Onward Themed Dinner

This week’s Disney Dinner was themed to the family adventure film, Onward!

Onward is the story of two teenage elf brothers (Ian and Barley) who embark on a magical quest for the chance to reunite with their departed father.  As one would expect from a quest, the boys encounter perilous obstacles, magic spells, and dangerous curses on their exciting journey.

Although we don’t see much of the boys’ father, Wilden, his impact in the film makes him one of my favorite Disney Dads. And as we gear up for Father’s Day, I thought it would be fitting to celebrate with an Onward themed dinner!

There are TONS of great food references in Onward, and it was tough to narrow them down for our dinner.  Needless to say, I ended up going a little overboard with our Onward dinner spread.  So, I served everything buffet-style so my family could pick and choose what they wanted.

I also created some fun Onward food labels for each item on our buffet.  Click the link below to download and print your own food labels for an Onward themed dinner!

*This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.  If you click the link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you!

Burger Shire Burgers

The first item on our Onward dinner spread was a classic cheeseburger inspired by the burger joint Ian visits in the beginning of the film.  Burger Shire is clearly a nod to popular fast-food restaurants such as McDonalds and Burger King and made a great addition to our menu.    

I gotta give credit to my husband for grilling up these beauties.  And they were much tastier than your typical fast-food fare.

Laurel’s Party Snacks

While Ian scrounges through the fridge to find something for breakfast, we spot a plate of pigs-in-a-blanket his mom prepped for his birthday party.  I knew this finger food would be a simple and crowd-pleasing addition to our dinner spread.

I fully intended to prepare my own pigs-in-a-blanket, but while at the grocery store, I stumbled across some already pre-made in the frozen aisle.  Who knew such a thing existed?!  Deciding to keep things as simple as possible, I grabbed the box and checked them off my list.

I love that Laurel served her party snacks with sword skewers and wanted to do the same with ours.  Initially, I browsed Amazon looking for the disposable plastic variety.  But then I stumbled across some stainless-steel skewers that were only $5 more.  I opted to go with the stainless-steel skewers because **GO GREEN** and I’m sure I will find another great use for them in the future (I’m looking at YOU, Halloween). 

If you are interested in purchasing the same skewers, click HERE!

Corey’s Griffin Nuggets

Another great food reference in the film is the griffin nuggets served at Manticore Tavern.  We see a frantic Corey exiting the kitchen to deliver these nuggets, and they also appear on the kid’s menu.

Rather than serve just any chicken nugget, I thought it would be fun to serve nuggets that resembled a griffin.  I instantly thought of the dinosaur chicken nugget shapes and wondered if maybe a pterodactyl nugget existed to serve as my griffin.

After a brief google search, I found that a pterodactyl nugget did in fact exist!  They are one of the Yummy Dino Buddies chicken nuggets available at Target. Whoo Hoo!

I’d say the large, winged creature looked close enough to a griffin to me, and the kids got a kick out of my creative liberty.  And as a bonus, we had plenty of other dinosaurs to enjoy on a different night!

Barley’s Cheese Puffs

Gorgon Zola’s Cheese Puffs are one of the most obvious food references in the film.  We first see this snack when Barley insists on buying several bags during a gas station stop.  And it’s a good thing he did, because these cheesy morsels served as a useful speedboat later in the film.

Cheetos Puffs were the perfect size and shape to replicate the cheese puffs in the film.  We refrained from using them as flotation devices, but they made a great movie snack, nonetheless.

Gelatinous Cubes

The gelatinous cube is probably my favorite food reference in the film.  And while the green cube onscreen was deadly rather than delicious, I knew I had to include an edible version on our Onward dinner menu.

I used the tips and recipe at Squirrels of a Feather to make Jell-O Jigglers that were firm enough to cut into cube shapes.  I’ve never prepared Jell-O this way, and I’m happy to say it worked like a charm!  This is a technique I look forward to using again for other fun Jell-O shapes.

Ian’s Birthday Cake

For our Onward dinner dessert, I knew I had to serve Ian’s birthday cake.  And since his mom bought his cake from the store, I decided to cheat and pick ours up from the store too.  (Notice how many shortcuts I’m taking for this dinner 😉) 

I found a small birthday cake at the bakery and topped it off with 16 candles for Ian’s 16^th birthday.  You can’t go wrong with cake for dessert!    

I hope you enjoyed reading about our Onward themed dinner!

Did you notice I didn’t cook a thing for our movie night?!  I got by with reheat-and-eat frozen items while delegating the grilling to my husband.  It was a nice change of pace to take the easy route.

It just goes to show – all you really need for a great movie night are some tasty snacks, a good flick, and each other’s company.

Looking for other Disney Themed Dinners? Check out our Tangled Dinner HERE and our Bambi Dinner HERE!

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