Does anybody take their infants to the movies?

[dad of 2]

I am trying to convince my wife to go see spider-man 2 and we would bring Jack. We would sit on the side in case he cries (I dont think he will he is not a crier). We would get alex a baby-sitter which is easy. She has recently complained about not getting to go out to see a movie. She is home for the summer and has been the primary caregiver for Jack. So anyway does or has anybody else taken their infant to the movies?

[Don-Dad]

No, never tried. If the little one sleeps the whole time it might be nice but the loud base might scare him or her. Even now, though I have children, it can get annoying at a theatre if the folks next to have a restless child. Just my opinion.

Probably won't work for your schedule, but I'd try it at a matinee, less people to bother :wink:

[dad of 2]

We never tried with alex either. (He may get to see his first movie sponge-bob square pants the movie.) I agree it definately is annoying to here an infant cry in a movie theatre. I think by minimizing any possible outbursts it might be ok though. I remember seeing a baby in front of us while watching lord of the rings. That is a three hour movie and never once heard the child. I think our Jack would be alright with doing that too he is such a calm kid. Besides it is a way to get out of the house together to do something a little more grown up.

[Don-Dad]

Besides it is a way to get out of the house together to do something a little more grown up.

That's what babysitters are for :wink:

It took me 3 movies before my oldest guy sat through an entire movie. Now he is good as long as there is candy :D

[tt3]

Boy... I don't know how much the both of you will enjoy it, one will almost always be paying attention to your baby, unless he's asleep. We don't even consider it for two reasons, one the annoyance factor and two, only one of us would really be able to enjoy the movie. There's a few theaters in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in MN that has cry rooms for kids, but man...
All that being said, if ya give it a whirl, let us know how it goes, it might sway me! :wink:

Good luck!

[floridamcmarion1]

We have taken young ones to the movies, but we are picky about it. We will only take an infant or toddler if they are normally a quiet kid. We also tend to go to the matinee so there are fewer people. Another reason for the matinee is to time the nap right. We keep them awake until the movie, so they end up with a late naptime which they take at the movie. It also helps if your baby sleeps like a rock.

[chefdave]

We toook our son to the movies when he was about a month or two old, so it was pretty easy. And we saaw a fairly mellow movie...."Love Actually" if I recall correctly. It was a fairly successful evening...we snuck in take-out Chinese, Elliott spleot until aboiut 1/2 way through the movie, and when he woke up my wife just breastfed him right there in the dark theatre. Luckily for us (though not the producers) there weren't too many people in the theatre. Then when he got ornery, I got up and held him in the back of the theatre for what was about the last 20 minutes of the movie...he barely made a sound.

Of course, the next movie my wife and I saw in the theatres was Harry Potter two weeks ago.

[Muz]

We took Nathan to see Harry Potter when it first opened up. He was probably 5 months then. He slept through most of the movie, waking briefly to eat about half way through. It was a matinee (wife played hooky) and we haven't gotten up the nerve to try it since.

We have done the drive-in a couple of times. Nathan falls asleep very easily in the car. So we just dress him for bed and head out. 15 mins later we're pulling into the theater and he has fallen asleep for the night. If you have any drive-ins still open near you, this might be the way to go. Of course, the car seat in the back seat negates any chance of reliving the days of your youth IYKWIM. :twisted:

[Don-Dad]

Of course, the car seat in the back seat negates any chance of reliving the days of your youth IYKWIM.

LOL! :lol:

[dad of 2]

Excellent idea... the drive in. I will get on that one right away with her. She cant get wishy washy on me with that! Spider-Man 2 here we go. I heard it was better than the original...

[tt3]

We really liked it anyway, and were big fans of the first as well!

[Remington]

The Drive-In sounds like a great idea.

I used to bring my daughter to the movies when I lived in Ohio. We didn't know anybody then and so there was nobody to watch her.

She was 5 or 6 months when we brought her and she was still breast feeding. So my wife would stick a "boob" in her mouth and she would fall asleep through the entire thing.

We only did that 2 or 3 times and then she just got old enough to get annoying. We never bothered with the others because we still had to bring the olders ones who still can't sit still for a moment.

[SAHF]

Why yes.....

Both of my kids (when they infants) went to the movies. We just brought in the stroller, some warm milk, and parked them in the handicap section. You should have seen the looks we got from EVERYONE! But as soon as the movie ended....we would always get a pleasant comment about our child.

NOW that they are 2 and 7....taken them to the movies is less of a treat and more of work! LOL

[katlinsdaddy]

We took Katlin to the drive in this past weekend and everyone had a BLAST!! The drive in is only about 15mins from us. So we took all of the back seats out of the minivan (except Katlins seat) put in the funton mattress a bunch of pillows and a couple blankets; loaded up on munchies, brought her jammies for later and a bottle plus her juice cup. We got there about 7:45 backed into our spot and opened the tailgate of the minivan. This drivein is very family oriented, they wont show movies rated over pg 13, they have a playground area, putt putt golf, vollyball net, a bunch of other balls to play with, hola hoops and frisbees. They even have a dog walking area if you bring the hounds along. They come by with twine to tie down the tail gate at a level that you can see out without looking through the window but its not over the top of the car so the people behind you can still see. we walked around and played and talked to people and petted doggies and just had a heck of a good time until it was jammie time. By then Katlin had developed a fan club of people that kept coming by to say hi to her. It was a little tricky getting her to sleep cuz she wanted to see everything but we did about 30 mins into the 1st movie (spiderman2 and it was great!!) she slept like a log the rest of the night even when we put her back in the car seat for the trip home (at 3am). If you have a drive in near you I'd definatly reccommend it, we are certainly going to go again throughout the summer.

[dad of 2]

Well,
I thought I would tell everybody we liked going to the drive inns so much the first time we went again. The first time we went and watched Spider-Man 2 we got some munchies, I brought a beer and we backed the SUV in popped open the back threw down a sleeping bag in the back, brought the sofa cushions and all four of us relaxed and enjoyed SM2. The next time last night we went and watched The Village (decent) and decided to stay for the late movie King Arthur (garbage). We had a hell of a time this time Alex did not take a nap during the day so he was bouncing around in the back and would not stay still. Jack wouldnt go to sleep and was giving my wife a lot of problems, I tried to help but it was worse. Eventually everybody settled down about 20 minutes into The Village. Alex fell asleep and we watched the movies.

Hints:
Make sure your toddler gets a nap.
Make sure you bring some things for your toddler to do if they are not interested in the movie. (he liked spider-man and not the village)
Lots of cushions if your holding a baby no need to have your a$$ going to sleep.

We like going, its a fun adventure for the family.

[SAHF]

Drive-ins.....

damn...do you guys live somewhere there ISN'T any homes or stripmalls? :lol:

[tt3]

No drive-ins here! They'd only be able to be open three or four months! :lol:

[SAHF]

:lol:

If we had drive-ins, it would be up for only a week then the flea market would move in! :D