Our school just had their first ever Family Movie Night this past Friday. We watched "The Ant Bully" and had close to 200 people show up! We try to keep our Family nights FREE and not use them as a fundraiser. We bought popcorn and juice for the kids. Each child was given a coupon when they came in the doors and handed it in to get their popcorn and juice. We had enough popcorn for parents as well! (They were the most excited about getting free popcorn I think!) We sold soda (that we had left over from our fall carnival) for 50cents and made $25.00
The whole event cost us in the end approximately $30
We bought a few VHS tapes of some kids movies, Frisbees and Yoyo's to give away as prizes during the intermission. We also had some of the teachers at the school give us a baby picture that we had scanned and during the intermission we played them and had the kids guess which teacher they thought it was! They had a great time laughing at some of the outfits on some of the teachers!!

The only thing that I think I would have changed is shortening the intermission, we seemed to loose the attention span of some of the kids after the half way mark of the movie.

The other thing I would highly recommend is to have your popcorn in the bags before the night starts, it will make things run alot smoother and the line ups faster! Having parents volunteer to help hand out popcorn and do refills is a huge help! We used little popcorn bags and filled each one with a ople of scoops of popcorn.

I used the flyers from the PTO Today Kits and the Welcome Poster as well to help promote the event.

Our school has decided to run this event every year!!!! It was great fun, and a great way for lots of families that usually can't afford to take all the kids out for a movie night to have a great time!


Heather
PES Houston Texas

RobinD;127402 wrote: Oh, I just thought of something else. Make sure it's dark enough at the time you want to show the movie. seems like a silly detail.. but if it's too light, you can't see the movie on the screen! And........ is your audio loud enough for all guests to hear??

If your school is in a neighborhood, might be nice to send around a flyer to the neighboring houses to invite them to the movie, with complimentary food tickets.. then they won't call the police if the event gets too loud!

Thanks for all the tips. I am starting to think that this thing is actually going to work.

We hired a company to show the movie -- The screen is an inflatable with supposedly a very good sound system.

We are selling tickets for stuff -- $1 per ticket, and then a ticket is currency (hot dog 2 tickets for example).

The school sent notes to all the neighbors for us and we have already notified the police. They were a little worried about offering up carte-blanche invitations for security reasons, but if a neighbor comes by, they will be let in.

We have a bunch of glow merchandise -- flashing rings and necklaces, glow sticks, etc. -- and movie-sized candy bars.

Thanks for the idea regarding handicapped access.

We are still a little stumped regarding how many hot dogs, etc. to buy and cook.

Also, we are a little worried that all of the food sales will occur in the 30 minutes before the movie, causing a mad rush and then nothing during the film. Does this sound typical?

Hoping the popcorn popper holds up -- it's a little temperamental.

Oh, I just thought of something else. Make sure it's dark enough at the time you want to show the movie. seems like a silly detail.. but if it's too light, you can't see the movie on the screen! And........ is your audio loud enough for all guests to hear??

If your school is in a neighborhood, might be nice to send around a flyer to the neighboring houses to invite them to the movie, with complimentary food tickets.. then they won't call the police if the event gets too loud!

Hey its all good for me-Robin

We did that at our gamestore- snacks all one price regardless but its nice to have people post similar ideas to help refresh this old mind of mine

RobinD;127323 wrote: sorry capedad and shawn.. i read shawn's name as the last person who posted when i saw the thread, and mistakenly thought shawn started it...

I also agree with ttnc4me as far as having a lot popped ahead! ( and give that popper a trial run the day before to make sure it's in working order!)

Yes, and make sure your popper can handle the load. Our's kept experiencing 'technical difficulties' after continuous use. So, i'll echo the other's sentiments, and pop a lot in advance!!!

RobinD had some great tips, she stole all my comments! I guess just make sure you have enough help in the concession area to keep the line moving. Since you're outside, and I'm sure you've already thought about it but in case you didn't, make sure the volume of your speakers won't be lost in the vastness of the open air.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

sorry capedad and shawn.. i read shawn's name as the last person who posted when i saw the thread, and mistakenly thought shawn started it...

I also agree with ttnc4me as far as having a lot popped ahead! ( and give that popper a trial run the day before to make sure it's in working order!)