Holes
Culinary Movie Night Guide
Difficulty Level: Medium
Table of Contents
Equipment
Here is a list (with links) of all the equipment and decorations I used for my Holes Culinary Movie Night. I would be incredibly grateful if you used my links. I will make a little commission, and that would really help with the cost of the website and related expenses. 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
Mr. Sir’s Salty Welcome
For this dish, I served sunflower seeds, mini Coke bottles, and a smoked goat cheese dip with crackers for dipping.
Smoked Goat Cheese Dip Recipe– I sprinkled some sunflower seeds on top to tie in the sunflower seeds Mr. Sir is always eating since he quit smoking.
Camp Slop
Make sure to serve the meal with white bread. It’s great to soak up all the chili juices!
Carb Loading
Honey Churro Tortilla Chips Recipe
I linked this recipe to help you visualize how to make these but they are very simple to make. I just cut up flour tortillas, fried them in oil until golden brown, drizzled honey on them, and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. The honey is important becaus ethey were drenched in honey in the movie.
Because these are fried, they are best served fresh, so they are the last thing I made before pressing play.
Jughead
For this drink, I used these small jubs as the container and filled them with small icecubes and Peach Margarita Cutwater. Peaches, of course, because they play a huge role in the plot of the film. I also wrote the nicknames on them to match the ones in the movie: Barf Bag & Caveman.
Kissin’ Kate
To save time, I premixed the cocktail and stored it in my refrigerator.
To make the burn-away top, I used edible wafer paper. Using the glasses that you will serve the drink in, trace the top of it on the paper and cut it out. You want to use the glass to trace it because the paper should fit perfectly on top of the glass.
To make the lip marks, I actually just applied red lipstick and made the kiss marks myself. lol Make sure to prepare these toppers before you start the film so you can have everything ready to serve.
To serve, add ice to your glass and pour your premixed drink. Then, rub the top of each glass with honey. You want to coat it enough so the paper will stick. Place the kiss paper on top and make sure all sides are sticking and secure. Then serve.
When it’s time to burn the paper, light it in the center and watch it burn. Make sure to have a fire blanket or extinguisher on hand for safety. The paper is edible, so when it burns, it tastes like a toasted marshmallow. We did have a few chunks of the burned paper in the drink, so I ended up straining it into another glass after. It’s all up to your taste preference. I think it’s a fun effect either way.
Sploosh
I made this recipe ahead of time to save time. To reheat, I cooked it in my oven while th emovie was playing. I suggest starting the reheat process when you are serving the jugs. This will give it enough time in the oven (at 350 F) to get perfectly warm.
To serve, I layered the peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream in a mason jar. The warm peach cobbler quickly melted the ice cream, and we were slurping it up just like they did in the movie.
Sam’s Sweet Onions
For the film, they actually used apples for the actors to eat the “Onions” convincingly. I took a different approach because they were dreaming of eating a hot fudge sundaes during this scene. I made a hot fudge sundae cake and attempted to make the outside look like an onion lol.
The cake was a chocolate cake with French vanilla bean frosting and homemade hot fudge in the center.
Chocolate Cake Recipe– I halved all the ingredients, so I didn’t make a large cake.
French Vanilla Bean Frosting Recipe
Homemade Hot Fudge Recipe– What for the hot fudge to cool before putting it into the center of the cake.
To make the cake round, I covered a small bowl with plastic wrap and layered frosting, cake, frosting, hot fudge, frosting, cake, frosting, hot fudge, frosting, cake, frosting.
Freeze the bowl of cake and then, after a few hours, tug on the plastic wrap to pop the cake out of the bowl.
To decorate the onion, I cut strips of the edible wafer paper and layered them onto the cake.
Then it’s time to paint. Now I didn’t do enough research on wafer paper, so I mixed purple food coloring and water to make the paint. This made the paper super soggy, and it absorbed all the color of the food coloring and made it a weird little purple color.
Don’t make my mistake. You should use an alcohol-based mixture so the paper will dry.
With that said, my husband knew immediately it was an “onion” so it still served its purpose, I guess. lol
This is how it looked when I first painted it, and I was happy with the results….. Then it all got absorbed into this soggy mess. 🙁
To serve, I just pulled the wafer paper off. It came off easily. It is edible, so you could also take a big bite of it like in the movie.
Keep Dig’n
Butterscotch Pudding Recipe– You can also use the pudding packets from the grocery store to save time and money.
Graham Cracker Crust Crumble Recipe
Make these ahead of time and store them in your refrigerator with the cute shovel spoons. Then when it’s time to serve, you just have to quickly grab them from the fridge.
