How to Make Your Child’s Movie Night Birthday Party One to Remember

So you’re a projector fanatic – so much so that your kid wants a movie theme for their birthday party. You’ve already got the projector, that’s easy enough, but what about the other aspects that go into creating the theme for their best party yet? We’ve got you covered.

A little-known fact about me is that before I started working with Projector Reviews, in one of my past jobs, I used to be a balloon artist at kid’s birthday parties. I’ve made my fair share of superheroes and even the occasional film reel or camera. I did that for nearly a decade – my point is that I’ve seen enough birthday parties to tell you the must-haves for your child’s movie night birthday party.

Your guests’ first impression of the party will be the invitations. This is not something that will easily be found in a store, but a quick search for “movie themed birthday invitations” on Etsy.com will turn up tons of great options. What I’m seeing in these invitation listings is that you purchase and then are able to edit the invitations themselves via online graphics editors. That’s really quite awesome.

If you’re kind of tech-savvy and want to make these yourself, I suggest trying out Canva.com. I’m a graphic designer, so I typically like to use Photoshop for my designs, but I was recently introduced to Canva via an online course I’m taking. It’s so easy to use that sometimes I opt for that instead!

You don’t even have to be a designer to figure it out and create some really fun invitations and posters of your own. They have a free version, which will do just fine for your needs, with tons of templates you can use to design the invitations. You can even upload photos you download from Google if you find a cool background you’d like to design around.

I have created a free download for you to use for your child’s movie night birthday party that you can edit via Canva, which is available here. I have instructions on the document for how to edit it, so it’s super easy! The image below shows what the invitation looks like.

At birthday parties, I always enjoyed seeing what the moms came up with to decorate the snack tables in the theme of the party. Some of them went with simple décor, while others went all out!

If you’re crafty, you can go on Pinterest and search for “movie night birthday party” and get a whole host of ideas for you to create your own versions of. And, of course, there’s a lot of great stuff on Etsy.com if you search “movie-themed birthday” or some variant of the phrase. Some really cute décor items turn up!

In the slider below, I have included several ideas of how to decorate the snack table from, you guessed it – Pinterest – with commentary on my favorite parts of each. I found this great website for party ideas during my search on Pinterest that you may want to check out called Catch My Party.

This is something you’ll want to have planned out well before your party. What projector will you use, what will it project on? In a recent blog post titled “Summer Movie Night Essentials,” I go over what you’ll need for the actual movie projections in detail.

This includes the projector, a table or surface to mount it on, power source, video source, and, of course, the screen. Also in that blog post, I provide images for how to go about arranging the seating and decorating of the outdoor theater.

Also in that blog post, I have an extensive list of family-friendly movies to choose from. Head over to that blog post next for ideas on handling the more technical aspects of your movie themed birthday party! A link to that post is included in the next section of this page.

If you don’t already have a projector you want to use, that blog has some suggestions. However, since writing that post, I have reviewed some lower cost pico projectors that you may find suitable for the purpose of your party, or want to buy so that your little movie fanatic can have their own private home theater. Those reviews are linked to below!

Summer Movie Night Essentials: How to Host a Backyard Movie Night

AAXA P300 NEO Pico Projector Review – Pocket Sized Fun

Acer C200 Pico Projector Review – Travel-Sized and LED