Since our boys were very young, I wanted to give them the experience of watching a movie outside – reminiscent of the drive-in movies my parents took my brothers and I to when we were young. As a result, I created our Outdoor Movie Nights.

For the past 15 years, my husband and I have held Outdoor Movie Night for our boys – most years it has been a weekly event – one that our entire family looks forward to. I love to entertain and make things special for our boys, so I really enjoy these weekly events. What started as an event for just our family has progressed over the years to become an event that includes our friends, and has become a tribute to the old drive-in movie theaters my husband and I remember so fondly.

Knowing how special this event is for our family, I really wanted to share it with you! Maybe you can adapt my ideas into creating your own Outdoor Movie Nights! Here’s an outline of what we do.

An Overview Of Our Weekly Outdoor Movie Night

■ The Preparation (5:00pm-7:00pm)

The following is what we do to prepare for our Weekly Outdoor Movie Night. We do this so often, we have our routine down pat, and everyone works very well together as a team.

These are just the basic steps on our Movie Night checklist. Of course, there are a few other tasks that factor into the prep work that aren’t listed, such as cleaning the house and grocery shopping.

Setting the Stage

• Choose a Movie – Chosing a movie is always a lot of fun for me. Since our typical guests are between the ages of 14 through adults, I’m always on the look-out for a movie that is appropriate for this audience. The movies don’t always have to be the latest releases – sometimes the movies from the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s are even more fun to watch. For example, Sandlot will probably go down as one of the favorites among our guests. I won’t get into all the details about that movie night, but let’s just say there was a lot of laughter that night! I try to let our guests know what the movie is each week in advance, and I post links to IMDB for that movie, so parents can review ahead of time to make sure it’s something they are okay letting their kids watch. The main thing to consider is to select a movie that will appeal to a wide audience. I also like to choose movies that are best when played on a large screen. You know the ones – where you feel like you’re “in” the movie with all the sights and sounds so close and “Larger than Life”! I keep a booklet of all the movies we show each year, so there are never any repeats. See the next note.
• Prepare our Weekly Outdoor Movie Night Booklet – Every year I create a paperback booklet that has a two-page spread for each week. I print a colored copy of the movie cover and glue that to the left-side page. I also type out several pieces of trivia from the movie and glue those snippets into the booklet. The right-side page has a template I glue in that includes what was served for concessions each week, and the names of everyone that attended. You can see a photo of several of these booklets further down this page.
• Set up Viewing Tents – It’s Minnesota. Rural Minnesota to be exact. And that means mosquitoes, typically from May to October. So, we set up screened viewing tents to keep the bugs away. We have two really slick tents that we use. The tents were designed to be used against an RV as a screen-porch, but these tents are PERFECT for our needs. They set up very quickly and provide plenty of room for all our guests. In years past, we used a screened gazebo for one tent and a regular screen tent for the adult tent (see photos below). Both of these worked very well for many years, but they deteriorated over so many years of use. See the photo at the bottom of this article for a glimpse of our new replacement screen rooms!
  
  

  Previous tents

  

  Previous tents

  

  Previous tents
• Furnish Viewing Tents – We set up our two tents on our large cement driveway. We want our guests to be comfortable, so for the kid’s tent, we add a large indoor/outdoor rug, a bunch of large floor pillows, several gaming chair rockers, and patio chairs. The kids can decide if they want to lay on the rug, sit on the pillows, or sit in the chairs. Since all of these seating elements are different heights, you can have “rows” of seating styles to accommodate everyone. The adult tent usually is furnished with patio chairs and end tables, and a vintage two-level end table that serves to hold the laptop that runs the projector.

  

• Set up the Big Screen – My husband made a huge movie screen out of PVC pipes and a recycled billboard tarp stretched across it. The tarp is pure white on the backside, and it works perfectly for a movie screen. We assemble the screen once at the beginning of the Outdoor Movie Night season, and then leave it assembled until October. When not in use, the legs pop off, and it only takes two people to move it into the garage, where it is hung against a wall for safe-keeping. Thank goodness we have tall garage doors and ceilings! We’ve had Outdoor Movie Night when we watched a show on a little 13″ TV set. But to us, watching a show outside on the BIG screen is paramount (pun intended) to having the genuine drive-in movie experience!
  
• Set up Equipment – We use a laptop, projector, and surround sound speakers to run the movies. As mentioned above, the laptop sits on a vintage end table in the adult tent. The projector is set up just outside the tent on another end table, and the surround-sound speakers are set out at various places to provide an immersive sound experience. It’s pretty cool! I credit my husband for setting up such a perfect system!
• Set out Candles – Because we live in the country, when it is dark outside, it is REALLY dark. So dark, that it makes it difficult to see beyond the movie screen to find the steps that lead into the house. Therefore, I place votive candles inside clear glass mason jars to line the path from the tents to the front service entrance of our house. That way, if someone needs to take a bathroom break, they can easily find their way. The candles are bright enough to line the path, but not too bright as to distract from the movie screen. They give the appearance of old-time movie foot-lights that lit the stage for actors before electricity was invented. And… the cool thing about using mason jars is when the movie is over and the candles are blown out, I just screw the lids back on and the jars are ready for the next week. I store the jars in the original cardboard case they came in, so it makes it really easy to carry them out to the viewing area and store them when not in use.

  

• Decorations – Most weeks we have a “theme” for our Outdoor Movie Night. Depending on the theme, I set out props and decorations for the movie on our center island – which serves as the central hub for guests. For example, for Shark Week, I served Bloody Mary’s (non-alcoholic for the kids) in clear glasses filled with plastic sharks. The vintage Jaws Shark Game was on the center island and everyone had fun playing it. For the movie Super Eight, I set out a couple of vintage Super 8 Movie Cameras that everyone had a fun time with. You get the idea. Be creative! I have a movie clap-board that I use to write the name of the movie each week (shown in the photos) – a great prop for our guests to see each week!
  
  

  

Preparing Concessions

The Concession Stand was the hub of activity at the old drive-in theaters! What would Outdoor Movie Night be if there weren’t a variety of concessions to eat and drink?

• Prepare Beverages – One of the staple beverages we serve each week is Ice Cold Sweet Tea. Click Sweet Tea for the recipe we use. I usually make enough tea to fill four large vintage glass refrigerator pitchers (the large tall pitchers with white lids, in the above photo). We use an ice bucket and tongs for the ice, and have sliced lemons for people to use in their drinks. For serving, we use clear glass mason jars with the lids screwed on, and a hole drilled in it for a hard plastic (reusable) straw. Because I wanted to be sure everyone would remember which mason jar was theirs, I hand stamped movie character names on the metal lids of the jars using metal stamps. Darth Vadar, Scarlet O’Hara, Sherlock Holmes, and Indiana Jones are just some of the names guests can choose from. See my note below for more information about these customized beverage glasses.
• Prepare Popcorn – We really love kettle corn, so that’s usually the kind of popcorn we make – in bulk! Click Kettle Corn Popcorn for the recipe we use. Make sure to make enough for the number of visitors you have. I pour all the popped popcorn into a large Tubtrug and cover it with tinfoil until it’s ready to serve. When it’s serving time, I use vintage Popcorn Cups that my Mom had in bulk. These Popcorn Cups were from the 1970s, never used, and stored in sealed bags. Something about these old cups just makes the popcorn taste even better!
• Prepare Concessions – I really love to entertain friends and family, and I especially love coming up with new and different appetizers to share. Each week, I plan at least three different appetizers to use for our concessions. Sometimes it might be a sweet and spicy dip served with crackers, a fruit bar, and marinated steak bites. Other weeks we’ve had fondue – a cheese and bread fondue and a beef or chicken fondue. I try to find one hot appetizer, one cold, and one additional surprise. The do-it-yourself ice cream sundae bar is always a favorite. I keep track of each week’s concessions in our Weekly Outdoor Movie Night Booklet, so I am sure not to serve the same thing twice in one season. I think the highlight for our guests is to see what’s on the menu each week – it’s always something different, and usually things no one has ever tried before. It’s fun! You don’t have to be quite so elaborate with your concessions, and if you prefer, you can turn it into a pot-luck where everyone brings a snack to share. See additional notes about this below.

  

Lights! Camera! Action!

Once the preparation work is done, here’s a run-down of how our Weekly Outdoor Movie Night plays out.

■ Social Hour (7:00pm-8:45pm)

Our Weekly Outdoor Movie Night starts with a social hour with concessions when friends come to visit. The kids usually enjoy being out in the yard – jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the swings, or climbing the rock wall. They also enjoy playing Four Square and other games with their friends. The adults typically hang out in our kitchen around the center island, enjoying the food and beverages.

When it’s starting to get dark out, the kids all come inside and enjoy the food and beverages with their friends. Then it’s time for the movie concessions – kettle corn and sweet tea are the usual favorites.

■ Old-Fashioned Cartoons (8:45pm-9:00pm)

After everyone has their concessions, it’s time to head out to our driveway where the viewing tents are set up – one tent for the kids and one for the adults. Everyone grabs a chair or a floor pillow and makes themselves comfortable.

As a way to have everyone wind down from playing, we show old-fashioned cartoons on the big screen. Betty Boop, the first Mickey Mouse cartoons, and others. Everyone loves these old cartoons!

■ Featured Film (9:00pm-11:00pm)

When it’s dark enough, it’s time for the featured film to start. The movie usually lasts until around 11pm. There’s usually at least one intermission so everyone can take a bathroom break and refill their popcorn cups and beverages – but we accommodate and stop the show as many times as our guests need.

■ Take-Down and Clean Up (11:00pm-11:30pm)

When the movie is over, friends usually hang around to help us take down the tents, put away the movie screen, and help put all the equipment back inside the house. When you do this every week, you get into a groove, and everyone works quickly like a well-oiled machine. First-time visitors to Outdoor Movie Night are typically awe-struck at how speedy take-down occurs – like watching roadies from the Rolling Stones tear down a set!

The Equipment We Use

Viewing Tents

I mentioned our new viewing tents in the notes above. Here’s a photo of one of them when we first set it up. Depending on your needs, even a regular pop-up screen tent will work well for outdoor movies – it doesn’t have to be anything elaborate or fancy. If you don’t have a screen tent to use, I would highly recommend fogging your viewing area to repel mosquitoes, otherwise outdoor movie watching is not all that enjoyable!

Movie Screen

I mentioned above how my husband created our large movie screen – he used PVC pipe, elbow and tee fittings screwed together for the frame (screws make it really easy to disassemble at season’s end, and PVC makes it light weight), small bungee cords and a recycled billboard tarp. If you want to make something similar, here is a link to Billboard Tarps in Minneapolis, where you can buy recycled tarps. If you don’t want to use something so elaborate, you could hang a large white sheet in front of your garage door and use that as your screen. If your garage door is smooth and white, you could potentially just use that as the screen. And, if you don’t want something quite so large, you can easily find old tripod fold-up presentation screens at local thrift stores.

Projector, Speakers, Computer

We use a laptop computer to play the DVDs that we show on movie nights. If you plan to have a lot of outdoor movies, you’ll want to invest in a projector. We use a portable projector, similar to this one. There are lots of projectors to choose from at all price points (some as low as $50). If you’re only going to show outdoor movies occasionally, check with your local library to see if they rent projectors. You may also be able to rent a projector at a local rental company.

Special Touches

Choose a Theme

Themes are purely optional, of course, but they do make movie night even more fun! One year, we had Super Hero Summer, watching all the super hero movies, and finishing with The Avengers. Another summer was about spies and espionage. Even weekly themes are fun. For example, Shark Week is one of our favorites. Since I sell vintage items in my store, I always have a bunch of props on hand and usually something that ties in with the movie being shown. I think setting out these props helps define the theme of the week, plus it’s fun for our guests to play with these vintage items.

Customized Beverage Glasses

I mentioned our hand-stamped beverage glasses in the notes above. I had my husband drill holes in the tops of the metal mason jar lids – large enough to accomodate the large plastic reusable straws we use. I then took my metal stamp kit and stamped the names of a wide variety of men and women movie characters – 36 characters in all. Before our guests arrive, I place all the empty mason jars on the counter, along with the lids scattered out around them. The first thing I have guests do is choose their character for the night. Everyone looks through all the lids until they find the one they want to use. They fill up their mason jar with ice and a cold beverage, screw on the lid, add a straw and they’re set! I like to use mason jars for several reasons – first, they are heavy duty and have lids. When kids bring them out to the tents, I’m not too worried about them breaking or spilling. They’re also very inexpensive, easy to clean and store, and the metal lids make them fun to customize. I also like that they can be used over and over and over again. If you don’t want to do something like this, plastic or paper cups will also work. You could just serve bottled beverages as well.

Make it a Pot-luck

Yes, hosting a Weekly Outdoor Movie Night can get expensive. But it doesn’t have to be! Ask your visitors to bring a snack and beverage to share. This also makes it easier on you, since you won’t have to do all the prep work for making the concessions. You could also just ask guests to bring their own beverage and then serve popcorn. Popcorn is pretty cheap and you can even buy it in large bags. TIP: Contact your local movie theater to see if they sell large bags of popcorn – many do, and at a great price.

Give it a Try – or Join Us!

So, there you have it! This is how we run our well-choreographed Weekly Outdoor Movie Night! Maybe these ideas will give you inspiration to host your own Outdoor Movie Night. And if not, come join us at ours!

I think everyone who has attended one or more of our Outdoor Movie Nights will attest that they’ve had a blast. I like making memories for my boys, and (hopefully) maybe for our guests as well. Give it a try!