Scary Movie
Culinary Movie Night Guide
Difficulty Level: Easy
Table of Contents
Equipment
This is the label I printed out for the bottle of beer.
You can find my full Amazon List here!
Tips
- Personalizing the Menu– When planning your menu for your movie night, don’t feel pressured to serve exactly what I chose to serve. Feel free to remove/add/replace dishes so it makes sense for you and your guests. I’ve included an editable menu in this guide to make it your own!
- Managing Your Time– These movie nights can take a lot of time to prepare, especially if you plan on doing everything yourself. If you are planning a culinary movie night with a group, I suggest doing a potluck style. Have each person contribute a dish or two, and it’ll be very manageable. If you are planning on preparing everything yourself, here are some things I’ve learned while doing these often:
- Make A To-Do List– I can’t stress this enough! It’s very easy to forget simple things like opening a bottle of prosecco before you start the movie so you aren’t fumbling with the seal before serving. I have done this so many times! Your to-do list should include absolutely everything you need to do leading up to pressing play.
- Start Early– I learned this after a few very long days of trying to cook, prepare, and host all on the same day. Anything that can be done in advance should be done during the days leading up to the movie night. Some examples include pre-mixing cocktails, making desserts and other foods like soup that hold up well in the refrigerator, and pre-making any handmade decorations. Hosting is stressful enough without having to make a multi-course meal in one day, so get as much done as possible before.
- No Pausing– The question I get asked the most is “Do you pause the movie to bring out the next dish?”. It’s important to me that I don’t disrupt the flow of the movie, so I do not pause. It’s also important to me to enjoy the movie with my guests. Setting up everything I need before the movie helps me bring out each dish efficiently. The setup usually includes plating each dish and storing it in the refrigerator, so all I have to do is quickly microwave it before serving. I set out any garnish or decoration on my kitchen counter so it’s easily accessible. I even pour the cocktails into their cups and store them in the refrigerator, so all I have to do is add ice and any finishing touches before serving. Always think about how you can do the bare minimum during the film. I always include the setup in my to-do list as well, so I don’t forget about any aspect of the preparation.
- Optional– If your budget permits, I recommend ordering food that you may not be confident in cooking or food that may take a lot of time to cook. I do this occasionally, and it helps cut down the preparation time and supports local businesses. Win Win!
- Decorations- Have fun and decorate your space and serving tray! Add elements from the theme of the movie, but make a budget and stick to it! I usually use things I already own because these movie nights are DIY, and I don’t need to spend a fortune to make it fun. If I do buy decorations for the movie night, I try to find cheap or reusable things. If you are curious about some of the things I’ve used during the movie nights, here is a link to my Amazon List. All these items are things I bought with my own money and enjoyed using.
- Manage Stress- Culinary Movie Nights are fun and a great way to show your friends and family you love them. Sometimes, things you envision in your head will not come out perfectly. When this happens to me, it can be discouraging and stressful, but the people I do these for have NEVER expressed anything but appreciation. Go easy on yourself and remember that your guests are just happy to be there and to experience something you put so much thought and time into making.
Menu
I have created a free, editable, and printable menu for all the dishes I served for this Culinary Movie Night! Feel free to change it to what will work for you and your guests.
Cues
These are the cues I used during the movie night so I knew when I had to get the next dish ready to serve.
Please note: Each cue describes a scene that happens a few minutes before I have to serve the dish. It does not describe the scene the dish is based on. Some people get confused with that, so I thought I should specify. Because the cues only give you a few minutes to prepare the dish, it’s very important to have everything cooked and set up before the film starts. Review the “Tips” section above for ways to make this seamless.
I often get asked why I don’t use time stamps to keep track of when to serve the next dish and the simple answer is, I don’t find those helpful. If I used timestamps, I would have to have a separate timer going or keep disrupting the movie to check the timestamp. It makes much more sense to have cues to indicate when the next scene is about to happen. This allows me to enjoy watching the film with my guests.
Below is the link to the cues I used. This document is editable, so you can make updates if you decide to take out or change dishes.
Recipes
Say Yellow To My Little Friend
Dirty Banana Cocktail Recipe
2 oz of Rum
1 oz of Creme de Cacao
Banana Milk (I used the Korean Binggrae Brand)
Instructions:
To make this cocktail, drizzle chocolate into your empty glass. I used leftover chocolate from the chocolate-dipped bananas, but you can use chocolate syrup, too. Next, fill your glass with ice. Then, add the rum and creme de cacao. Fill the rest of your glass with banana milk and stir.
This is the first dish you’ll be serving, so you can prepare it right before starting the movie. If you are using leftover chocolate for the glass, you can prepare the glass ahead of time when you are making the chocolate-dipped bananas.
Chocolate Dipped Banana Recipe– You can add the nut topping if you want. I kept it simple and just used chocolate. I also used a longer stick so I could stick the banana into my tall glass. Oh, and the shape of the chocolate-dipped banana was a happy coincidence. LMAO!
Popcorn– I used premade popcorn. You can use whatever you like, but make sure to have it wrapped in aluminum foil to match the scene. I thought it would be funny to switch out the small popcorn for a bigger version to match the ever-growing popcorn in the movie. To do this, I put two big bowls on top of each other and wrapped them in aluminum foil. Aluminum foil is expensive, though, so make sure to reuse it!
He Kneads Dough
This scene features a sub-style sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap. I went with a simple ham and cheese sandwich with a deli salad mix on top. To make the salad, I just added some chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and red onion to a bowl and mixed in a small amount of salad dressing. Any salad dressing will work. I also added mayo and mustard to the bread.
I recommend making these sandwiches right before starting the movie so you can serve them fresh. I had them sitting out on my kitchen counter, already on the plate. This helped me serve them really quickly.
Whiskey Business
This cocktail was also an easy one to serve. The cocktail contains one little bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey and lemonade. The garnish on top is a piece of honeycomb and the empty bottle of whiskey.
To save time when serving, I had the drinks premixed and already in their mason jars. I didn’t measure, just filled the jar up about halfway with the lemonade after pouring in the little bottle of whiskey. I also had the honeycomb garnish already on the cocktail picks.
To serve these drinks quickly, I just had to add ice, pop the premade honeycomb garnish on top, and finish the look with the upside-down bottle.
Teenie Wienie
For these BBQ Smokies, you can make the very simple version by using premade BBQ sauce, or you can make your own sauce. I made the sauce myself for this one, but I’ve used just bottled BBQ sauce many times, and it’s always delicious. Do what is easiest and most affordable for you.
If you are using a bottled BBQ sauce, start by frying up the little smokies in a frying pan until they start browning. Lower the heat and add the BBQ sauce. I usually don’t measure because the amount you use depends on the amount of smokies you’re making. Just add enough so the smokies are all coated and then some. Let that cook, stirring often until the sauce thickens and coats the smokies.
If you want to make the sauce yourself, here is a good BBQ Smokies Recipe.
I premade these earlier in the day and stored them in an airtight container in my refrigerator. When I was about to start the movie, I quickly plated these smokies so I didn’t have to spend time on that during the movie. Then, I just had to microwave for about a minute before serving.
Chillin and Killin
For this scene, there is a parody beer from the brand Miller. In the movie, they instead created the brand “Killer”. To match the large bottle of beer Ghostface was drinking, I used a medium-sized Coca-Cola bottle. I had to buy Coca-Cola for the Tootsie Pop drink, so that worked out. I transferred the Coke to a different bottle and slowly poured in the Miller beer. I also printed out the “Killer” label and taped it to the bottle to make it look like the beer bottle in the movie. I attached the PDF file with the label I used in the “Equipment” section above.
For the Doritos, I bought the Flamin’ Hot Nacho Cheese flavor because the label was mostly black, which resembled the label from the movie. These are very spicy, though, so if you don’t like spice, maybe go with the original Nacho Cheese flavor instead.
Shut The Cluck Up!
Hot Honey Lemon Pepper Wings Recipe
I made these wings earlier in the day and stored them in an airtight container in my refrigerator. When I was about to start the movie, I quickly plated the wings so I didn’t have to spend time on that during the movie. Then, I just had to microwave for about a minute before serving.
Make sure to serve the wings in aluminum foil to match the scene. I used some of that aluminum foil from the large popcorn in the first scene.
1,2,3
This is an OLD joke, so I’m sorry to anyone who doesn’t get it. It’s from the old Tootsie Pop commercials where the little kid asks the owl how many licks it takes to get to the center of the Tootsie Pop. The Owl counts to three and then bites. The biting sound is the same as in the movie. LOL!
This recipe really does taste like a Cherry Tootsie Pop. IT’S WILD! Because this cocktail contains Coke, it would not be advisable to premix it. It would lose its carbination. What I did to save time was to premix the rest of the cocktail except for the Coke. Have the premix already in the glass. Also have the cherry lollipops out and cherry garnish already on the cocktail pick.
Then, before serving, all you have to do is add ice, top the cocktail with Coke, and add the cherries and lollipop as a garnish. I arranged the garnish in a specific way, so if you see it, I hope you had a good laugh! HAHA!
Rest in Pieces
Of course, we couldn’t end the movie night without a Ghostface theme dish! I decided to serve a dessert-style hand pie with strawberry filling,
I used store-bought pie crust for the dough and strawberry jelly for the inside of the pie.
Step 1: Cut the shapes by cutting one, then using it to cut the others so they are all even. Then cut out the face of half the dough.
Optional: I also cut out a knife shape to make little knife pies, too.
Step 2: Place about a tablespoon of strawberry jelly on the bottom half of the cutouts. Spread it evenly.
Step 3: Cover the pies with the top face cutout. Pinch all the ends together so the pies are sealed.
Step 4: Brush an egg wash on top. This gives the pies that glossy look when they bake.
Step 5: Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until the pie crust is golden brown.
I made these a few hours before movie night and just stored them on the plate in my microwave. They don’t need to be refrigerated. If you want, you can add some extra jelly to the mouth, eyes, and knife so it’s extra jammy when you serve.
