I love all the information about Family Movie Nights. I am putting one together for my daughter's elementary school for April 15. I am suggesting to our PTA to show Disney's The Incredibles. Not quite sure how to pull that off as a "theme". I would appreciate any other possible suggestions or ideas to make our night a success. Thanks to everyone out there for all their help.
We show them in the cafeteria by grade so the croud is small. I bring my works projector and my home theatre system in. It works well. We have the kids bring their pjs, beanbags, blankets, popcorn, drink etc so we only have to charge to cover the movie license (which we don't actually cover all of it though). The kids like it but adults seem to be board with it (but what can you expect when your watching kids movies?).
We have done movie nights for many years at our school. You do need a contract to show movies at school (to the public), make sure you check into that first. Our family movie nights are highly attended. We don't charge admission. It's all free. We figure that parents pay enough already with fundraisers, here in there, all year long, so we offer movie nights free to everyone. We have four per year and require parent(s) to attend with children.
We also get a business sponsor for each movie night, so we can provide free popcorn, drinks and candy. We actually have a movie night tonight and Domino's Pizza in our area, is the sponsor. They are donating $250 worth of pizza. Everyone will get 2 slices of pizza FREE and drinks. We have never done theme nights, but it sounds fun. Movie nights are always a hit at our school. We always have a great turnout.
I'm looking to collect a bunch of theme ideas for future family movie nights. I'll start with a few I've seen or heard about--can you add on?
Chocolate night--Show "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and have people bring chocolate desserts to share or serve hot chocolate to drink.
Drive in night--Pretend you're at a drive in; decorate a box you can sit in to look like a car.
Baseball night--During Little League registration time, show "The Natural"--consider making it a mother/son night out. Sell or provide Cracker Jacks/peanuts instead of or in addition to popcorn.
Luau night--Show "Lilo & Stitch" and have people dress in Hawaiian style clothing with a luau (hot dog platter).
Pet night--Have people bring pet supplies or old towels for a local animal shelter/hospital; show "Good Boy" or another animal related movie.
