In the weeks leading up to December 25, if you’re anything like me, you’re re-watching every single classic Christmas movie.
Of course, that includes Home Alone, one of the greatest Christmas movies ever (1990).
If you’re a major movie lover, you undoubtedly know the storyline from beginning to end. For the five individuals who haven’t seen the movie yet, it relates the tale of little Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), who is unintentionally left at home alone while his family departs for a holiday vacation.
Kevin is therefore compelled to create a complex scheme full of traps and mayhem to prevent two inept burglars from breaking into his home while his family is away.
The real reason Kevin needs to go through all of this hardship in the first place, though, is revealed in a crucial scene at the beginning of the film that many spectators appear to miss the first time around.
The family’s alarm clocks reset due to a power failure the morning of the flight, causing everyone to oversleep. The family becomes confused as a result as they race to the airport. Additionally, they unintentionally include the boy who lives across the street when taking a head count.
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But any responsible parent would know their son was gone when they arrived at the airport and noticed they had an additional ticket, wouldn’t they?
This is when that crucial concealed information enters the picture.
The family is shown eating pizza the previous night, but as Kevin and his elder brother, Buzz, fight, they accidentally spill milk all over some of the tickets and passports.
When cleaning up the mess, Kevin’s dad actually picks up a plane ticket, hidden among the red napkins, and throws it into the trash.
The camera briefly focuses on the ‘Kevin’-labeled travel ticket in the trash before it is covered up with more napkins.
It is understandable that some viewers would completely miss it because the moment is so fleeting.
Some Twitter users are still learning the real reason Kevin was left alone at home today.
One Twitter user wrote: “Okay this is crazy lol and I’m sure people have found this Easter egg many times, but for me I just realized that in Home Alone, Kevin’s dad accidentally threw away Kevin’s plane ticket. Which explains how they didn’t realize anyone was missing handing out tickets at the gate.”
Another eagle-eyed Twitter user replied to a post about the revelation, saying how this gave some background context and reference to a comment made by Kevin in the sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992):
This time, thanks to his own ticket, Kevin actually makes it to the airport and boarded the aircraft. Of However, things still go awry when the child ends up in New York by himself.
There you have it—the actual reason Kevin is left alone at home. It’s time to watch it again so you can see if you can find any more of these hidden Easter eggs in the movie.
