Movie Night Birthday Party

This year, Luke decided he wanted to have his birthday party here.  He decided on Movie Night and a Sleepover with 8 other boys.  Our first sleepover.  Wasn't sure if I was ready for that!!

After heavily drinking getting a good night's sleep the night before, we were ready!

First I had to decorate.  Joe told me that was unnecessary - "They're boys, they won't care!" he informed me.  Well, humph. Doesn't he know me better than that by now?!?  What is a party without theme decorations??!!

View looking into our family room. 

Plastic black tablecloths turned into curtains.  Stars hanging from the ceiling and movie night cutouts from Oriental Trading. Gold cords to tie back curtains from JoAnn Fabric, $1 for a yard of gold rope trim.

I tried to get a panaromic view of the entire room.

Notice cute kid hiding behind couch :) 

 Yes, I knew the balloons were asking for trouble...  but what kind of party is it without balloons?!

Kind of a backwards view, this was before you walked into the family room but I couldn't get a good picture of it from the other side.  So this is the inside looking out.

The Movie Night Ropes were also from Oriental Trading and held up really well throughout the night!

The movie screen.

We have an outdoor movie theater that we use in the summer.  I was intending on using that screen but because I put the projector on top of the computer desk (which was across the room from the screen), it was too small.  So I took the flat (white) sheet off of Emma's bed and taped it to the wall.  I had this red fabric already (left over from a project many years ago) so I cut it to size and taped (yes, taped) it to the wall over the sheet.  We had like a 100" screen!!  It was AWESOME!  It was almost like a real movie theater :)

And yes, Joe, the kids cared about the decorations.  When they saw the room (especially those who have been here before) they were like, "This room is awesome!"  So there. 

The concession stand. 

When the kids saw the concession stand, I heard lots of, "Oh yeah, I could get used to this!" and "AWESOME!" and "I'll trade you candy for your cotton candy!"  The water had labels with their names on it.  Otherwise, I probably would've had 9 half-opened bottles.

The pretzel stand was a jewelry holder I got for 50% off at Michael's.  The boxes for the candy and water were boxes I got at a grocery store that I taped white paper on.  Popcorn tubs from Oriental Trading.  Cotton Candy from the dollar store. 

I also bought candy boxes for 20 or 30 cents a piece at the local cake & candy store.  I cut the lids off and put their names on the bottom.  Then they all had their own personal concession stand carry-alls.

Let me back up....  Before the boys were allowed to enter the "theater", we had pizza, cupcakes and root beer floats.

How cute are these cupcakes?  

Saw this idea online, I had to try it!  It was so simple.  I made the cupcakes.  Got mini marshmallows, ripped them in half and then stuck them back together kind of sideways to make it look like popcorn kernels.  Got a little bit of yellow food coloring in water, and used a toothpick to put the "butter" on the "popcorn".  Some of the boys did not believe it wasn't real popcorn!   Found the wrapper template online, I taped these right over the cupcake liners.

 I had to stick with the black and red theme, even for the root beer floats!

Birthday boy making funny faces while his friends sing Happy Birthday.

Take home treat bags were simple, a box of theater candy and a bag of popcorn - in a popcorn bag of course!

The one thing I was not expecting was the STINK that would fill my house with 9 boys.  Oh. My.  Every window in my house was foggy.  Febreeze was my best friend the next morning.

They never stopped moving!  No wonder the stink filled my house!

2 second break for a quick photo.  Notice a few are still blurry.  Ha!

6 of the 8 boys stayed over.  The next morning was a bit calmer.  Just a bit.  

All in all, a pretty good party.  When we first started the movie, one of Luke's friends said, "Wait a minute, everybody.  I just have to ask.  Is this one of the best days of your life or what?!!"

I'll take it :)

I did the whole party for under $100 - food and decorations and the movie and - well, everything.  Nothing got broken.  And Joe and I didn't lose our sanity either!  Always a bonus.

And another bonus - we realized we like having big screen movies.  It might just become a permanent fixture around here.