Create the perfect schedule and timeline for your Movie Theater Party. The event will run efficiently, and your job will be easier than imagined.
The best way to plan your Movie Theater Party is to work from a scheduled timeline. As you learned on my blog, the most effective party duration for a pre-teen is 2 - 2.5 hours. So, once you've selected your feature presentation, just work backwards to fill in the schedule.
In the following example, we'll assume that we've selected one of my favorite kids movies (which coincidentally features a VERY young and handsome Sean Connery!), Darby O'Gill and the Little People, with a runtime of 90 minutes.
2:30 pm Guests arrive
2:35 pm Ushers rip tickets and guests enter
2:40 pm Guests purchase food at concession stand; take seats in theater
2:50 pm Film short begins (Three Stooges, "A Plumbing We Will Go")
3:05 pm Feature film begins (Darby O'Gill); concession stand remains open, as needed.
4:00 pm Make sure that table area is ready -- placesettings and decorations are in place. No chairs needed, yet.
4:35 pm Guests move to table area for birthday cake. Guests leave their plastic food trays in cinema area, and bring their chairs over to the table. They can continue to use their lidded cups, and just refill them at the table
4:40 pm Sing "Happy Birthday," cut cake and distribute to guests
4:45 pm Parents arrive to pick up guests. Ushers meet them, and have them wait at the door.
4:50 pm Guests gather their belongings and any "goody bags," and head to the door.
4:55 pm Guests and parents depart
5:00 pm Tear-Down and Clean Up
One last thing to discuss -- believe it or not, you don't have to break the bank to create a neat theme birthday cake. You can pick up a ready-made sheet cake (as minimally decorated as possible) at your local grocery store, and have the cake decorator write the birthday greetings in black frosting on a white background. Open a roll of film and uncurl it around the perimeter of the cake. Just make sure that the candles are not too close to the film, as you don't want it to melt.
Good luck and have fun with this great kids party idea. If you need further information on any aspect of this party, please use the discussion format below.
To review all the details of this party, check out my other movie theater articles.
© Text by Janice Benoit, [June, 2006]. Photo by FreeFoto.com. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
