You've decided to host a movie theater birthday party for your child, and the guests have arrived and purchased their movie snacks. It's time to get them into the screening room!
Set up a screening room.
Clear all of the furniture from your family room, rec room or TV room. Set up rows of folding chairs (stagger them for better viewing) in front of the TV, making sure to leave about 24" of clearance between chairs and rows. If possible, darken the screening room by hanging black bed sheets around the perimeter of the screening room. If your tv room is large, you can make the screening room more intimate by hanging the sheets within a smaller perimeter.
Decorations throughout your home cinema should be movie-related paraphernalia.
Visit your local movie theater, and ask them if they are discarding publicity posters from previous movies. Let them know that you are a frequent patron, and that you're having a kids birthday party. As long as they don't think you're going to resell the posters on Ebay, the theaters are generally happy to pitch in! You can attach the posters to your bed sheet walls using safety pins.
On the same trip to your local theater, you can also visit the concession stand and purchased empty popcorn tubs. They may charge you a buck or 2 for the containers, but they make great party gift bags and/or decorations!
Choose a movie (video or dvd) that's age and content appropriate for the guests.
Try to make the choice a relatively unknown one, in the hopes that your guests won't be too familiar with the movie. I have selected older animated and live-action movies (try Disney's films from the mid-70s), and the kids have found them quite entertaining. I usually start the show with a 10 or 15 minute "short." Little Rascals, Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy episodes are all great suggestions, and although we may find them cliché, the kids think they're hilarious.
The third and final article in this series will discuss party timeline and the birthday cake. Check back here in a couple of days to get the plans!
© Text by Janice Benoit, [May, 2006]. Photo by FreeFoto.com. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
