Rules for Your Child’s First Cinema Trip | Vue Cinema Halifax Review

Review (Gifted Tickets)

You child’s first cinema trip is a great way to entertain them. Firstly, you know that they are safe in their seats. This is as opposed to soft play, for example, when they take great pleasure in scaring you witless by disappearing for long periods of time in the nooks and crannies of the padded structure. In addition, you don’t have to expend energy entertaining them, the action on screen does that for you, and finally you get to scoff your own bodyweight in popcorn.

That is why I was so excited when we decided that two-year-old Seth was old enough to go to the actual cinema with us. He’s been to various village hall movie events where toddlers tearing around and ignoring the film is very much the order of the day, but going to the proper pictures and sitting still in his seat for an hour-and-a-half now seemed entirely possible. So, thanks to Vue Halifax who gifted us the tickets, we set off to see Tim Burton’s live action remake of Dumbo.

child's first cinema trip

The Rules of Cinema With Kids – Child’s First Cinema Trip

Thankfully, five-year-old big sister Elsa was on hand with a selection of rules for your child’s first trip to the cinema. Watch the video:

Snacks

Your child’s first trip to the cinema needs to set them off on the correct footing. This means buying plentiful snacks. As you would expect, Vue Halifax had a wide range of delicacies on offer and, after the kids had salivated whilst processing the entire range of both sweet and savoury foodstuffs, we settled on a couple of medium popcorns that were almost as big as the children. Unfortunately for us, we simply had to help them out. they call that ‘taking one for the team’.

child's first cinema trip

Unfortunately, we seem to have made a mistake bringing up Elsa. She insists that you’re not allowed to eat all your popcorn before the film begins. She clearly does not take after me. I see it as a challenge.

Get the Right Screen

Once we had our tickets and popcorn requirements sorted, we went through to the screens. Vue Halifax is massive, with a whole host of screens showing all manner of different movies. Unfortunately, the same part of my brain that forgets people’s names as soon as I hear them also failed to take on board the number of the correct screen for Dumbo.

I was inclined to guess, but seeing as this was a family trip to the cinema, it might not be worth the risk to end up watching 18-rated horror flick The Curse of La Llorona. Although, I suppose making that kind of mistake would mean you always had a funny story to tell about your child’s first trip to the cinema.

I went back and asked again. I thought it was the safer option.

Get Comfy and Enjoy the Film

Once we entered the screen, I did take a cursory look around to check there were other families in there. Just in case I’d forgotten the screen number once again. It was fine, there were loads of other mums and dads there with their children, tucking into their popcorn and eagerly awaiting a flying elephant. Which is a sentence I have never written before.

The seats were big, comfy and came with plenty of legroom in which to place all the bags, coats, cardigans, hats, cuddly toys and everything else that comes with you on a simple trip out with young children.

child's first cinema trip

Seth soon found that there was more than enough room for both him and his massive popcorn, meaning he was pretty much set for the morning.

What Was Dumbo Like?

Dumbo looked amazing. Absolutely spectacular, as you would expect with Tim Burton. But it was also fast-paced and fun too. It’s no real spoiler to tell you that the film features a elephant that flies, but because this is live action, rather than the original cartoon, it is absolutely breathtaking when you first see it.

I’ll be honest, I spent a lot of the time worrying it might be too dark in tone for the kids, but they were fine. It’s a PG for a reason. There’s nothing much more perilous than the cartoon and I need to remember that children aren’t wusses like parents are.

Seth wrote his own review of the film that afternoon, and I think he makes some good points:

What Was Vue Halifax Like?

Vue Halifax was a very welcoming, modern cinema with great facilities and friendly staff. I should point out that they gifted us the tickets, but haven’t paid for an advert or instructed me about what to write. We genuinely had a great time and it’s certainly somewhere we will return to when we are out and about round Yorkshire. Even if we have to pay next time.

More Rules for Your Child’s First Cinema Trip?

Do you have any more rules for your child’s first cinema trip? Add them in the Comments below.

About bewildereddad 401 Articles
I'm Jim Coulson, a West Yorkshire dad blogger, content writer and radio presenter who loves heading out around Yorkshire with my kids and exploring the best family activities.

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