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Outdoor Movie Night

By Cheri Liefeld
Created January 10, 2017
You can create an Outdoor Movie Night in your backyard and watch movies under the stars.
outdoor movie snacks

Enjoy the beautiful summer nights watching your favorite movie under the stars. We did this at my brothers recently and it was so much fun. The hardest part was waiting for it to get dark! Here is how to host an outdoor movie night at your house.

The key element is your movie screen.

Photo 1 OutdoorMovie

There are many ways to improvise one, if you search online you find many different ways to build a screen but here are a few ideas to get you started: 

  • Garage door or blank wall
  • Buy or rent a portable screen
  • Large sheets or 3-4 yards of black out fabric

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Being creative, but not handy I devised a creative way to build an outdoor movie screen. I took two rod iron stakes that hold hanging plants. I spray painted an old curtain rod black to match and then hung up black out fabric I bought at a local fabric store. The material makes a great movie screen but you need to be able to pull it tightly and secure both top and bottom.

Now for the fun stuff, what to serve at your outdoor movie night. Parties are all about the food, especially when kids are involved. I served up popcorn in three different ways.

Photo 3 OutdoorMovie

I baked up Popcorn Candy Cookie Bars using Pillsbury® Ready to Bake Sugar Cookies and then topping with a caramel coated popcorn, candy, pretzels and peanuts.

Photo 4 OutdoorMovie
Photo 5 OutdoorMovie

We bagged up S’more Popcorn, made with Golden Grahams® into cellophane bags and topped with a cute topper I printed at home. These were the biggest hit of the evening with kids and adults. One of the guests called them inspired.

Photo 6 OutdoorMovie

For the adults there was a huge tub of popcorn, along with various toppings. There was Cheese, Chile Lime and Parmesan Lemon Pepper.

Photo 7a OutdoorMovie

For drinks, we served Cherry Limeade Soda and plenty of water bottles.

Photo 8 OutdoorMovie
Photo 8a OutdoorMovie

Place blankets on the lawn and hand out bowls to fill with popcorn. The kids liked it having it within their reach. No one wants to leave the movie to get refills.

Photo 9 OutdoorMovie

Two of the kids were on the blankets yelling “movie, movie”, long before sunset. They thought it was a great adventure.

Here are a few tips to make your Outdoor Movie Night a success:

  • Bug Spray or citrine candles to keep bugs at bay
  • String a set of outdoor lights around the screen for fun
  • Extension cord of 30 feet or more
  • Test out the movie screen and projector
  • Portable speakers for better sound

A few shortcuts when you are short on time:

  • Microwave caramel & cheese corn
  • Use Pillsbury Cut and Slice Cookies to bake up warm cookies

Fun little extras to add pop to your evening:

  • Turn gift boxes into food trays
  • Have vintage candy or movie size candy boxes
  • Striped and polka dot straws
  • Project old family movies or photo collages as a pre-movie show