PTO Today

Has anyone ever had a movie night with a theme? An example of what I am thinking about is Disney film and raffle baskets, characters ect...all around Disney. Baskets such as Princess, superhero maybe?
what are your thoughts?
thanks

Great idea.
We usually raffle 1-2 baskets that are movie related baskets with a copy of the Movie we are showing in the basket with candy, popcorn and such. We also made the basket themed as the Movie- such as "Cars" and "HSM" we had stickers, a book, a few toys plus the movie and movie items.
The kids loved it.

Instead of our tin can auction, we are doing a basket raffle as well as family movie night. I understand we have to get a license to show a movie, but where do you get the movie equipment?

Your school district might have already purchased a license for the year since they show movies in class- you can check to see if your school district already has a license on file-- the Movie equipment would be the same way, check with your librarian to see if you screens, a projector and a DVD player--- I was told we didn't have a projector or DVD player... so I borrowed one from the local college for our 1st Movie night then founds out after that we have several projectors in the school--.
We have a Big screen that remotely comes down out of the ceiling right in our lunch room- so it's an ideal spot for our Movie Night. And the DVD player, if your librarian doesn't have one, use one from home or borrow one, then have your pto purchase one for the school-- that way you have 1 next time... they are not that much money-- 50-100.00.

Hi cruz -

Have you ordered your Family Movie Night planning kit? Most of these questions are covered in detail. It's here:

http://www.ptotoday.com/sfn/SFN_movie_leader.html

RE: the equipment. It's easier than ever to show movies on a big screen. You'd be amazed at how many families now have projection equipment for home use (and how many parents are amateur A/V junkies with their HD plasmas and their surround sound, etc. -- they make great volunteers for this night.)

For our Movie Night, the equipment was: 1) a laptop with a DVD player connected to 2) a digital projector (from a parent who uses one of these for work -- very common business equipment these days). We also connected into the school's sound system in the gym (check acoustics ahead of time -- a decent portable speaker set may work better for clear sound depending on the existing sound system.)

Tim

Our night is usually themed with the movie we are showing. Also with movie related decorations like popcron, stars, clap boards etc. We do give away prizes all based around movie themes plus the movie and soundtrack ect from the movie shown that night. We also provide free popcorn. We buy the license but we use the school projectors/sound system.

Our movie night is pretty simple, but it's not for profit - more for promoting fun family time. We use the schools projector, play the licensed movie. Before/During/After concession stand with chips, pop corn, candy, pop, water. We sell raffle tickets for $1 each and give away the movie we watched. The fliers and decor are all geared around the movie.

[B][U]Question:[/U][/B] Has anyone ever done refillable buckets? Our local theater now does large buckets that can be refilled anytime for free within a 6 month period. Wondering if you could sell smaller "sand bucket" size custom buckets. I found this link that even had glow in the dark ones. sand_pails They don't just have glow in the dark, they also have normal ones. So then they kids could buy these buckets for $8 and they could have unlimited refills all movie year. Any thoughts?

Has anyone ever done an outdoor family movie night? I really want to do one, but I don't know how the screen/projection/sound part of it would work outdoors.

Any thoughts?

My school has not had an outdoor movie however the town I live in, their parks and rec department do this once a year. They have large outdoor speakers they use and the sound is fine. I've participated every year for the last four years and have never had a problem with hearing or seeing the movie regardless of where I sat.

__________________
Holly Drake
PTSA President
Carnage Middle

Our pto is very new. We are thinking of doing a movie night too! So my question is this... what do you have for the kids to sit on? (floor, chairs?)
Also, do you just charge for concession or for entrance too? We are "not" looking to make this a fundraiser but a fun night for the kids.
The raffle idea is really great! I will have to mention that to our board!

Oh, one more thing... what do you mean by getting a license for playing a movie??? Can't we just show a movie?

Thanks,
MB