I wish we had a drive-in movie theatre in our city. I’d love to pack up some snacks, blankets, pillows and my favorite pajamas and go to watch a movie with my family. Even without a drive-in movie theatre in your city, you can plan a fun Drive-In Movie Birthday Party at home! Here I’ll talk about some fun ways to turn your home into a mini drive-in movie theatre along with ideas for invitations, snacks, favors and more. The printable party package featured here is by Dazzle Expressions.
Drive-In Movie Birthday Party – Invitations:
A cute idea for an invitation for a movie-themed party is a ticket. The ticket can be customized with your party information and could even include a photo of the birthday child.
For a Drive-In Movie Birthday Party theme, you may want to add in something about guests being welcome to bring along their vehicles (bikes, wagons, scooters, etc.).
Drive-In Movie Birthday Party – Decorations:
A personalized welcome sign is a great way to welcome guests to the party. Did you ever make one of those popcorn garlands for your Christmas tree? A fun idea would be to create a popcorn garland to hang around the sign as guests enter the party area.
Everyone loves a personalized photo banner at a birthday party. It’s an adorable way to show how much your child has grown over the last year (or several years). For a movie-themed party, a creative idea is to glue photos onto paper that looks like a strip of film.
Other decor ideas for a Drive-In Movie Birthday Party include:
- a red carpet arrival area by the food and party swag table
- traffic signs around the area leading up to the “drive-in movie” area of the party
- a sign listing all of the concession items available (popcorn, candy, pop, etc.)
- trays to carry their snacks and drinks in (like a shoebox)
- pillows and blankets to sit on in the movie area
- glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and walls of the party area (make sure the room is dark enough to see the glowing stars)
- movie posters
To set the scene for a drive-in movie, you can move furniture so that the little ones can all sit on the ground around the TV (perhaps in homemade cars – I’ll get to that activity idea in a moment). If you have a projection TV or someone you could borrow one from, you could set up a projection movie in your backyard that could start once the sun goes down.
Drive-In Movie Birthday Party – Activities:
You need a vehicle in order to go to a drive-in movie, right? A fun activity idea for the kids is to have each of them make their own car out of a large cardboard box. If you give a store enough notice, they can save some large boxes for you to pick up before the party. Another idea is to get a few extra large boxes (like refrigerator size) and the kids could create little pickup trucks to sit in for the movie. This could include pillows and blankets to make the box cars more comfortable.
An adult will have to be available for any work with scissors for this activity. Kids could be given black paper plates for wheels, yellow paper plates for headlights, markers to draw with, glue or double-sided tape to piece it all together and any other supplies you think they may need to create their own mini vehicles.
Your food concession stand area could be set up like a red carpet arrival area with signs for VIP access. Kids could pose for pictures with movie type props in front of a simple backdrop (here are some easy backdrop ideas).
Drive-In Movie Birthday Party – Food, Dessert & Drinks:
Food for a Drive-In Movie Birthday Party is easy to prepare. You can simply set up a concession stand area with food you would normally find at a theatre like popcorn, various candies, popcorn seasoning and pop.
Small popcorn favor bags and candy vases can be used to display the food. Personalized bottle labels are a cute addition to bottles of pop or plastic cups.
Your dessert could consist of cupcakes with personalized wrappers and toppers. You could also offer other popular concession stand items like slush drinks and frozen yogurt.
Drive-In Movie Birthday Party – Favors:
Plastic popcorn tubs can be used as party favor containers along with a personalized thank you label. Party favors could include:
- popcorn flavored gummy candy or jelly beans
- mini popcorn seasoning packages
- microwavable popcorn packages
- glow in the dark star stickers
Here are some more fun ideas for decor and party favors:
1. Vinyl Inflatable Movie Buff Party Decoration
2. Award Trophy
3. Hollywood Cupcake Pick Decorations and Wrappers
4. Movie Night Cutouts
5. Popcorn Boxes
6. Hollywood Movie Clapper Board
7. Popcorn Buckets
8. Red Carpet Runner
9. Kernel Seasons 6 Pack Minis
10. Inflatable Traffic Signs Party Accessory
11. Make Do Find & Make a Car
12. Pink Convertible Photo Prop
Have you ever been to a drive-in movie theatre?
Party Vendors:
Party Printables – Dazzle Expressions
For more fun birthday party ideas including themes, decorating ideas, food ideas, activities, free printables, favor ideas and more, check out our special Birthday Party page.
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*Disclosure: Dazzle Expressions provided the printable party package to Moms & Munchkins free of charge. I am part of the Amazon affiliate program. All opinions expressed here are my own.