Family Date Night at the Drive-In Theater

A few weeks ago on a Saturday night, my husband and I were sitting on the couch trying to decide what to do for the evening. We were bored and looking to do something different but have been trying to keep our activities budget friendly. Around 7:30pm we realized we better pick something or we would end up having a date night at home (which satisfied the budget friendly aspect, but nothing new around our house) when I remembered I have always wanted to go to the Drive-In Theater in Ennis.

Within an hour, we had packed up our three year old, a few supplies, and were driving into a parking lot for our double feature! This was our first time to a drive in (of what I can assure you will be many) and here are a few notable things and tips that I learned trip.

1. Movies start around 9pm in the summers or as soon as it gets dark enough. My daughter actually is a late owl because of my work schedule but if your kids are the kind that will sleep in a car seat and go to bed early, strap them in and by the time you get out there they will be passed out. Then maybe you can sneak in a kiss or two!
2. Pricing is *very* reasonable. Each adult is $8 and children are $4.  My entire family’s admission equaled the same amount that one ticket would be at a traditional theater!
3. No outside food or drink is allowed, but no worries, along with their ticket pricing being affordable, you won’t be gouged on snacks to make up profits. We spent $5 on a large popcorn that was enough to share between the three of us and one soda.
4. We felt like total newbies because everyone around us had either brought lawn chairs, were in the bed of a truck, or had their hatchback open. While we were comfortable in my car, next time we will be reversing into our spot and folding our seats down, I just didn’t prepare enough and had a full trunk.
5. During the movie, you can either listen to your own radio or use speakers provided. I was paranoid about my car battery draining so we used the speakers (I am scarred from being a teenager spending hours talking to my then-boyfriend in my car just listening to the radio. Battery died and made me miss curfew; that fear has never gone away!). I also learned that there were two settings to listen to the radio, one that works all electric components (lights, radio, car charger, etc.) and one that works for radio only, make sure to select the correct one!
6. If you happen to be one of the unfortunate cars that the battery dies, they have you covered! There were signs posted on what to do in the event your battery drains, and after the movies, employees drive around looking to assist cars in need.
7. We made a bed in the back seat for our daughter. Even though she wasn’t interested in the movie we selected, the fact that she was able to move about the car and play around kept her entertained pretty much the entire movie. And when she became a bit restless, it didn’t matter because her talking only impacted us.
8. Each screen is a double feature. Our daughter fell asleep at the end of the first movie but we ended up deciding to leave 15 minutes into the second one. If you are going to drive while a movie is playing, be sure to only use your daytime lights so not to cause a distraction to the other cars.

Even though there was a total of 15 minutes put into planning, our family date night to the drive in has been one of our favorites.My husband and I were able to enjoy a movie at an affordable rate (with no babysitter!) and my daughter loved playing in the car.  There was just something so traditional feeling about it, and I am already looking forward to the next one!

**This post was not sponsored by Galaxy Drive-In or any other company. It was simply an awesome find I wanted to share with you!