Need inspiration and tips to throw a movie themed birthday party?
You are in the right place! My third daughter just turned 10… she’s officially DOUBLE DIGITS woohoo! She’s a big movie lover and this year she asked if she could have a movie themed party. Of course momma couldn’t say no and started planning away in my head.
What do you need to throw an amazing movie themed party?
- INVITATIONS
- LOCATION
- PROJECTOR
- COMFY SEATING
- DECORATIONS
- FOOD
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Hey there, I’m so glad you’re here! If you enjoy these movie theatre party ideas be sure to check out these other party-themed posts:
- DIY western themed party signs
- How to make a unicorn party table centerpiece
- Plan the perfect art party for your kiddo for under $40
- How to make a wooden cupcake base with the help of your Cricut
MOVIE PARTY SUPPLIES
Materials
Helpful supplies/tools for setup
- stepstool
- scissors
- double sided tape
- clear fishing line
- 3M clean release hooks for hanging things
- tote- I placed this under the party table to hold extra things so I wasn't running around the house trying to find what I needed. Examples of what I kept in this one: extra candy bars, bags of chips, double sided tape, napkins, juicy drinks
MOVIE THEMED PARTY INVITES
- Grab the FREE PRINTABLE in my free resource library (find the link below).
- printer
- paper trimmer
Decorations
- PLASTIC TABLECLOTHS – RED & BLACK- we used LOTS of these. They worked great to block out the windows on the sunporch. I ruffled the red tablecloths to make them look like theatre curtains.
- GOLD FRINGE DOORWAY CURTAIN– we used two: one in the doorway and the other behind the dessert cupcake table
- BALLOONS– black, gold, & clear with confetti. I also purchased inexpensive balloon sticks to put the party balloons on for the table decorations.
- VASE & VASE FILLER– we used recycled Starbucks frappe glasses for the vases and gold fringe for the filler inside the glasses (I used trimmed ends from the fringer curtain).
- RED CARPET STANCHIONS– these were made using mostly Dollar Tree supplies. I will update this post when the DIY tutorial is written.
- NOW SHOWING BIRTHDAY BANNER- use the same SVG I used in my resource library. All materials were purchased at the Dollar Tree.
Lights
- outdoor sting lighting or white Chirstmas lights (I used both)
Movie
- projector
- drop cloth
- hanging clips
- streaming service
- soundbar (optional)
Concession stand
- plates
- napkins
- food – we served hotdogs, bags of individual chips, and juicy drinks
- trays to hold food, plates, straws, etc. I used containers, tiered trays, buckets, platters, baskets…I already had on hand.
Dessert table
- dessert – we served popcorn cupcakes
- plates
- napkins
- tiered tray or something similar to hold the cupcakes/dessert
Party Favors
- candy bars are a great option for a "party favor" at a movie themed party.
- white cardstock
MOVIE THEMED PARTY INIVITES
The first thing i did for the party were the invites. She told me what she wanted then I used Canva.com to create a movie clapboard birthday party invitation. You can get use my template for FREE, CLICK HERE.
This what the editable clapboard birthday invite template looks like:
PRINTING OUT BIRTHDAY INVITES:
- print invites out on medium thickness white cardstock
- print them one paper at a time so the ink can dry
- use a paper trimmer to get straight lines when cutting the invites
LOCATION
This one is pretty easy for an at-home movie night party. You just need access to power and an area to project your own movie onto. Originally I was going to have the party outside BUT good ole Midwest weather said nope! It was supposed to be 100° (plus awful humidity) the day of her party so I set everything up on our seasonal sun porch.
PROJECTOR + DROP CLOTH
We opted to buy a nice movie projector and used a CLEAN non stained drop cloth as the screen. I tacked ribbon onto the corners of the drop cloth then hung it on our siding with fancy siding clips.
If you don’t have a drop cloth a white sheet is also a great option.
TIPS FOR USING A PROJECTOR
- setup & get to know the projector BEFORE the day of the party.
- at least an hour before the party starts check WIFI & blue tooth connections
- use a small table to set the projector on
- do a test run with the sound, add a sound bar/speaker if it’s not loud enough for a crowd
- pull the screen tight so there are no wrinkles to obscure the movie picture
COMFY SEATING
For our comfortable movie seating we chose the standard blanks and pillows but also added in pool floats/loungers. We were able to find these at our local Walmart for about $2 a floaty. They were a BIG hit with the kids. Our neighbors also let us borrow a few of theirs, because they are amazing like that.
DECORATIONS & FOOD
Decorations…my favorite party of the party planning process!
My daughter and I looked on Pinterest together to get some inspiration for movie themed birthday party decorations. We knew for sure she had to have a personalized NOW SHOWING sign, lights, and stanchions.
Think outside the box with your movie party supplies and decorations. You likely have more than you realize already at home to use for the décor. Some things I already had were Christmas lights, tiered trays (thank you Hobby Lobby), baskets, and vases (which were really coffee drink glasses from the grocery store I couldn’t bring myself to toss out).
Here’s a look at how I decorated her party and the food we served:
HOLLYWOOD THEME PARTY BANNER
NOW SHOWING BIRTHDAY SIGN: In lieu of a traditional birthday banner, I used my Cricut to make her a theatre-like sign. The birthday girl LOVED her personalized birthday sign. I know it’s not a true Hollywood sign but it does remind me of it. It turned out a bit crooked but she loved it anyway. You can use the same NOW SHOWING SVG free in my resource library.
SNACK TABLE
Traditional popcorn popping machines are really expensive but there are affordable options out there. I picked mine up for about $20. It uses air/heat to pop the kernels so we didn’t have to mess with hot oil or go back and forth using the microwave in the kitchen.
Instead of buying fancy theatre popcorn bags, we used brown paper sacks we already had. We rolled them down then the kids could sprinkle in whatever popcorn flavor of their choosing. The birthday girl thought that was so cool to have so many flavors for the popcorn.
HOLLYWOOD LIGHTS
Lighting really made this theatre-themed party pop! I was originally just going to have the hanging bulb lighting but my second daughter had the genius idea to use icicle Christmas lights on the table to vamp it up a bit. It turned out gorgeous! She really made the setup look more in line with Hollywood party decorations without spending more money.
THEATRE POPCORN CUPCAKES
DESSERT TABLE: Instead of a typcial birthday cake we served cupcakes that were lightly frosted with popcorn on top. They were a simple no fuss option of her hollywood theme party.
We used confetti boxed cake mix to make the cupcakes the night before. About an hour before the party started we added vanilla frosting then topped them off with chocolate drizzled popcorn we picked up from SAM’s Club. They were super easy and looked like little bags of theatre popcorn when we were done.
I hung a black plastic table cloth for the background then hung a gold fringe doorway curtain on top of it. The lights and balloons added a perfect pop to this area to glam it up even more. I actually saved the bottom of the cut off gold doorway fringe then used that as filler inside of the balloon “vases”.
RED CARPET GOLD STANCHIONS
These were so fun and surprisingly easy to make. I will get a post written for you showing exactly how I made these using items from Dollar Tree. Although we didn’t have a real red carpet runner, the kids thought this fake red carpet was so cool!
CONCESSION STAND
To keep things super simple we served hotdogs, chips, and juicy drinks. Yes, that is a hotdog roller BUT we came by that gem on accident. We aren’t THAT extra that we went out and bought it, it was a freebie that dropped in our lap. I will say I never thought we would actually use it but here I am writing about how it was perfect for my daughter’s theatre themed birthday party!
PARTY FAVORS
What’s a movie-themed party without theatre candy? Again, I used something I already had at home to display the candy on (that makes me feel better given that all that candy was a small fortune lol!!). The birthday girl was VERY impressed with the candy options!
Bonus: the theatre candy also doubled as party favors, woohoo!
I hope this post helps you plan your ultimate Hollywood movie-themed party. I know my kids had so much fun at her at home movie theatre. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
