The Boxtrolls Inspired Muddy Buddy Puppy Chow Recipe and DIY

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Universal Pictures, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BoxtrollsFamilyNite http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

It’s been a crazy weekend, I tell ya’! Between celebrating our seven year wedding anniversary on the strip here in Las Vegas and catching up with friends who are in town from Dallas, Texas — we really wanted to make sure that we didn’t sacrifice any quality time with the kids. We decided to make tonight a family movie night and surprised the kids with a newly released DVD of The Boxtrolls Movie that we bought at Walmart! They’ve been asking about The Boxtrolls Movie for weeks, and when they heard that it was releasing on DVD on January 20th we knew what we had to do…buy it!

The kids were uber excited to be spending time with us AND watching their long anticipated movie! HOORAY! We thought we’d take the creativity up a notch by making a no-bake. Boxtrolls inspired, Muddy Buddy Puppy Chow Recipe using Pop Secret Homestyle Popcorn and a few ingredients (literally just four items). Pop Secret holds a special place in my heart, because it was the popcorn we made when I was a child during our family movie nights with my parents. Whenever I think about the good times of my childhood and the family movie nights we held, I will always remember the Pop Secret popcorn! We also made homemade DIY Boxtrolls boxes out of brown paper bags too! The kids got to join in on the fun and put their creativity skills to good use.

You know, family time is extremely important in shaping the futures of our children. It shows that we value their time together and helps to open up those lines of communication between parents and children. We make an effort to balance our time out with everyone, because we love people and enjoy their company. But our priority is spending QUALITY time with family first. Since both my husband and I work full-time and manage our blogs full-time (primarily during the week and evenings), we decided to carve out our Sundays as the best day for true quality family time. It makes sense since we’re together Sunday mornings for church and then we have lunch together immediately afterward. Then, we take the time after to either take the kids somewhere fun (shopping, sports, active events) or even just hanging out at home.

My husband and I agree that when we do family movie nights, that the movies we watch with the children are films that positively impact our children in ways that make them better. The decisions and choices we make for our children are what help shape our children’s future, and it is our jobs as parents to lead the right path for them. We want to teach them how to make good choices, how to resist peer pressure, and how to create value in things other than material objects or status. Our goal is to guide them towards wisdom and logical understanding, and to surround them with positive influences that are critical to their growth going into adulthood (including the movies they watch, the music they listen to, and the friends they hang out with).

You can create this type of experience for your children quickly and easily, and I’m going to show you how!!! Below are the steps to the Muddy Buddy Puppy Chow Recipe Mix and the DIY Boxtroll Boxes that you and your family can whip up together. The prep time for BOTH things were under 20-minutes and requires no baking except for the part where you microwave the popcorn.

Boxtrolls Inspired Muddy Buddy Puppy Chow Mix Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 Bag of Pop Secret Homestyle Popcorn
6 C. Chex Mix Rice cereal
15 oz. package of Pillsbury Funfetti Orange colored Vanilla Icing
2-3 C. powdered sugar
Dashes of Cinnamon
Sprinkles (Optional)
Gallon size plastic bag

Directions:
#1. Follow the microwave instructions on the Pop Secret Popcorn packet and set popped popcorn to the side

#2. Pour 2/3 of the contents of the 15 oz. package of Pillsbury Funfetti Orange colored Vanilla Icing over the Chex mix and stir well completely coating (or just about) ALL the cereal pieces).

#3. Pour the 2-3 cups of powdered sugar in a large gallon size Ziploc bag (a paper bag will work too).

#4. Slowly pour the cereal into the bag, close and shake well to completely coat the icing covered cereal with powdered sugar.

#5. Top with dashes of Cinnamon and add Sprinkles as an option (if you buy the Pillsbury Funfetti, it may have sprinkles already included)

Store in an airtight container up to 1 week – we like to keep ours in the fridge.

Now we did get a little crafty to extend the Boxtrolls movie night fun and even created our own BoxTroll Muddy Buddy bag out of paper bags; the kids loved it !  Here’s how you can create your own DIY Boxtroll too.

Boxtrolls DIY Boxes Tutorial:

Supplies:
Brown Paper Bags
Scissors
Black Fine or Medium Tip Sharpie Markers
Crayons

Directions:
Cut the Brown Paper Bags down to half their size
Have an adult draw the outlines of the Boxtrolls designs using the Sharpie Marker(s) (we used the Shoes, Eggs, Bicycle, and Fish designs)
Have the kids fill in the drawings with Crayons

Once you’re done making the Boxtrolls boxes, fill them with the Muddy Buddy Puppy Chow Mix and enjoy for a fun family movie night complete with popcorn and snacks!

The Boxtrolls Movie was the perfect movie for children to learn about caring, love, and compassion for others. It also taught them never to judge and to learn the facts first. I wish I could tell you more, but you’ll need to watch the movie yourself to understand why I mentioned those things to you, and don’t forget to grab either a Pop Secret 10ct Movie Theatre Butter Popcorn or Pop Secret 10ct Home-Style Popcorn at Walmart. The offer is available while supplies last!