The Best Costco Finger Foods And Snacks For Movie Night

It's movie night at the homestead, and no doubt the crew is going to be expecting spectacular things in the way of movie night snacks. Luckily, you have a Costco card, which is essentially a license to shop for whatever bulk treats tickle your fancy. Sure, you shop there for bulk goods at phenomenal prices. But the untold truth about Costo is that the wonder warehouse holds a wealth of delectable finger foods and snacks both sweet and savory that perfectly complement a home cinema experience. Unlike in an old-school theater, you have access to a microwave to heat up your treats if necessary. There's also no limit on the sorts of noshes you can choose, and a better variety than the overpriced cinema counter selections that drain your digital wallet in short order.

Rather than wandering the aisles aimlessly in search of selections to suit the occasion, check out our round-up of Costco's best finger foods and snacks for movie night enjoyment. No matter what's playing onscreen, you'll find crunchy munchies and sweet somethings perfect for getting you through the after-credit scenes. Shop smartly enough and you can stock up for a double feature or a full-blown movie marathon.

It doesn't matter if movie night is a home-based experience; if there's film, there's popcorn. Costco makes it easy to pop enough for everyone with Kirkland Signature microwave popcorn 44-bag box. Imagine no one on the couch fighting over the filmgoer's favorite snack because they all have a bag of their own? Priced at $16.99, this handy package is like buying a bucket per person for only pennies each. Knowing how quickly a family of four can go through popcorn at the movies, the savings is enough to make you feel like a snack-shopping superstar.

Nutritionally, movie popcorn has a dubious reputation. WebMD gives a rundown of the health facts, reporting that you can expect between 400 and 1,200 calories, depending on the size bag you opt for. Meanwhile, Kirkland's fluffy whole-grain kernels only cost 35 calories per cup when popped. Consider that this is also a Kosher and gluten-free treat, and you have an easy option for recreating big theater vibes for every viewer in the room.

Crunchy, salty, creamy, peanutty — there's almost no flavor Kirkland Peanut Butter Pretzel Nuggets leaves out. It's one of Kirkland brand's most creative offerings. Who hasn't dipped pretzels into peanut butter or even mashed a dollop between two twists to make bespoke snack sandwiches? With these nifty nuggets, the work has been done for you. All you have to do is crack the lid and start enjoying them. The label lists a serving at eight pretzels, which equates to 56 servings per jar. You can take your movie munching pretty far with a trove this tremendous, even if it's just you and your Paramount Plus connection sharing the living room.

Looking for a bit more pizzazz than you find in the jumbo jar? Try dragging these gems through hot fudge, caramel sauce, or sweetened cream cheese and turn them into a dippable nibble with even more magic. Try that sort of tricky treat upgrade in a traditional movie house and you're likely to find yourself hauled into the lobby before the credits roll.

For a healthier handful while the movie rolls, dig into Kirkland Signature Cashew Clusters and get your daily dose of plant-based nutrients. Chunky cashews cuddle up with almonds and pumpkin seeds to provide a crunchy bunch of protein, along with a slew of necessary nutrients found in whole nuts and seeds. Not that you have to include whole food goodies in your home cinema grab bag. But isn't it nice to know that you can relax as you snack rather than wondering how many extra steps you'll have to take to get your fitness regimen back on track after the film?

You may want to be cautious with your consumption, though. The nutrition facts on the label consider five pieces to be a serving, which delivers 160 calories. Even with the nutrients you'll be getting, that's a lot of calories for five of anything snack-sized. And as delicious as these clusters are, it's bound to be easy to keep reaching in the bag without thinking about it. Movie snacking is sneaky like that, even when it happens from the comfort of home.

No need to head to New Orleans for movie night when you can enjoy Kirkland Signature Praline Pecans wherever you are. This underappreciated Costco item brings the beloved Big Easy treat to your Netflix snack table without the cost of an airline ticket. You get a crunchy version of the usual gooey caramel wrapped around each pecan, great for grabbing a handful to share with your couch mates.

At a quarter-cup per serving, and 40 servings per jar, you'll have quite a quantity of pralines to keep your snackers happy. Depending on the size of your crowd, there's no guarantee the container won't be empty by the final scene. But if you happen to have any of these sweet somethings left over after the lights come back on, you can follow the lead of Costco shoppers who use praline pecans to fancy up dessert recipes like banana bread and chocolate cake.

When a more substantial snack is in order, say for a double-feature or a trilogy binge, go for Kirkland Signature Turkey Jerky to satisfy your taste for something savory. The turkey used is antibiotic-free breast meat, a lean cut that contains zero gluten. A bit of sugar (7 grams per serving) from the tamari soy sauce and apple juice used as part of the marinade keeps the jerky from being a Keto-friendly find. At $1.11 per serving, you'll be getting a bargain over buying individual jerky packs from a non-warehouse outlet. Costco really knows how to make movie night work for both your budget and your guests' tastes.

At a single gram of fat and 80 calories per one-ounce serving, it's a modest morsel that packs a 10-gram protein punch. Film fans who hesitate to sacrifice their disciplined dining habits in favor of more nutritionally offensive fare will find these fantastic strips the right kind of bite for a home movie night.

Costco gives Nature Valley a run for its money with Kirkland Signature Nut Bar Selection, a perfect nosh for your Friday night Hulu hullabaloo. With a blend of chewy bar layers and crunchy nuts, there's no texture left to the imagination. Add to that a swirl of dark chocolate and a sprinkle of sea salt, and you have a snack that's both thoughtful and delicious, with a nod toward healthful eating thrown in for good measure.

With 30 bars per box, you'll have plenty of primo provisions for your Prime streaming selections. Cautious eaters should be warned: each bar holds 200 calories and 15 grams of fat — not the worst nutritional profile for a movie night munchie, but enough to keep an eye on. Sure, there are also 5 grams of protein included, but one too many nut bars during intense action scenes could put you past your daily limit and leave you with snacker's remorse.

The only hike required for enjoying Kirkland Trail Mix is a trek to the kitchen between features for another round. Each serving of this popular trail mix brand packs in a collection of cashews, peanuts, and almonds, plus raisins for fruity sweetness and actual M&Ms for a crisp and creamy chocolatey kick. Individual packets let you spread out the snacks without everyone in the room digging into the same bowl, an excellent option for keeping young movie goers from taking more than their fair share and draining the serving dish in fast fashion.

If your home movie night has a cinematic motif — wilderness adventures, say, or a few flicks about intrepid explorers on a survival mission — this glorified GORP without the granola is a tasty way to tie in the treats to the theme. Of course, it's just as delicious with a rom-com, a superhero saga, or a haunted house horror story. This is one mix that lets you choose the trail you take.

For the more workout-oriented snackers in the home cinema, there are Kirkland Signature Protein Bars, Costco's house version of a post-workout meal replacement that does a tasty turn as a movie night nibble. Like candy bars with a better nutritional profile, these protein bars mimic name brands by offering flavors like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk, either in individual or variety boxes to give your domestic film fest the greatest chance for snacking success. With each bar priced at $1.20, you have an affordable fitness-forward treat that tastes great without compromising the macros of any bodybuilders or crossfitters in the crowd.

And have we mentioned the protein? Each bar weighs in with over 20 grams of this magical nutrient, enough to keep the muscle-building in motion even while the lifters and runners take a much-needed movie break. The protein source is largely whey, a milk product, which means your vegan eaters should avoid these treats. Everyone else is free to dig in.

Reach into a bag of Kirkland All Chocolate Mix and you're bound to pull out a film fest favorite in glorious, fudge-coated form. This trick-or-treat-style treasure chest of a snack sack includes fun-sized versions of no less than 10 name-brand candy bars, including $100 Grand, Twix, and York Peppermint Patty. You can carry all the biggest players in the chocolate game into the center of your cinematic celebration in a single purchase and satisfy the sweet tooth of every candy fan in the room. How's that for sweet shopping?

Though the package doesn't reveal exactly how many bars are in each bag, it does promise 90 ounces of pure chocolate bliss for your viewers to enjoy. And while not every bag is guaranteed to contain all 10 brands, you're sure to get a super selection that rivals the concession counters of the best theaters in the biz. If there were ever a Costco food item that deserved to have a cult following, this one is a prime candidate.

The freezer section gets in on the streaming snacking satisfaction action when you load your icebox with Tropical Fields Boba Milk Tea Mochi. The pure simplicity of brown sugar-sweetened tea with milk added provides a more sophisticated taste for your cinephiles to enjoy. Though you can serve these chewy pearls straight out of the bag, popping them in with your frozen goods adds exciting dimensions of texture and temperature to tantalize your friends and family. You can even serve a few prepared both ways and see which the crew prefers.

While boba-fied mochi may not be everyone's cup of tea, even when imbued with the warm sweetness of brown sugar, these diminutive delights are a thoroughly reasonable 53 calories per piece, with only one gram of fat and three grams of sugar. For anyone on the home cinema scene looking for a sweet nibble with a relatively innocent nutritional profile, you'll have 60 in the bag to tempt them with.

Skip the Lay's and fill your bowl with Sokusa Shrimp Chips to get your in-home moviegoers in a more upscale snacking mood. The recipe sidesteps traditional potatoes for these chips and uses favor of tapioca flour instead, creating an airy crunch filled with the incredible flavor of real shrimp and zesty garlic. It's like ordering up a seafood dinner to enjoy with your Max movie-a-thon, only this one you can eat without utensils. Imagine the fun surprise of sharing this gourmet Costco discovery with your film mates just before the lights go down.

Of course, because these crisps bear the flavor of shrimp, there's a shellfish warning for those who might be allergic. You'll also find milk, egg, soy, and wheat on the caution list, so be mindful of serving a basked of these beauties in a crowd with food-based sensitivities. Any risks that come during movie night should be left to the onscreen heroes.

The hipster's answer to potato chips, Sonoma Creamery Pepper Jack Cheese Crisps are a gourmet snack that transform pepper-laden Monterey Jack cheese into seasoned crackers packed with creamy flavor. You'll be hard-pressed to find a fancy treat that fits better with sliced deli meats and zesty dips. With a bottle of bubble or a few glasses of sparkling apple cider on the table, you're looking at a "Great Gatsby" affair, but one where the only tragedy is running out of bougie treats before the movie is over.

Sonoma Creamery is a legacy brand offering healthy treats for the contemporary snacker, with a logo that boasts its establishment in 1931. The bag may look modest, but you get ten 15-crisp servings in the pack, which should be plenty to get your most discerning visitors through at least one film selection. If you feel the gang might need more reinforcements for a fuller viewing experience, double up to keep everyone happy

Assemble your best cinematic charcuterie suite, starting with Crunchmaster Multi-Grain Baked Crackers on your board. With every handful, you'll be reaching for 100% whole grain goodness filled with flax, amaranth, millet, quinoa, and chia seeds. While this may sound like a mix better suited for a bird feeder, seeds are actually a very healthy element to add to your diet (per Healthline). And though you're indulging as you lounge on your couch before your 75-inch flat screen, there's no need to get lazy with your snack tray fixings. Not when you have such lovely options as Crunchmaster offers available at your nearest Costco.

Aside from being downright tasty, these crackers are also 100% gluten free, making them an ideal upper-crust option for your gluten-restrictive guests to enjoy. Fans of seedy crisps may just find these crunchy munches sneaking onto their personal ranked list of snack crackers. And if you don't have such a list, home movie night is a perfect time to start one.

Think of Traditional Aussie Bites as a health cookie, each treat merging oatmeal with a forest's worth of dried fruit, nuts, and seeds waiting in every nibble. You'll find 30 wrapped bites waiting in the tub, each loaded with raisins, dried apricots, shredded coconut, and sunflower seeds. The naturally satisfying tastes of honey and vanilla bring together the whole blend in a softer-than-granola dessert-style snacker that no one will regret tearing into. Even your pickiest scene-stealers will find themselves nourished by the simple goodness of what amounts to an old-fashioned cookie served with 21st Century entertainment playing in the background.

Universal Bakery and Costco have made it easy to sneak healthful goodies into your at-home concession grab bag. Rather than going to the effort of making homemade cookies for your Blu-Ray blowout, try cracking open a box of these instead and save yourself time, trouble, and money on all the ingredients you would need to create such a hearty bake.

Muffins may not immediately strike you as a go-to movie night snack. But The Worthy Crumb Mini-Muffins are destined to change your mind. As a Costco product, The Worthy Crumb does its darndest to provide fresh, bakery-quality products for shoppers to enjoy, and the muffin selection really hit the mark. These aren't the oversized goliaths you've come to know and accept as a Costco muffin. The Worthy Crumb offers a more sensibly sized treat that doesn't make you wonder if all the baked goods in the world have gotten larger, or if you've gotten smaller.

Available in chocolate chip and blueberry flavor, each single-serving packet contains three muffins, a mini-feast for your film-fan fiends to feast on. With a box of 16 in your Costco cart, you'll have plenty of sweets to go around even if your movie madness ends up being a triple feature. You'll probably even have some left for a matinee with your morning coffee the next day.

With Sugar Bowl Bakery Brownie Bites, you can skip a stop at the bakery and get straight to the enjoyment by the time whoever controls the remote presses play. Stacked on a tray or grabbed straight out of the plastic tote Costco packs them in, these single-serving brownies are a bit of heaven that pile on the chocolatey goodness, no matter how many bites you choose to take. Each one carries 140 calories, so snack cautiously. Treats this small and delicious have a way of sneaking up on you by the handful.

Sugar Bowl Bakery may have a cute name, but when it comes to baked goods, the company is all business, especially where its brownie bites are concerned. The rounds come individually wrapped, making them the perfect snack for mess-free tossing across the living room at hungry home viewers when the onscreen action is ramping up and you just can't look away. Better grab one for yourself while you're at it.