Cooler weather brings more enjoyable outdoor activities and is the best season for fall backyard movie nights. This is a great, affordable way to entertain kids at home and can be recreated countless times with different themes; birthdays, holidays, and other celebrations.
1. Get a projector
If you want a high-resolution projector, I suggest buying one with over 1,000 lumens. You can get a great deal on them for under $100. We purchased ours on Amazon.
It was so simple to use; I setup the projector on a stool and plugged in my laptop with the HDMI cord. At first, we thought the picture wasn’t bright enough to see, but once we unplugged the twinkle lights we had over our pallet of blankets, the view was much better.
2. Set up the screen
The budget-friendly way to have an outdoor movie night at home is to use a sheet. You can get creative with how you hang it. We set two paint cans on the roof of our shed and placed the sheet under it. Use what you have!
You can easily use clothing pins or a hammer and nails to hang your sheet on trees, a fence, or the side of your house. You could also buy a backdrop frame to hang it up.
3. Lay out your seating
We placed yoga mats under the blankets to make a comfortable seating area for our backyard movie night. We also used a cushion ottoman, a bedrest pillow, big feather-stuffed pillows and knitted blankets to make the space extra-cozy.
4. Setup your lighting
Having too much light near your screen will interfere with your outdoor theatre experience. We setup charming twinkle lights over the seating area, which was perfect for the look and the mood- but when it was time to watch the movie, we turned them off to see the screen better.
We still had the light from our bug-repellent tiki torches. To elevate the lighting, you can set up a bonfire to give you that camping-feeling! If it’s not too hot out, this would be a perfect idea to make S’mores.
5. Prepare the snacks
We found cute pumpkin “cupcake cups” and filled them with candy, cookies, and popcorn. I found this wooden dessert stand at Home Goods, and we used it to keep the snacks off of the blankets-but you can use almost anything to set the snacks on.
Action! You’re all set to enjoy a fall backyard movie night with friends and family. To find more family-friendly ideas, visit TreasureCoastMom.com and follow along on Instagram.
