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Tips for Having a Movie Party

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For the past few weeks I’ve been talking about my daughter’s upcoming birthday. Well, we are finally on the other side of it so today I am going to share all the details of the party. I previously shared the Birthday Party Themes For Girls that I had found when helping my daughter choose. Ultimately, she decided that she wanted a more gender-neutral theme even all of her guests were girls, because she fancies herself a tomboy. So, we decided to have a “Movie Party.” Secretly, I pushed for this idea because I thought of the blissful silence I would enjoy for the duration of the movie (i.e. Easiest. Party. Ever.).

a collage of the decorations for a movie party with title text reading Tips for Having a Movie Party

Decorations From The Party Store

We hit the party store and picked up invitations that looked like movie tickets, some decorations, and a red carpet.

Movie Party Decorations
the front door of a house decorated with a VIP Entrance banner

“No Papparazzi” Caution Tape

I used some “No Papparazzi” plastic tape to label the bathroom door, because no one wants a camera crew following them into the ladies room!

No Papparazzi caution tape on a bathroom door

Red Carpet And Backdrop

As guests arrived, I had them walk the red carpet and pose in front of the backdrop with my daughter. A fun variation on this would be to pull out some fun props like feathered boas, funny glasses, costume jewelry, and hats so the kids can get dolled up for the photos.

girls posing for a picture in front of a backdrop of a Red Carpet

Earn Tickets By Playing Games

The kids had to earn tickets by playing games. I chose games that didn’t have winners and losers. The kids won tickets just for participating. Typically, I’m all about the spirit of competition, but this was a party AND I needed all of the kids to earn enough tickets to “buy” concessions so that I wasn’t stuck with a bunch of popcorn and candy. Since the theme had to do with movies, I chose these games:

  • Strike a Pose (the girls gave me their best pose on the red carpet as I snapped away with the camera)
  • Charades (all of the clues they had to act out were movie titles)
  • Movie Trivia (we made up questions from movies we knew they had seen)

Authentic Popcorn Maker

About a month ago, we decided that because we enjoy family movie night every week and we all LOVE popcorn, it was a good idea to buy an authentic popcorn maker. We found this one at Amazon for a price we were happy with. We needed a stand-alone unit because though we have plenty of floor space, counter space is in short supply.

Popcorn Maker machine

Otherwise, for almost half the price, we probably would have gone with this one:

counter popcorn maker

Truth being told, justifying its purchase was probably another contributing factor to pushing for the movie party theme. The smell of the freshly popped popcorn definitely contributed to the movie theater ambiance.

Concession Stand

We popped enough popcorn to fill up 10 popcorn bags, one for each of the kids. Then we set up the concession stand. I had purchased an assortment of theater-style boxed candy at Walmart and Hugs Juice bottles. Though Hugs probably wasn’t the healthiest beverage option, because the straws are designed to puncture the foil lid and unlike pouches, the bottles stand easily on their own, the risk of spills was the lowest with this drink choice.

Concession Stand food on a table for a movie party

Movie And Cupcakes

For the movie, we had actually picked up a few different choices from Redbox and let the kids vote. Even if you don’t want to give kids a choice, I highly recommend having a couple of movies as backup just in case there is something wrong with the disk, or if the kids lose interest a few minutes in.

After the movie, we gathered the kids in the “Celebrity VIP” area that we had taped off for cupcakes.

a table decorated as a VIP Area for a movie party

Popcorn Favor Bags

I purchased smaller, sturdier popcorn bags to use as favor bags which we filled with glow sticks, silly putty, flavored lip balm, jump ropes, and mini coin purses. I didn’t put any candy in because I was already feeling guilty about sugaring them up with the theater candy and cupcakes. If I was doing this party for older kids, I probably would have gotten some cute gift bags and called them “swag bags” instead.

popcorn Favor Bags

More Fun Things

Depending on your budget, you can really play up the theme and invest in some stanchions and VIP passes like these:

VIP Pass
Stanchions

The nice thing about this theme is that it works for just about any group. It’s not gender-specific so it’s just as fun for boys as it is for girls. By switching up the games and party favors, you can easily adapt to any age group. You can even use most of the decorations and props for an adult Oscar awards party or a Hollywood-themed party at Halloween.

7 thoughts on “Tips for Having a Movie Party”

  1. We did a similar birthday party for my daughter’s 12th birthday party (but we didn’t have the super cool popcorn machine!!) We did however have 4 popcorn flavor choices, parmesan cheese, chili powder, colored sugar and M&Ms added.

    Reply
    • Ooh, flavored popcorn in genius! I do love the movie theater style though. We are eating way too much of it now that we can make it whenever we want.

      Reply
  2. I am in love with this idea! The props are so great and I think the red carpet is a fantastic idea. I can see using all of this for an adult party too.

    Reply
    • My teen daughter asked me to save the red carpet for prom. She wants to take pictures on it with her friends. I’m surprised my photo hog children didn’t ask me to permanently install it!

      Reply

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