A few years ago, my friends and I held a weekly themed activity night. Each week for three years, we all got together for a few hours of fun.

Theme Nights were budget-friendly affairs, designed to offer a mix of food, games and entertainment and most importantly, a break from the real world. Every week, the themes would rotate, sometimes taking the form of simple topics (Film Night, Quiz Night etc) and sometimes being a little more elaborate (Deal or No Deal Night, The Crystal Maze Night etc).

In this post I’m going to talk about our Nickelodeon night (which took place back in February 2015) and how you can create a similar event. So, if you’re looking for a theme for a future gathering, a Zoom party, or you simply want to do something different with your friends, then read on!

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Nickelodeon night – Watch Your Own Wednesday

Watch Your Own Wednesday Night 1

In the UK during the 1990s, Nickelodeon regularly aired a special feature called Watch Your Own Wednesday. The feature was designed to give viewers the opportunity to choose what shows would air on Nick, via the use of an on-air poll.

For example, viewers were asked: Would you like to watch an episode of Rugrats or Sabrina the Teenage Witch?

Viewers would then cast their votes and whichever show won, was the show that aired next.

For our Nickelodeon themed night, I employed a similar tactic, presenting my friends with the chance to shape the evening’s entertainment through a small selection of classic Nick shows. To enhance the evening, I also created a special Nickelodeon-themed quiz, with questions based around the classic shows.

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How to set out the evening

Image: ©Nickelodeon

A few days prior to the evening I sent each of my friends a list of shows and asked them to pick three from the choices laid out. The choices were:

  • Rugrats or The Wild Thornberrys?
  • Sister, Sister or Kenan & Kel?
  • Round the Twist or Are You Afraid of the Dark?

All of these shows aired on Nickelodeon in the UK.

Each of my friends sent me their choices via a private message, I added up the scores, and then lined up the winning shows accordingly.

On the night, I presented the first winning show (Rugrats) then served up some food.

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Once we had eaten I played the second winning show (Kenan & Kel), followed by a specially created Nickelodeon-themed quiz that I had put together for the night.

The 30-minute quiz was pretty simple stuff and consisted mostly of rounds focused on old Nick shows (a Rugrats wordsearch, a Q&A session about Clarissa Explains It All etc).

With the quiz completed (and a Nick-themed prize handed out) we then moved onto winning show number three (Are You Afraid of the Dark?).

All-in-all, with food, the quiz and the three shows, the Watch Your Own Wednesday night lasted a good couple of hours and was a great deal of nostalgia-filled fun. It was also one of the simplest theme nights we ever undertook.

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What you will need for your own Nickelodeon night

  • A small collection of Nickelodeon shows (have a look what is available on Netflix/Amazon etc).
  • A simple, 30-minute home-made quiz
  • A Nick-themed quiz prize
  • Some food/snacks
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A Nickelodeon night is a really simple way of creating a nostalgia-packed party/gathering, that won’t break the bank! Simply choose some classic shows that are available on a streaming service you already subscribe to, then put together a quick quiz.

The night can take place in person, or it can be held remotely. Just make sure all your friends have access to the same streaming service, so they can watch the same shows together and then host the quiz online.

And remember, this doesn’t have to remain Nick-themed. You could apply this idea to Cartoon Network shows, ’80s cartoons, soap operas – whatever you think will be fun!

What do you think?

I hope you feel inspired. And remember, if you try this out, makes sure you let me know how you got on.

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