How to Have a ‘Santa Clause’ Themed Dinner and Movie Night

Inside: Fun ideas for a Santa Clause themed dinner and movie night. Plus a few Santa craft ideas.

Every year we watch our favorite Christmas movies as a family in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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For the past few years we have made these Christmas movie nights even more fun with a dinner inspired by the movie and an activity or craft to go along with it.

While dinner and the activity are totally optional they make the movie night extra fun.

Each year we watch the first Santa Clause movie. Sometimes we watch the other movies in the series and sometimes we don’t. The first one is definitely our favorite.

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The Santa Clause Movie Series

If you haven’t seen the Santa clause movies here is a brief synopsis of each movie in the series.

The Santa Clause (1994)

The series begins with Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), a divorced dad who inadvertently becomes Santa Claus after a Christmas Eve accident.

As Scott takes on Santa’s responsibilities, his transformation becomes impossible to ignore, especially as his appearance changes to look more and more like the man in the red suit.

This heartwarming story reminds us of the magic of belief and the importance of family.

The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

In this sequel, Scott has fully embraced his role as Santa. But there’s a new challenge: the “Mrs. Clause” stipulates that he must find a wife before Christmas Eve or give up being Santa forever.

As he tries to balance his duties in the North Pole with his quest for love, Scott discovers that true love can come in the most unexpected ways.

Related Post: The Best Family Christmas Movies

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)

The final movie in the series finds Scott facing a new adversary, Jack Frost (Martin Short), who is trying to take over Christmas.

To complicate things, Scott’s wife Carol is pregnant, and he is juggling his Santa duties with preparing for the birth of their child. This installment emphasizes teamwork, friendship, and the joy of welcoming new life during the holiday season.

Santa Clause Movie Night Menu

Make your movie night extra fun with a themed dinner before the show and fun movie inspired snacks while you watch.

Santa Clause Dinner Idea

If you’ve seen the movie you know that Christmas dinner ends up being at Denny’s so we went with that and had breakfast for dinner.

We made dinner at home but if you want to go out you could have dinner at Denny’s and come home to watch the movie.

Denny’s Breakfast for Dinner

You could have fun with this menu and do any of your favorite breakfast foods. Our Denny’s Breakfast menu included:

  • Pancakes topped with whipped cream and holiday sprinkles
  • Ham
  • Hashbrowns
  • Eggs

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Desserts and Snacks for the Santa Clause Movie

A movie just wouldn’t be the same without snacks. Here are some fun snacks that we enjoyed while watching the Santa Clause movie.

Cookies

We all know Santa loves cookies so what would a Santa clause movie night be without cookies. We had chocolate chip cookies but you could enjoy any favorite holiday cookie.

Popcorn

At our house popcorn is a must for movie night. We had basic buttered popcorn but you could definitely make a fun Santa Clause inspired popcorn mix for the movie night snack.

Santa Clause Movie Drinks

There are a few different drinks mentioned in the movie but hot chocolate was a must for our family.

Judy’s Hot Cocoa, shaken not stirred

End the night with hot chocolate! Keep it simple or create a hot chocolate bar with marshmallows, whipped cream, candy canes, and chocolate chips.

Crafts and Activities for The Santa Clause Movie Night

Keep the holiday spirit alive with some simple crafts and activities that tie into the movies.

Make Your Own Santa Beard

Grab the cotton balls or tissue paper, glue, and free printable Santa template to Help your kids make their very own Santa beards!

Santa’s Workshop: Toy Ornament Craft

Gather supplies to make your own ornaments to put on the tree. There are tons of fun ideas online a few we have loved making are pasta angel ornaments, melted snowman ornaments, sand dough ornaments and borax icicle ornaments.

cropped-Dont-eat-Santa-Christmas-game-for-kids.jpg

Play Don’t Eat Santa

These Christmas themed version of the classic Don’t Eat Pete game is great to play while your making dinner or as an after dinner activity. Grab the free printable game board.

Write Letters to Santa

If you haven’t yet written a letter to Santa after watching “The Santa Clause” is a great time for your kids to write their letters to Santa. Provide festive paper or this fun letter to Santa coloring page and markers to let them get creative with their Christmas wish lists.

candy bar sleigh Christmas activity

Have Candy Bar Sleigh Races

Each year we make candy bar sleighs and have a race. This activity is great any night during the Christmas season but works really well with the Santa Clause movie theme. See how we make our sleighs and race them here.

More Christmas Movie Nights

After your Santa Clause movie night it’s time to decide which Christmas movie to watch next.

You can find our whole Christmas movie bucket list here or below you’ll find our other Christmas and Dinner movie nights.