An Outdoor Movie Par-tay
One of our planned "summer fun" activities was
to host an outdoor movie night for Andrew and a few friends.
Since summer was winding down and a certain someone was celebrating
turning NINE, we decided to make the birthday party + movie night one in the same.
Having just finished the book, Andrew chose the first Harry Potter movie
and invites went out to 15 friends...
We had a theme, without being TOO themey
(they are 8 and 9 year olds after all...
AND to be honest, this Mama had fabric scraps that kind of dictated the colors scheme...
AND I didn't want it to feel like Halloween.)
(see that little book page banner? ummm, yeah, that was supposed to have "happy birthday" on it. whoops. ran out of time! )
We figured out the seating - using some of our indoor furniture
and utilizing my plethora of fabric scraps to sew a few big throw pillows.
Baskets were filled with big quilts + blankets.
(Though I keep saying "we", it was a bit more like "me")
We had plenty (or so I thought) of snacks + drinks...
they ate and drank EVERYTHING!!
We had "Harry's" favorites -- Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans + Chocolate Frogs.
Andrew wanted to make a little Hogwarts Castle out of paper towel rolls.
Such a cute idea.
Before the movie the kids used the "sorting hat"
to determine which "house" they were in
and they competed for the "House Cup."
The games included:
A Magic Hoop Spell
A Three Legged Enchantment Relay
A Transfiguration Test - Turn a "housemate into a toad"
A Game of Quidditch
{you'll have to read Harry Potter if this all sounds a bit odd}
{and for those that have, yes there was "broom flying"!}
{and to my friend and fellow DI manager, Heather -- our training came in mighty handy!!}
We had "wizard hat cupcakes" and then everyone got all snuggled in
and settled down for the 2.5 hour long movie.
Watching a movie outside, under strings of white lights (didn't get a good pic of these!!
but they made everything more festive), with your buddies was a fun way to celebrate!
Now that we've got all the technical logistics figured out
we hope to do this weekly in the summer.
not with 15 children, but as a family, and maybe with adult friends too.
A few lessons learned...
We had a number of parents ask how we projected the movie...
we used a laptop + projector + speakers
We did a test run the night before to work out kinks. There were a few.
Plenty of bug spray + citronella candles is a must to keep the bugs at bay.
Next time I'm buying bagged popcorn or popping ahead of time.
I ran around like a maniac for the first 30 minutes
of the movie trying to make mass quantities of "fresh" (birthday boy request)
popcorn with an air popper.
I had kernels, salt, and butter ALL OVER MY KITCHEN.
It wasn't pretty! :) But it was worth it!