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Movies Under the Stars

Outdoor Movie Night: Ideas for movies under the stars an outdoor movie night, with a popcorn buffet for snacks, and a red and white decorations.

Outdoor Movie Night: Ideas for movies under the stars an outdoor movie night, with a popcorn buffet for snacks, and a red and white decorations.

We set up our Outdoor Movie Night at the cottage and it was so much fun!  This is pretty much the perfect way to spend a summer evening with family and friends.

How To Make An Outdoor Movie Night Screen

My brother-in-law built this great, portable movie screen with a simple wooden frame and by stretching a really big fabric drop cloth over it.

how to make an Outdoor Movie screen



I thought it would be fun to add a few more fun details. 😉 We started out by adding some twinkle lights to the screen, and setting up a row of the beautiful red Muskoka chairs.

red Muskoka chairs

Outdoor Movie Night Snacks -Popcorn Buffet

Movies need popcorn, so I set up a fun popcorn buffet.

Movie Night popcorn buffet



DIY Chalkboard Bunting

I thought it would be fun to make some chalkboard bunting that we could write things on. My brother-in-law cut out the triangles from some thin scrape wood, and drilled holes in the corners so we could thread them onto twine. My very sweet niece painted them all for us with chalkboard paint -thanks Jenny and Shaun. 😉 We used the large ones to write “Movie Night”, but since they’re little chalkboards they could be erased and used for anything.

doy chalkboard bunting

On the bottom of the table we strung smaller ones and wrote popcorn.

popcorn buffet



I layered the table with red and white for a classic movie look. For the popcorn, I found great unfinished wooden boxes that I spray painted white and lined with waxed tissue paper.

popcorn bar

We used more chalkboard labels for the popcorn.

movie night popcorn bar

I love how the popcorn buffet turned out. We had white cheddar, caramel, and buttered popcorn.

movie night snacksI thought it would be fun to add a few popcorn flavourings too. I picked them up at the bulk food store.  We put them in simple salt and pepper shakers, and added a cute chalkboard sticker label.

popcorn toppings



The toppings are on a little tray that matched the other containers.  I  also sprayed painted it white.  It’s also holding some napkins and straws.

movie night popcorn buffet

We used some fun little polka dot, and chevron patterned paper bags for everyone to scoop their popcorn into.



movie night snack ideas

Old Fashioned Drinks and Cozy Blankets

I love the drinks we used, old fashioned pop shoppe bottles, in such fun flavours. Pretty inviting in a simple galvanized bucket filled with ice.

popshoppe pop

And in case it got a little chilly when the sun went down at movie time, I included a bucket of cozy red fleece blankets.

blankets for outdoor movie night



We set it all down by the lake. Could it get any more idyllic?

outdoor movie night party

We had such a fun night, munching popcorn and enjoying ourselves under the stars.

how to host an outdoor movie night

With a night like this, life really is a party!

how to host an outdoor movie night

You might also enjoy our Summer Movie Night here.

Also check out our Forest Tea Party here.

You might also like our Campfire Cinnamon Rolls here.

2 Comments

  1. What a sweet idea! We’re actually doing this at my daughter’s wedding in September. We’ll be projecting Princess Bride onto the back of the barn where the reception is taking place. She thought it would be a great break for people when they’re dancing. We’re doing the popcorn bar too – just not as fancy as yours.

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