Outdoor Movie Party

Are you an avid movie lover? If yes, an outdoor movie party might be your theme for a party with friends or family. 

All you need is a projector and some creativity. Set up the projector and make your party extra special by bringing the party theme to your food and decorations. 

Here are some entertaining ideas that you might want to consider for your movie night birthday party. Keep the party fun and engaging without the added stress with these party ideas:

Invitation

ticket-inspired invitations on the table

The invitations will set the tone and give your guest their first glimpse of the party theme. They also probably get their first impression of the party through the invitations. 

Though a digital invitation might be easier to make and easier to send out, paper invitations, on the other hand, can be more engaging. You can make your invitation cards inspired by the movie industry to stay on theme. A red carpet Hollywood invitation card or movie clapboard invitations are some of the invitation themes you might try. 

You can make DIY invitations–go the old-school route with construction paper. Make Admit One tickets for your invitations out of construction paper. And make sure to add all the relevant details about the party so your guests arrive informed. 

But if you’re tech-savvy and pressed for time, you can design your party invitations and then send them digitally or print and send them via mail. You may buy and edit graphic invitations from sites to expedite things. 

You can also hype up the event by making a movie poster with a photo of the celebrant. Or even better, if you have the extra time and the technical skills, you can make a 15-30-second trailer clip slash video invitation that contains the details about your party! 

different colored strings of lights

Decorations

To make your movie night party memorable, throw in the extra effort with the decorations. Do the extra work to make your home or backyard a palatial movie theater.

You can start the makeover with the floors. Imitate the iconic Hollywood red carpet scene by laying a red carpet runner from your front door or on the pathway to the event area. You can also recreate the Hollywood Walk of Fame stars with your guests’ names. Simply line up your pathway or the concession stand area with DIY tiles, printed rugs, or mats with a star motif and your guests’ names. Aside from the wow factors, the Hollywood Walk of Fame stars can also serve the practical purpose of guiding your guests to the party area.

Since the area where you’ll be watching movies – your living room, home theater, or backyard–will be kept dark anyway, you can put all your resources and energy towards decorating other parts of the venue instead. Places that you’ll probably need to decorate well would be the entrance and “concessions” area. To liven up the entrance and “concessions” area, you can add a welcome banner on the front door and movie-night-themed (pic designs that are related to the films you’ll be showing) balloons and streamers above the table. Here are examples of the things you need to decorate your venue: Hollywood Movie Night Party Decorations, Ultimate Movie Night Party Supplies, Hollywood Party Decoration Kit, Movie Awards Night Paper Tableware Bundle, and a Movie Night Party Pack. 

And again, you can also go with the old school–go the DIY route to create decorative items. Just some things you can create at home are banners made from upcycled popcorn boxes. To create the banners, simply put one hole at the top right side of the popcorn box and then do the same thing to the top left side. Repeat the process with other popcorn boxes until you have enough to make all the needed banners. Then after finishing putting holes in the boxes, use a long string to connect them all and tape to stick them in place at the wall.

Snack Table and Food

bags of popcorn on top of a table

For the food, serve some cinema staples to stay consistent with the theme!

The cinema experience won’t be complete without some buttery popcorn. You can serve this theater staple from a concession cart or a popcorn popper machine. Either will do since both are consistent with the party theme, and both are sure to impress your guests! 

You can set up a popcorn bar and let your guests decide and pick the flavor they want by offering different popcorn seasonings. Your popcorn bar should carry both savory options and drizzles for sweet options to cater to the different tastes of your guests. Then, let your guests mix and shake the popcorn and seasonings up in a popcorn bag. 

It would also be great to have a buffet of cinema staples and theater treats, like chips, hotdogs, fries, and nachos, served on paper food boats to recreate the movie theater experience. You can also serve some sweets to sweeten up the occasion and cater to your guest’s sweet tooth. 

To do this, you can pack the concession stand with candies of your choosing, like Mars and Hershey’s mini chocolates, placed in labeled clear cookie jars, glass bowls, and apothecary jars.

And, of course, you’ll need to serve some drinks to wash down the snacks. 

For the drinks, you can serve your guests their preferred choice of beverage (like iced tea, fruit juice, lemonade, or punch). You can serve the drinks in a cute glassware beverage dispenser with a rack for disposable party cups on both sides, or you can go with soda cans so your guests can quickly grab one and go.

And a final reminder related to the party snacks, if you do decide to host the party outdoors, it would be prudent to use a rolling cart, so you can move around easier while carrying serving the concession snacks and you can also use soda buckets to keep drinks cool. 

Party Favors

Oscar’s Trophy replicas

And finally, send your guests home with movie-themed party favors to top the party off. Send them home with a goody bag filled with candy, snacks, and other memorabilia.

Another great idea for party favors is giving away novelty clapboards or Oscar-style trophies inscribed with your guests’ names. Or, for a more practical option, give them a popcorn kernel and seasoning set so that they have something to enjoy for their own movie night at home.