Arts & Entertainment Business Community

Two In Tow & On The Go | $2 movies and the Skittles machine

Clara and Wyatt at Galaxy Theatres in Gig Harbor.

Back when I was a kid, a movie theater matinee cost $3.75 a ticket.

And now that sum couldn’t even buy us a … wait a sec — have I just entered the phase of life where I start sentences with “Back in my day…” and end them with tales of trudging uphill in the snow — both ways?!

Yes, folks, I think I have. Goodbye, youth. Hello, comparing joint pain with strangers in the bread aisle.

Ah, well. At least I can still see a cheap movie.  Because here at Two in Tow, our not-so-secret secret weapon for affordable kid fun is hitting up all the $2* throwback movie showings we can. Otherwise, tickets at most national or regional chain movie theaters are much pricier today compared to when I was a kid.

At Galaxy Theatres Gig Harbor, for example, tickets to a regular new release movie currently cost $12.50 per person for adult matinees and $14.50 per person for adult evening shows. Children ages 2 to 11 – and seniors – can attend either matinee or evening shows for $11.25 per person. Two caveats:

• Those prices are only if you order the tickets in person at the movie theater. Otherwise you gotta buy the tickets online, which tacks on a $2.49 service charge per seat (not per order).
• Those prices are not even for IMAX or 3D showings—those hike up the total cost even more.

Limited series showings

That’s why Galaxy’s $2 and $5 ticket specials are ah-mazing. You can lock in those prices with limited-time series, usually fitting some sort of theme such as a holiday, a season or a flashback genre. The featured movies are usually from 5, 10, or even 15+ years ago and centered on the family-friendly crowd. But not all the series are. The special screenings give families and film fans a chance to see classics back on the big screen. These screenings usually cycle through five films every three days or so over a six to eight week period. The cheap seat series usually come with discounts on snacks, too, offering the regular value combo packs (aka a “kids combo” or “kids pack” at other theaters ) for just $3.50 each for a small tray of popcorn; drink; and a mini bag of candy or fruit snacks. I think that’s probably half off its regular price.

Spring Fest

March and April’s special kid series is called Spring Fest, featuring a current lineup of feel-good movies in the children’s niche with animation or live action. Spring Fest began on March 14, 2025 with the farmland classic “Babe.” (We saw that one and it was too cute! We also read the book beforehand). Spring Fest goes through April 25, ending with the live-action version of “The Flintstones.” The showtimes for these movies are almost always the same price regardless of the time of day, with the specific times listed online in the same place you’ll find the daily showings of the regularly-priced movies on any given day. The value pack is on sale for this series, too, as mentioned on Instagram.

Here’s a closer look at Galaxy’s Spring Fest lineup. There’s still time to see the last two films:

April 11

• Hop

April 18

• The Cat in the Hat 

Flashback Cinema

Aside from the family-friendly series offerings, other discount film runs at Galaxy include its Flashback Cinema lineup for $5 per ticket, (plus that service fee if you buy online).

(#momhack: not so much for the kids, but up next is the 2004 romance/comedy “The Notebook”  showing on April 5, April 6, and April 9 with fan favorites Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Swoon).

The Flashback showtimes are the same price for afternoon and evening, and the showtimes are listed online, mixed in with the regular movies of the day/week just like with Spring Fest.

Galaxy Mystery Movie

A third special that Galaxy is doing right now is its “Mystery Movie” billed as a “secret screening experience” where guests buy a $5 movie ticket, per person, for a surprise film. The ad (linked above) describes the unnamed PG-13 rated film choice as:

“With no title reveal until showtime, this thrilling series is perfect for movie lovers who crave adventure, unexpected gems, and a fun night out. Take a chance, embrace the mystery, and discover something new.”

The movie, the snacks, the Skittles!

From left: Clara holding Sonja the sakura duck Squishmallow; Wyatt holding Sprinkles the cat and Tagg the tiger; out of frame in mom’s bag: a pink fox Squishmallow renamed Francis; and Pom Pom the bear.

Back to Spring Fest – some may ask why others would go to the trouble to seek out pre-released films in a theater. I mean, sure, we can watch “Hop” at home nine times in a row from our couch for practically nothing. But there’s just something about seeing a story on the big screen. And those discounted kid-pack popcorn combos on most of the throwback series movie days make my bargain-mama heart go pitter-pat.

Now that you have the cheap tickets and snacks down, next up is my #momhack for getting the kids to sit for 120 minutes. When Clara and Wyatt were younger, my mom-hack to keep their derrieres in chairs (hey, that rhymed) was to set up the best kind of treasure hunt —one where I’d pour M&M’s candies into their popcorn trays. Some pieces stayed up top and some sifted to the bottom. And when the lights go down for the movie to play – you never know where they’ll be. That way, the kids spent more time staying put during the movie—while hunting down every last chocolatey gem. I’ve included a pic here of Clara and Wyatt in their much tinier forms back in California at ages 4 and 2 doing this very thing.

But… just in case you need more candy inspo: Galaxy Theatres Gig Harbor now has … drumroll please … a Skittles machine! Yes, you heard that right. An 850-pound self-service vending machine with the Skittles Remix name splashed across its side is waiting for you. And all you need to do to get a 8-ounce cup of multicolored happiness straight to your face is trade $10 of your well-earned monies for this innovatively designed sugar buzz.

Skittles Remix machines let users fill a cup with their own mixed and matched Skittles flavors to create customized layers of candy fun. It starts as a box with a touch screen. Within the box are eight color-coded sections of candies with spout openings, like a candy wall behind acrylic. As users pay and tap in their favorites of the available colors, each individual Skittles candies fall from their designated spout column and roll down a see-through plastic tube into the cup chamber below. The special Skittles Remix cup drops out to the fill station automatically after you pay. Don’t like all the rainbow of colors or flavors we picked? You can choose all your own. Want an entire cup of yellow Skittles just for you?  You got it! How about a cup containing half green and half red? Tap a few touchscreen buttons and those colors are yours. So. Much. Fun. The machine, which operates via credit card, is located on the walkway toward the IMAX screen on the inside of the theater building. The vending machine is  bright red with a light-up screen and emits an aura of joy for all who pass by. You can’t miss it.

The deets

The machine: I looked up the specs on this machine (because I’m a dork like that) and it sports an interactive 32-inch touchscreen that does fun animations to look like real Skittles are raining down while someone taps in their order.

Candy portion: There are two portion levels on the same-sized plastic cups: 5 ounces of Skittles for the “small” cup/fill or 8.3 ounces of Skittles for the “large” cup/fill. The kids and I chose large, obviously. Because, how can we not?

Flavors: We also chose to get the full rainbow of colors and flavors. Next time, the kids are on their own and I’m going to fill up a 8.3-ouncer with all green just for me, for a lime-tastic good time :).

Cost: I planned to do the math on how the machine’s $10 per 8.3 oz of candy played out against the cost of a regular ‘ol (bo-rrrr-iiiing) XL bag of Skittles at the concessions counter. In this terrible, blurry picture that I somehow managed to snap while holding three kid combo packs (one for me too, of course), you can see that the large bag of Skittles at the counter holds 7.20 ounces of candy for what I think is a price tag of $6.99. I could be wrong, but that’s what a box of Clara’s Junior Mints cost this week at the same theater. Given that comparison – using the Skittles Remix machine for your candy fix is undoubtedly pricey. On the other hand, you also have to weigh in the idea of getting your all-time favorite Skittles flavor delivered to you in bulk, directly in front of you, in under 60 seconds. 😀

Skittles Remix located at Galaxy Theatres Gig Harbor across from Auditorium 4.

Skittles machine flavors from the machine manufacturer:

• Skittles Mash-ups (Wild Berry & Tropical)
• Strawberry
• Wild Berry
• Lime
• Lemon
• Skittles Littles (I don’t recall if Galaxy has this one)
• Grape
• Orange

A recap

Overall, themed cheap movie days at Galaxy Theatres Gig Harbor are low-cost, low-pressure, and totally kid-friendly. If you’re looking for a way to entertain the kids – or impress your grandkids with this super cool top-secret sugarbomb magic rainbow machine (I just made up that last part) – all without spending a fortune, I can’t recommend these $2 to $5 movie series enough. It’s simple, sweet, and honestly? Just what we need here to keep the kiddo crowd entertained.

Ps. If you got this far, another favorite movie theater mom hack for you — I bring a pair of small scissors to the theater to cut the adult sized straws in half in order to accommodate for the much shorter kid combo drink cups. Otherwise it’s a sure XL straw up-the-nose moment for the kids that showing.

See ya out there!

@two.n.tow