feeling extra industrious, you can make a Grinch cake like The Barefoot Baker shared on her blog.
I’m beyond impressed how she got a red heart in the loaf like that! That’s downright genius!!
Or if you want to really take it over the top or if you are planning to host a holiday movie viewing party, these Grinch cakes would make anyone “green” with envy! #Grinchpun
Brittanie at “Simplistically Living” has nailed it!!
And they are chocolate cupcakes – a double win!
She’s got tons of other Grinchy goodness that you can check out here!
8. Grinch Themed Dinner – The Verdict
I was a bit worried because my kids are all teenagers (13, 15, 18) they would think our Grinch Dinner was “lame” or “too cheesy”, but honestly they loved it! (or at least they acted as they did!)
I think my husband really enjoyed it too so it was a BIG WIN in our house!
Up next…planning for The Elf Movie…
You can see all the fun we had with “Buddy” here in my blog post:
So there you have it, the Grinch Themed Dinner & Movie Night every family will love this Christmas Season.
Part of the fun is to do this together so get your family involved in planning it, making it, and of course, eating it!
Until next time, cheers to letting your “heart grow three sizes”, and cheers to you!
XOXO,
Magan
P.S. Want to plan another fun movie night?
Check out my National Lampoon’s Themed Dinner & Movie Night!
