A Christmas Story Dinner Night

A Christmas Story is my MOST favorite Christmas movie of all time!   This film follows the Parker family in 1940s Indiana during the days leading up to their Christmas holiday.  I knew this movie would make a great Christmas Story Dinner to wrap up our holiday movie nights.  This movie is full of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, relatable situations (for adults and children alike), and great one-liners – You’ll shoot your eye out!  A Christmas Story is also a wonderful reminder that (despite your best efforts) no Christmas celebration will ever be perfect.  But what is most important during the holidays, is spending time with your loved ones.

For our Christmas Story Dinner Night, I took inspiration from some of our favorite movie moments to create a menu that reflected the merriment occurring in the film.  Read on to see how we celebrated this Christmas classic – I TRIPLE-DOG-DARE YA!

Download a printable version of our Christmas Story Dinner Night Menu here:

“All right!  Everybody upstairs!  Get dressed!  We are going out…to eat!”

One scene from the movie that is both hilarious and heartbreaking, is when the Parker family’s Christmas dinner is ruined by an invasion of the neighboring Bumpuses’ dogs.  The seemingly endless array of dogs storms through the Parker home, taking their turkey and all its fixings down with them.  With nothing in the house left to eat, the Parker family heads to their local Chinese restaurant to enjoy their Christmas dinner.  I decided that no Christmas Story Dinner Night would be complete without incorporating some sort of Chinese dish in the menu.  For an appetizer, I whipped up some eggrolls in the air fryer using this recipe from Sustainable Cooks.  These eggrolls were quick and easy to throw together, and the kids seemed to enjoy them – a double win! 

“Show Mommy how the piggies eat!”        

One of the most relatable scenes in the movie is when the Parker family struggles to get their youngest son to eat his meatloaf dinner.  Young Randy responds to their efforts with “Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double beatloaf…I HATE mealoaf!”  Mother Parker convinces Randy to take bites of his food by having him show her “how the piggies eat!”  I love this scene because it demonstrates the creativity that parents must embrace at times just to get their kids to eat their dinner!

For our Christmas Story Dinner entrée, I knew I needed to serve up meatloaf in honor of the “little piggies” out there.  I was also excited to put a Disney-spin on our dinner by utilizing Mom’s Meatloaf recipe from 50s Prime Time Café in Disney World!  This zany, 50s themed family diner in Hollywood Studios is famous for their meatloaf.  I couldn’t wait to try making it at home!  You can find the official Disney recipe shared here on the Disney Food Blog!  I altered the recipe slightly so that I could use a muffin tin to create mini meatloaves.  I then used a piping bag to pipe some mashed potatoes on top of each meatloaf, just to make everything extra pretty 😉.

Luckily, I didn’t have to resort to threats or barnyard antics to get my little piggies to finish their meatloaf! 

“Merry Christmas…Happy New Year…You can take your seat now, Ralph.”

Now I’ll admit, I struggled a little bit trying to come up with a side dish to serve with the meatloaf that could tie in to the film.  I knew the red cabbage that Mother Parker regularly serves her family probably wouldn’t go over well with my own.  Ultimately, I took inspiration from the glorious fruit basket Ralphie gifted his teacher, Miss Shields, in a bribery attempt.  It’s a bit of a stretch, but in honor of Ralphie’s teacher (and teachers everywhere!) I served up some sautéed cinnamon apples!  I used this recipe from Joy Food Sunshine.  Everyone enjoyed this recipe, but my four-year-old absolutely LOVED it!  She immediately asked for seconds, which I fully supported considering this is a healthy side dish recipe.

“Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”

I wanted to have fun with the dessert for our Christmas Story Dinner.  The first thing that came to mind was fudge, as a nod to Ralphie letting the “F-dash-dash-dash word” slip in front of his father while helping change a tire. 

I also wanted to find a way to incorporate good ol’ Ovaltine in the flavor of the fudge, as the chocolatey beverage makes several appearances in the film.  I figured there HAD to be some dessert recipe out there that could incorporate these two elements.  Lo and behold – I was able to find this gem of a recipe on the Food Network website…from none other than Trisha Yearwood!  This recipe incorporates Ovaltine powder in the fudge itself and is topped with Whopper candies to give it an extra boost of malty sweetness.  I have never made fudge before, so I was a little nervous tackling this Malted Milk Fudge recipe.  I am happy to report that this recipe turned out BEAUTIFULLY.  The fudge was soft, creamy, and malty – the perfect compliment to our Christmas Story Dinner!

Christmas is right around the corner and there is so much to look forward to!  We love getting in the holiday spirit with our themed movie dinners.  I hope our Christmas Story Dinner Night has inspired you to create your own holiday movie night with your family!

What are some of your favorite holiday movies that get you in the spirit of the season? Do you ever make any special snacks or treats to compliment the film? Let me know in the comments! 

Looking for more holiday themed dinner nights to get into the spirit of the season?  Be sure to check out our Elf Dinner Night HERE!

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