How To Plan The Perfect Themed Movie Night
Whether you’re planning a date, a cozy night in with your kids or a little treat for the girls, movie nights can be a whole lot of fun. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, or even go out into the cold to have a good time; movie nights are proof of that. So if you’re looking for your next event to plan, a movie night could be exactly what you’re looking for.
Sometimes, you might sit down to watch a movie and wish that you’d put a little more effort into the planning of your time. It’s okay to lay back in your sweats and watch something from time to time, but when you’re thinking of planning a movie night, going all out can be all the more fun. Picking a theme is the perfect way to tie everything together and make it all the more special too. To plan your perfect themed movie night, follow these simple steps.
Pick The Location
When you start to plan your movie night, the first thing you want to do it work on the location. If you’re hosting it at home, which you more than likely are, you need to think about the spaces you have available that could work. You might instantly think of using your living room, but it can also help to consider other options that might be more appropriate, like a conservatory, attic or basement.
If you do decide to go with your living room, or another room that has a similar setup, you might want to start thinking of the ways that you can transform the space into a kind of movie theater itself. It might be that you need to move furniture around to change your Lighting to create the right kind of look. For now, just get your mind working as there’s plenty of time to make changes later on down the line.
Choose Your Guests
Planning a movie night really comes alive when you decide on the guests that you would like to attend. Firstly, your guest list can determine a lot of other elements for you, like your time and date, theme and even the type of movies that you show. For example, if there are children in attendance, you might want to screen Disney films, but if there are adults, you could go with something more mature.
Whether you decide to invite the girls along with a romantic comedy night, or a bunch of couples that you love for a Halloween movie night, you’ll be able to have a lot of fun with the rest of the planning. So make sure you get your guest list thought out. Then, you can work on a time and date and get your invitations sent out.
Set The Scene
With your guests chosen and the time and date set, you might want to get thinking about your chosen location. There are so many ways that you can transform a space into a movie theater; you just need to do a bit of research and think outside of the box. Whether you’re working with your kitchen space or a basement, you can create a cozy movie theater-like room in no time at all.
First of all, you’re going to want your location to match the theme. So, this could all depend on the evening that you’re having, but you ought to work on things like comfort levels and darkness, where the snack tables will go and if you need easy access to a bathroom. When those elements are decided, you can work on adding blankets and cushions to cozy-up the room for the night.
Pick Your Theme
As your plans all start to come together, you’re going to want to decide on your theme. It can be tempting not to stick to a theme and supply a bunch of movie and food that you like, but it can feel all the more special (and dramatic) when you do choose a theme. So, for the purpose of the party you have in mind, get your thoughts together and plan a theme.
If you’re doing something ahead of Halloween, you might want to choose a scary theme – or even if you just have a thing for horror movies. If you’re having a night with your girlfriends, romcoms could be the choice for when. When you’ve got couples over, or if you have a specific interest in it, sci-fi can work. And finally, if you’re planning an early evening with your children, kids movies are an obvious choice.
Write A Shopping List
Now that you have a theme, you can decide on the food and drinks that you’re going to serve. You might be tempted to put on a spread of your favorite foods, but remember, you can have a bigger impact by selecting items and colors that will work with your chosen theme. Regardless of the theme you’ve chosen, you can make a bunch of homemade snacks that will wow your guests.
When you’re writing up your shopping list, be sure to include things like chips and sweet treats that your guests will love, but don’t miss out essential ingredients too. If you are making anything yourself, you’re going to want to choose things that have ingredients you’ll find easily, and that can be made in advance. Then, as soon as you’ve been shopping, you can plan your menu, including the prep and cooking times that you will need.
Prepare Your Movies
Now that the food and drink have been covered off, you’re going to want to get down to the details for the main event itself. Sometimes, it’s not always that easy to plan a movie itinerary that works well. You might choose one movie to watch or several, either way, you’re going to need to make sure that your selections wow and delight. The best way to do that is to research.
If you’re going with a horror theme, then research some of the best films of all time, along with newer releases and a few underdogs. Then, you can compile a list of choices or a cool running list that will allow the movie choices to complement each other. You can also do the same for romantic films, sci-fi, children’s movies – or whichever genre of film that you’ve chosen to go with.
Get Your Resources Together
As your research comes to an end and you get a list together of possible movie choices, you’re then going to want to figure out how you can logistically make the movie night work. When you’ve found movies that you want to watch, you then have to see if you can access them. If you’ve got cable services, you might find that some movies are available with your subscription. Or, alternatively, you’re going to want to purchase some in advance.
If you find that you have readily available access to some titles online or through your cable provider, you might find that it’s easy to give your guests a choice of what to watch when they arrive. Or, if you’re struggling to locate the movies you have in mind, you may need to purchase what you have planned and stick to that.
Clean And Clear
After a while, you’ll find that the planning and preparations are looking after themselves. Then, at this point, you’re going to want to work on the physical preparations that you can do around the home. Even if you’re planning a cozy night in with your children or husband, if you put the effort in, your night will feel like a complete treat and be a huge success.
To get your house ready, you’re going to want to work on a cleaning schedule and do your best to keep the rooms reserved for guests clear and tidy. It won’t be fun if you have to prepare everything on the day, so you can work on this the day (or a few days) before your movie night is due to begin to give yourself room to breathe.
Start Early
Then, on the day the movie night is due to be held, you’re going to want to make everything as easy as possible for yourself. By now, if you’ve ticked off the previous steps, you should have your movies picked out and ready to be watched, your space should be set and be clean and tidy ready for your guests, and you will even have the snacks ready to go too. So, all that will be left for you to do is to bring everything together.
As you start to get ready, you’re also going to want to make sure you have the perfect movie night outfit on – which is, of course, the comfiest clothes you own. You might even want to set a strict dress code of pajamas and slippers, just so your guests are extra cozy for the night. Then, as you’re dressed, and you begin to add the finishing touches to the room, your guests should start to arrive (or come downstairs) and be ready to enjoy the relaxing evening you’ve planned out for them.
Amanda Skeens says
Omg I definitely needed this advice thank you
Adriane says
Some great ideas and tips! I never thought of making “a thing” of movie night.