A really great BIG night in

With a family as large as mine we're used to making our own entertainment. A family ticket doesn't ever stretch to 2 adults and 7 children, and going anywhere costs an arm and a leg. Even a take away with 5 teenagers involved is likely to come in around 50 quid....

We've had 2 weeks of GCSE exams and meetings and all kinds of stress, so we thought it would be a great thing if we could all have a night of fun and relax a bit, eat some special food and have a laugh. Money Supermarket's 'Big Night In' was a challenge that suits us perfectly - with no babysitters within 80 miles, staying in is the new 'going out' and we knew we could have a great night in for £50.

I decided on an 'International' theme for the evening, so arranged the menu accordingly, with Spanish Tapas, Chinese Egg Fried Rice, Indian Onion Bhaji's and 'make your own' Italian Pizza!

I found a great recipe for a pizza base in 'Mama's Italian Cookbook' and prepared the dough a couple of hours before we needed it, chopped and readied loads of toppings and made a simple tomato pizza sauce...

Then I let them loose in MY kitchen!

The results were really very impressive, incredibly tasty and even boy no.3 ate every single bit of his own personal creation! I even made myself a cheeseless pizza, which I was delighted with and shall definitely be making again.

After pizza we all snacked on the Tapas and Bhaji's while we played games...

All the children have had a time where they've been really interested in Pinata, and boy no.3 at 4 years old has just recently seen one on the TV and thought it was amazing, so we thought it would be a perfect addition  to the evening. It's a Mexican tradition, and a few sweets could be a great dessert and treat for our special evening.

We had no idea just how solid these things are. What in the heck does it take to smash one, because we couldn't do it!?

We even tried moving it so that no-one could miss!

After about three quarters an hour of endless bashing and vented frustrations I gave in, opened the lid and took everything out....

Inside, as well as oodles of sweeties, I had poured a huge bag of foam letters for the next game. I challenged the children to make as many country names as possible in 10 minutes - mis-spellings were disallowed!

Boy no.2 with a great effort

The winner - girl no.1 - even though Mordor still wouldn't have counted even if she'd found all the letters!

We then settled down with our sweeties and the remains of the Tapas and watched a movie together. It's one we've seen before, but we love it and the first 10 minutes are the most poignant 10 minutes of any film ever, so I've been looking for an excuse to buy it for ages, even though it makes my eyes itchy (or possibly I just sob like a fallen infant). I claim it fits the international theme because it is about a man who travels the world finding adventure. My other half claims I cheated.

Our final game for the evening took place after the 2 little ones had gone to bed (very late and very tired). We played the 'sticky note on your forehead game' - which probably has a name, but I don't think I've ever known it! To carry on the International theme we had to be countries and guess which we were by asking 'yes/no' questions.

Morocco and Japan - some countries are definitely easier to guess than others!

We then packed all the teenagers off to bed and the two of us settled down with a coffee and the final part of our evening, a film which we first saw at the cinema in 2006 when we were dating, long before we all lived together - and it's Russian - plus as a bonus we have an extra DVD for next weekend!

For our £50 International Big Night In we bought ~

Veggie Tapas £6
Home Made Onion Bhajis £1
Home Made Egg Fried Rice £2.20
Home Made Pizzas x 8 £11.25
Pinata £8
Sweets £2.50
Sticky Foam Letters £2.50
Post It Notes £1
Up Blu-Ray £9.99
Night Watch DVD £7.99
We spent an extra £1 on a relatively early night..... ;)

And the Pinata? Well he's a bit bashed, but still very much in one piece and with us....

This is my entry for the Money Supermarket Big Night In, 

for which I was given £50 to spend.