How to throw an outdoor movie night on a budget

Whether it’s family time or a party with friends, an outdoor movie night is a fun way to enjoy the good weather and spend time together with those you love. So, I have some great ideas to make this a fun night without breaking the bank. Check it out!

Outdoor movie with kids — *Kids watching the movie screen during our outdoor movie night.*

So, my kids were asking to have an outdoor movie all summer long. As the end of the summer approached, it was the perfect time of year and I was able to get myself organized and pull this fun party together. Through the process, I figured out some easy ways to make this movie night cheap, memorable and lots of fun. Check it out!

Gather your outdoor movie night equipment

One of the reasons that I hadn’t done an outdoor movie before was that I didn’t have all of the expensive equipment. But I sent out a message to our neighborhood GroupMe and my friend happened to already have a projector, speaker and screen. She was happy to let me borrow it. You just want to make sure that the speaker is loud enough or else no one will be able to hear the movie. Make sure the projector can connect to your laptop, phone or DVD player.

However, if you don’t someone to borrow the equipment from, here’s a list of fairly affordable outdoor movie supplies you can buy on Amazon:

Movie projector and outdoor projector screen
Speaker
Power station (or extension cords to connect to the house)

Prep your movie snacks

It wouldn’t be an outdoor movie without some popcorn and snacks. I didn’t want to go overboard and spend too much movie on snacks. So I tried to keep it simple. Instead of buying everything, I told everyone that I invited to bring a snack to share.

For my part, I kept it really simple and provided the popcorn in cute little popcorn bags and Koolaid. I just bought a giant bag of movie popcorn at the store and like four packets of cherry Koolaid.

Set everything up in advance

Whenever you’re working with electronics, you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to set up. Make sure everything is working properly so you’re not scrambling as people arrive. It took at least a half hour to set up the projector and screen. We couldn’t find the right cord so that took a little bit. Overall however, the prep for this movie night wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.

Neighbors and friends ready for the movie — *Neighbors and friends ready for the backyard movie night*

Other outdoor movie night tips and trips

Make sure you tell everyone who’s coming to bring a blanket and a camping chair. Since we did out outdoor movie on our driveway, it was definitely more comfortable to have a camping chair.

Camping chair and blanket: Tell everyone who is coming to bring their own own chairs (specifically lawn chairs or camping chairs) and a blanket, especially if you are doing it on your driveway. We also had some extra camping chairs set up for those who forgot.
Invitations: Keep it simple and send a text out to everyone instead of printing invitations
Power station: Instead of dealing with long extension cords to connect to our house, we used my husband’s power station. It worked perfectly and clean up was a cinch.
Weather: Keep an eye on the weather and have a backup plan in case it looks like it might rain. On cool nights, tell everyone to bring a jacket and bug spray.
Start and end time: It’s tempting to invite everyone over too early, but make sure it’s actually dark before you start or you can’t see the movie. And remind parents that it will be getting over late. We started our movie around 8:45 p.m. and finished around 10:30 p.m.
Pre-movie activities: If you want to invite friends over earlier, you can have a fire pit with s’mores, nine square and cornhole.
Movie choice: If there are kids attending, make sure you pick a kid-friendly show like Finding Nemo or Garfield. New releases are also a good choice.
Final touches: Try hanging some outdoor string lights and buying some glow sticks to hand out to everyone.