How To Plan Your Own Outdoor Movie Night Party For Engagements or Wedding Showers

During warmer months, an outdoor movie night is the perfect party alternative for engagement parties or Jack-and-Jill styled bridal showers for couples looking for a more low-key gathering. Outdoor movie nights are the great for couples who love the outdoors and family oriented events. (Also, you don’t need a special occasion to have one. Summer is just around the corner. Who needs a better reason than that?) They are not only fun, but also very affordable to pull off. 

Instead of adding another huge expense to our already growing wedding budget, we opted for an outdoor movie night that took our simple living values and mixed it with our creative ideas. The result was this amazing movie night that we will remember for years to come. In fact, our family loved it so much that we gifted our projector to my cousin so he can host more movie nights at his house this summer. 

Here is how we planned our own outdoor movie night. We hope to inspire a movie-night of your own. 

Find Your Location

If you have a back yard, you are all set. Because we live in a studio apartment, we asked to use my cousin’s yard for our location. We were so thankful he said yes! You will need a space for tables, the food, and to project the movie. 

Plan Your Menu

First priority of any party, besides the location, is the food. You can have yours catered or take a more pot-luck family picnic approach. We chose the later; every guest brought a contribution from appetizers, to entrees, side dishes, dessert, and drinks. 

For dinner we did side dishes, hot dogs, and hamburgers. We kept it nice and simple. My mother made an amazing baked potato salad and my sister Jennifer brought a collection of pies for dessert. 

Find A Projector

We found our projector on Amazon for under $100. If you know someone who owns one you may have better luck borrowing a projector. But don’t forget to give it a test run the day before and check for sound. You may need an extra speaker. 

For a screen, we tacked a white queen bed sheet to the walls of my cousin’s barn. You can use any white backdrop on a photo backdrop stand (or even make your own) if you do not have a wall to use. 

Pick Your Movie

We knew that we wanted to go with an old classic film for romance and ambiance. Plus, there are many great old films to choose from and share with new generations. We decided on Roman Holiday because we will be visiting Rome during our honeymoon. We turned a few guests into classic film fans. 

Popcorn and Favors

The best party favors (that also double as table decorations and silverware holders, are popcorn cups found that the local dollar store. These come in two packs and make great favors on a budget. Plus they are reusable!

For popcorn, we placed four different flavors in apple bushel baskets: butter, cheesy, caramel, and maple cinnamon. 

Activities

Give your guests something to do before the food is served and it gets dark enough for the movie. We had lawn games like corn hole and a ring toss set up. 

Later in the evening my cousins lit of fireworks and the kids danced around with sparklers. 

A Photo Booth

Our photo booth was a big hit! You do not need to go through great lengths to create your own. Any decorative backdrop or setup (with props) will do. Make sure you assign a family member or friend as the photo booth photographer so you don’t get stuck taking pictures yourself. You can also bring along a Polaroid camera for instant photos if it is in your budget. 

For our photo booth, we built our own Victorian Paper Moon backdrop with a lot of hard work, plywood, and paint. 

What To Wear

Wear outdoor attire and shoes. High heels will not work out so well on the grass. Matthew wore shorts and a short sleeved button down and I wore an old dress of my mother’s. Make sure to bring along a jacket, sweater, or a change of clothes in case it gets colder at night. 

Picnic Blankets

Make sure your guests bring picnic blankets and pillows. (Or lawn chairs if they prefer.) We brought along a basket of small throw blankets from Ikea with us just in case.

Music

Music makes the waiting more fun. Have a playlist going (something easy going and fun like classic rock or country tunes) while guests eat dinner and play games. 

The Things You Might Forget 

You don’t want to be left missing something important. Make sure you have a check list and pack everything ahead of time. 

Some of the things we added to our list that you might find helpful too: bug repellent, citronella candles, sunscreen, and extra water bottles. If you are expecting many guests, you may want to consider renting a portable toilet to accommodate larger groups of people. 

Ambiance

Outdoor movie nights are made magical with a little ambiance. For the seating area, we placed tables and chairs under a large tree. Simple white paper tablecloths covered the tables and there were sunflowers, popcorn cups, and candles on the tables. The plates were white with gold trim and the silverware was also gold. 

At the popcorn table we had an old fashioned popcorn machine as a prop and we used apple baskets for the popcorn.

During the movie, we placed small wooden crates by each little picnic station to use as side tables. We also placed little gold candle votives on the crates for a gentle glow.