Movie premiere party

What makes this an experience?

Bring the glitz and glamour of Hollywood into your home, with a movie party that will impress even the harshest critics. Your guests will have fun getting dolled up, walking the red carpet, and watching a big screen movie. This is more than a movie party, it’s a movie experience.

Movie birthday party preparations

It pays to plan ahead. Your guest list and movie party theme are intertwined. We recommend drawing up your guest list only after you have chosen this theme and thought about what the party will involve and the space you have available.

Planning your party space

We like to use two rooms for this party a "lounge" for your little celebrities to meet in and the "theater". The meet and greet room could be a family room, while the theater is wherever your largest room with a TV is, or if you plan to rent a projector, wherever you plan to set that up.

The guest list

This is a great party for both boys and girls, after all everyone loves the movies. The list should be appropriately sized for your movie screen. You want to make sure that everyone will be able to have a clear view of the movie otherwise they could bore quickly.

Invitations

Movie premiere birthday invitations are an easy do-it-yourself project if you have a computer and color printer. To get your creative juices flowing, we have put together an idea for an invitation in the style of a ticket to a movie premiere. If you prefer to leave it to the professionals, we also show our favorite option for purchase.

Do it yourself:
Project – movie premiere party invitation: Here is a simple but creative invitation idea, perfect for your child's movie birthday and easy to make yourself. Just open it in PowerPoint, fill in your details and print it on some nice card stock. [click to download]

Have someone else do it:
Want something more fancy, or just do not have the time or inspiration to do it yourself? There are thousands of options online, from budget to divine. We've hand-picked our favorite which is this adorable two-piece popcorn/ticket invitation with a real ribbon holding the two together. This comes from the huge collection of unique birthday invitations at FineStationery.com. Do a search for 'Movie Birthday' and you'll see there are a number to choose from.

Ready to decorate?

A truly unique birthday experience starts with the decorations. Some effort here will help bring your guests into the world that you are creating. We generally prefer not to spend a lot of money on elaborate decorations, rather our focus is on projects we can do ourselves and inexpensive store bought items that have a big bang for the buck. 

What will you need

Consider the items below as our wish list of decorations. Pick and choose what works best for your space and budget. The placement of each item will be described in more detail in the sections that follow.

To make:

- A movie sign for your entrance

- Movie posters

To buy:

- Balloons (purple and silver or maroon and gold)

- Streamers (to match your balloons)

- A red carpet

- Movie character cardboard cutouts

Room-by-room guide

Outside: Greet your guests with the classy opulence of a big time premiere. Line the walk to your house with helium balloons. Silver and purple or gold and maroon are perfect big screen colors. A big bold sign overhead reads:

Movie Premiere Today
[name of the movie]
Starring: [your child's name]

The sign adds a special touch to your decor and is an ideal do-it-yourself project as shown below.

Project - Movie sign: Using two large white poster boards or any other large format paper you have access to, you can create a replica of the classic movie sign that used to be in the heart of every small town. Here is how we created ours. First, give your paper a solid line border (maroon and black would be appropriate). Just inside the border, and all the way around, draw in lighted bulbs. Finally, sketch out your words in pencil and once you are satisfied with the fit, trace over them in block letters using a thick black marker.

The pre-show party room: Continue the chosen color scheme inside. On the walls, hang movie posters from your kids favorite movies as well as pictures of their favorite characters. You can purchase movie posters if this is something you want for your kids after the party, but we recommend making your own.

Using your computer you can create a collection of mini movie poster to print out. The beauty of making your own, is that you can add fun text (eg. change the title of the movie to something relevant to the party). To make these posters stand out on your walls, back them with a larger piece of poster board, which will give the impression of a frame.

The theater: What movie premiere would be complete without a red carpet? So somewhere on your walk to the movie room there needs to be just that. A cardboard cutout of a character from the show (or other popular character) would make a great addition to the red carpet. Inside the theater, You can keep the decorations relatively simple. The lights will be down and you do not want balloons or other decorations around to disrupt the show.

Act 1, Scene 1

We like to think of your party as a production. And with a Hollywood movie theme, what could be more appropriate? As producer you will need a script, which we detail below.

Scene 1: As your guests arrive, lead them to the "lounge". Here they will be transformed into A-list celebrities in preparation for the movie premiere. There will be a variety of activities set up to achieve that movie star look:

Tattoo parlor: give your guests that edge they need to stand out from the crowd with appropriately themed temporary tattoos

Face painting: no need to hire a professional. With a good, but simple, kit you can create some impressive little designs.

Dress up accessories: put out a selection of sunglasses, boas, hats, scarves, ties, costume jewelry and purses for the guests to dress up in and complete the movie star look.

We recommend having finger food out at this point. If you were planning the party to include a meal, this is it. Generally we have food near the end but in this case, it works better up front. You want to make this food is really easy for the kids to eat. Good options would include: pizza bites, chicken fingers, cut fruit and cut veggies. Avoid putting out any chips, candy or desert if you have any hope of the kids getting a decent meal.

Scene 2: Once everyone has dressed up and had a bite to eat, you announce that it is time to go to the theater and walk the red carpet. Inform them that photographers will be there to take their picture.

You are going to need serious crowd control for this, so be prepared...

Assign one adult the task of letting one or two kids down the carpet at a time, while another adult takes pictures. If you have a cardboard cutout of a popular character (preferably one from the movie being shown) that would make a perfect picture spot. For an even more realistic experience, get other parents with cameras to line up with you. 

The red carpet can be tons of fun, but be conscious of any kids that would rather not be in the spotlight, and provide them safe passage past the paparazzi.

Scene 3: Movie time! Get everyone situated for the movie and begin the show. Popcorn can be served either in bowls or traditional popcorn bags or cups. The nice thing about this party, is now you get a bit of a rest for 90 minutes or so!

Scene 4: When the movie is over, it is time for cake (if anyone has room after all of that popcorn!). With the food having been served prior to the movie, there is no need for a meal with the cake. After cake send the kids packing with your movie-themed favor bag. And that's it! You've survived yet another birthday party in style, and given your kids another truly unique birthday party experience.

Food for thought

For children’s parties, food is not a big part of the presentation. What is important is that they eat, so it is best to keep it simple. For the movie party, we want the kids to eat before the movie, so being quick and easy is all the more important. As such, we suggest finger foods such as: pizza bites, chicken fingers, cut fruit and cut veggies. Avoid goodies such as chips, cookies and candy at this point, or else your meal will be ignored. Juice boxes and water will round out the meal.

The cake is your opportunity to get creative. Our favorite movie-themed cakes are the 'ticket', the 'clapper board' and the 'Hollywood Star'.

For the ticket cake, use a rectangular cake and make circular cuts on each of the four corners (you can do this with a thin edged cup. Then decorate and put a clever phrase on it like "ADMIT ONE to John's Party".

For the clapper board cake, again use a rectangular shaped cake. After cooking and cooling, cut a 2-inch section of the long edge of the cake off and angle it up like the top of the clapper. Decorate and finish with a phrase like "Act 1: John's Birthday Party".

Finally, for the Hollywood Star, use a star-shaped cake pan (available at many party stores); write your child's name across the top; and draw in an old-fashioned movie camera symbol on the bottom. Its that easy!

                 

Birthday-in-a-Box has a selection of movie themed candles to top off your cake. Look and see if they have the movie you are showing!

Favor ideas

For favors you can go one of two directions. Either go with items which match the movie or fill the bag with more generic movie goodies. For the latter we would suggest the following: 

Microwave popcorn: individually wrapped packages for them to take home

Hollywood themed stickers: the more glitzy the better

Sunglasses: these could be handed out during the dress up

Movie gift certificates: even small amounts will help take the sting out of today's inflated movie prices

We love sharing ideas about parties, but we are only able to do so because of the commissions we receive from our affiliate partners.  We hand pick the products we promote, focusing on value and that ‘wow factor’ that we see as essential for the experience. If any of the products are of interest to you, we would be grateful if you would visit our affiliate partners through the links on this site. See the Final tips and shopping list tab for a summary of the products mentioned.

Final tips and pointers

The movie party is nice because parents get a genuine break while the movie is on. But do put in the effort to make the kids feel they are genuinely attending a special event.

Consider playing the part of the popcorn vendor during the movie. Come into the theater loaded down with small bags to distribute to the kids. For an even more unique touch, rent an old fashioned popcorn maker to have near the 'theater'.

To really impress the kids and complete the theater experience, you may wish to rent a projector and screen. Lower end projectors can be rented fairly inexpensively, and if you have a white wall a screen is not really necessary.

Shopping list summary

Invitations:

www.FineStationery.com. If you've opted not to make the invitations yourself, you can't go wrong with the selection available online. Here is our favorite, but search for 'Movie Party' at www.FineStationery.com for more options.

Decorations:

	Solid Latex Balloons Combine purple and silver or maroon and gold for a classy theater look		Solid Crepe Streamers Buy streamers in colors to match your balloons
	Gold Star Mylar Balloon These add class to your movie décor		Movie themed balloon Buy balloons to match the movie you will be showing
	Wall Decorations Decorate your party room the easy way with these		Wall Decorations More cool wall decorations for your room
	Centerpiece A fun accent to any party table		Banner Welcome your guests in style
	Placement Make mealtime fun with personalized placemats

Activities:

	Movie themed pinata What party would be complete without a pinata?		Popcorn bag Use these for serving popcorn to the kids during the movie
	Face Paint No need to hire a professional. Get a decent kit and do simple designs yourself.		Friend Tattoos Always a crowd pleaser with the younger kids
	Feather Boa Dress your guests for the show in style		Bead Necklace More accessories to beautify your guests

Favors:

	Party Box Everything you need to send off your movie crew		Popcorn bag Perfect for stuffing with favors
	Stickers 12 personalized movie stickers		Bag Tag Personalized, laminated movie bag tag
	Button Round movie button can be printed with names or a brief message		Magnet Round movie magnet can be printed with names or a brief message
	Zipper Pulls Personalized and great for backpacks