We had two movie nights last year. We showed Monsters Inc. at the end of Oct. and did a whole monster theme for Halloween. The kids played pin the eyeball on Mike, screamed into a "homemade scream machine", made their own door to hang in the gym. we served popcorn and drinks. The admission was can goods for our local food bank.
Then Dec 21st we showed Polar Express and let the kids come with pjs and sleeping bags. We served cookies and hot chocolate. Santa made a surprise visit at the end and passed out bells. It was a huge success. Grade K-4 were invited with their families. Admission again was food for our food bank.
We usually do a new movie coming out if we can we find a G rated movie, but some PG are OK also. We buy a copy of the movie to raffle off to PTO Members. We buy popcorn bags and give each person a bag of popcorn when they come in. We bought big sports jugs and make lemonaide and Iced Tea, we hand everyone a cup when they come in, if they want a refill they need to keep their cups. Keeps costs down and is "green" also.
Works great for us always well attended.
Hi there. We've done Family Movie Nights for the past 3 years at our school. I found choosing a newer movie recently released on that Tuesday with a movie date for that Friday gets the biggest turnout. You can check on movie release dates on videoeta.com. This will help you plan your schedule.
We also had the kids vote one month for which movie they'd like and that seemed to go over well.
We like to keep our movie nights simple. Kids usually wear their pajamas and bring their sleeping bags and pillows and camp out on the gym floor. We sell concessions from 25 cents to $1.00, keeping the night pretty cheap for parents. The movie night is free otherwise. We just started doing raffle baskets and this seems to go over well. We offer one free raffle ticket to each student attending the movie and sell tickets 1/$1 or 6/$5. Most people end up buying the extra chances and we've made money on the baskets.
This is by far my favorite event to run. Easy and the kids are so excited!
Maria...can you give me detailed specifics on how you did the Wizard of Oz? Like all the props you used, when they used them , etc. Please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Thank you!
We hear from lots of leaders that their school community loved their movie night! Have you signed up for a free
Family Movie Night kit
yet? Here what's in the kit:
Step-by-step planning guidelines
Creative tips and snack ideas to enhance your event
Movie licensing information and movie ideas
Movie Licensing Made Easy brochure
Invitation flyer to send home to parents
Professionally designed poster to promote your event
