We are planning our first movie night for next month. I just put up the posters and sent out the flyers yesterday and already it's the talk of the school with both the students and the teachers. I am hoping we will have a good turn out but we are just doing this as a fun activity so if even 20 people show up it will be a success. We are not charging admission, instead we are asking each family to bring a can of food to donate to our local food bank. We have a local bank loaning us their popcorn machine and giving us popcorn and our local Icee company is lending us the machine and everything we need for it. With all the buzz about this event I am very anxious to try a family game night.

I have just been reading all of the responses that people have given about the movie nights and so I thought that I would post our experience also. We ran our first movie night last Friday at 6.30pm. On other family nights that we run, Bingo, Special Person Dance etc we normally have a turn out of about 75 people. I was very apprehensive about running this event as it was my idea and I am new to the PTA. Anyway we had approximately 200 people turn up! We were running it as a fun event and not a fundraiser and yet we did raise just over $150 (even after all of our costs - license, snacks, raffle prizes). We showed Shrek 2. Our school is pre school through to 6th grade, most of the people who turned up I would say were 4th grade and under. The computer lab at the school loaned us the equipment - computer, projector and audio system. The screen was already in the hall that we use for other assemblies. My husband also took along our own home hifi to increase the sound which was then more than adequate. The district would also have had one that we could have borrowed with forward notice. We had free admission and gave everyone a raffle ticket on entry along with stamping their hand so that they couldn't come along and get another ticket for free. We then charged $1 for further raffle tickets - we had four baskets for prizes, one with a movie package at the local cinema that cost $29 and the other 3 all had clearance Shrek 2 items in such as body wash, books from the local book warehouse. Tickets were drawn at intermission. We had popcorn, nachos, drinks and Shrek 2 fruit snacks for sale all for a small amount. We needed about 1 hour prior to the event to set up, and we had 6 volunteers working the door and the snack bar. Children were not allowed to stay without an adult. Most children brought along sleeping bags and sat on the floor at the front and we had set up 5 rows of chairs at the back for the adults although some brought their own beach chairs to sit on. I have not heard any negative feedback about it only very positive. Many people came up on the night saying what a good idea and when will we do it again. Some people just bought $20 of raffle tickets just to say thank you for such a good idea. There was a big mess at the end with the popcorn but once everyone had left it only took 20 minutes to clear everything up. A huge success. Now that we have done it the once we are planning on showing The Incredibles the week it is released and will now probably purchase the year license from the company. The cost of the one off license is deducted from the year cost if you upgrade within 90 days I believe. I would definately recommend to people to do this fun night, it does not take a lot of planning, little money and so many happy faces.

I run move night in my kids k-3 school and their 4-5 school and we pick three newly released videos and have the classes vote then show the winner in the cafeteria on the stage with a lcd projector hooked to a dvd player showed on a pull down screen and a portable sound system all supplied by our schools. In the younger school it is a family event on Friday evening and sit on the floor bring blankets and pillows. We charge admission and sell popcorn and bottled water. At the 4-5 school the event is on Friday evening but is just for students it is a drop off and pick up thing (parents love it) at this event admission includes the popcorn and water. They also bring blankets and pillows and love it! We use High school kids and parents to work the event. Our last one had 95 kids and was great!

The volunteers needed for a movie night are minimal. This year we went with popcorn and a beverage. My sister, who had used the school's popcorn machine before, made popcorn. I took care of all the details, and my 9 year old nephew swept the gym floor afterwards.
Our local McDonalds donates igloos with their orange drink and families bring sleeping bags or blankets (but also have chairs available for adults.)Everyone can wear pjs and bring a favorite snuggly.
We printed a coupon for the popcorn "one bag free, additional quantities .25"
I would suggest at least two volunteers, including yourself. And then you can enjoy the movie with your child too.

We have been throwing around the idea of having a family movie night as well. I have to say probably the main reason we haven't had it yet is because I am intimidated about putting it together because we never get volunteers for anything. After reading all the comments though I think we may have to just dive in and take a chance on it. I love the idea of taking Box Tops for admission.

You know, I keep reading about these Family Movie Nights and they sound appealing; my kids would love them BUT our parents would look at me like I had THREE heads. They would say "what's the purpose of it?" Is it a fundraiser? Now, not to say they wouldn't come and enjoy it but our PTO has been more about fundraisers so this would be a different path for them. The only problem I see is that we're K3-8th and whatever movie we pick would not appeal to all age levels. IF anyone has any ideas on that...would love to hear them.. I'm not sure anything would please a middle schooler (they wouldn't want to come with their parents). Oh well..I'll keep reading.
Shelly