People love watching movies. It’s relaxing, entertaining and for one to two hours, they’re completely transported into another world. Whether you’re a fan of romantic movies, scary movies, thriller movies or action movies, you’ve got to admit that movies have a universal appeal. It’s also a great party theme that everyone will surely enjoy. After all, who hasn’t seen and enjoyed a movie before?

Your movies theme party can feature an era of movies, a collection of movies, or just a particular movie. While it might sound like a fussy affair, remember that you can always make the party a get-together where everyone can party and watch movies, too. It’s up to you on how fancy or how laid back you want your movie party to be.

You’re Cordially Invited

Remember the moment at the Academy Awards, where the envelope is opened and the winner is announced? Make your guests feel like a real winner by sending out “Oscar Winner” invitations. It’s very easy. Just use a simple card and envelope and write, “And the Winner Is…” on the card. The “winner” will then be your guest.

You can also design your invitations to look like movie tickets, only the “screening time” will be the details of your party. You can also use empty paper popcorn buckets with the details written on them, for a unique movies theme invitation.

One thing to remember: Inform your guests if you want them to come in formal clothes, like for an awards party, or whether they should dress casual. You certainly don’t want them to feel ill at ease if they suddenly appear in your party underdressed or overdressed.

A Night to Remember: Decorating for Your Party

Use a big movie poster and a board you can tack it up to. Write something like, Now Showing: followed by the name of the movie. Line the board with Christmas lights to emulate stage lights. Place this by the front door or the entrance.

Use a red carpet for your guests to feel like bona fide superstars. Rent this red carpet from your party supplies store or even use red felt paper. You can ask some of your friends to act as “paparazzi” and take pictures of your guests as they come in.

Inside, go for a romantic movie theater feel by stringing up Christmas lights and slightly dimmed lanterns all around the place. Before the party, cover your furniture with dark-colored cloth. For your tables, use tasteful white or cream linen with flowers or candles as centerpieces. Hang up bright balloons and streamers to make everything look more festive.

Another unique way of designing your party space for a movie is to make it look like a movie set. Make your place look like an Old Western movie by setting up a bar, wooden tables, a split-rail fence and even a loghorn. You can make your party look like Holly Golightly’s room in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or an Italian restaurant straight out of The Godfather. There are a lot of design ideas you can get from the movies themselves.

Red carpet

Cream linen

Starry-Eyed Games and Activities

Before everyone tucks in and start watching movies, don’t miss out playing games and activities to get everyone excited. How else are you going to show off all your movie knowledge and trivia? Here are some suggestions:

Movie Trivia. Have a little quiz game with your friends divided up into teams. Your movie trivia can be from popular movies, movies from a particular era, or obscure ones. Test your friends’ power of observations by asking very specific questions such as, “Who stood next to Neo before he ran away from Agent Smith in the Matrix?” These questions will surely send heads scratching to figure out what the answers are.

• Movie Charades. Have your friends try to name what particular movie character from your gestures and actions. You can also have topics such as movie songs and movie titles. (Learn how to play charades)

Watch this short movie of Movie Charades Game.

• Awards Night. If your party required guests to dress up all fancy, it’s only fair that you reward the best-dressed among the lot. You can also have other categories such as most fashionable or zaniest clothes. Since you’ve had some games that require some acting, your guests can also vote on categories like Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Ensemble. Be sure that you have trophies at the ready to present before the party.
• Scenes from a Movie. Have you always wanted to be a movie star? Now is your chance, with this group version of charades. Re-enact famous scenes such as the first scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or Neo’s famous back bend from The Matrix, or the moment when Humphrey Bogart said, “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Other members of your group will have to guess what movie it is that you are conveying.

Check this funny movie and try to guess it.

• Spoilers. Test your guests’ movie knowledge by having a flash trivia quiz for one person at a time. Set a time limit from two to three minutes before starting. Name a movie, and your guest must say how it ended as quickly as he or she can, before moving on to the next question, or if the guest passes it on. The person who gets the most correct answers, wins.
• Make Bets. If you’re having your movie party on the night of a major awards show, you can put up a big manila paper with a table of the awards and their nominees. Each bet should have an accompanying amount. A little gambling always makes a party more exciting.

Make sure that you take a video of all these memorable moments and send copies to your friends. They’ll surely love a reminder of their moment in the spotlight. Of course, don’t forget the main event: watching movies with your friends.

Food for the Stars

Again, your choice in the menu greatly depends on how formal or informal your party is. For informal parties, think of typical movie concessionaire food: popcorn (Tips on how to make colored popcorn), corn dogs, chocolate, chips, nachos and soda. You can add more filling dishes such as burgers, chicken wings, steak. French fries and salad will all make wonderful additions to your menu.

Delicious popcorn

Sweet chocolate

Crunchy Chips

For a more formal affair, you can start off with tasty and healthy vegetable sticks and dips, or a fruit and cheese tray. Caesar salad, caviar on crackers and pasta are sure hits.

Don’t forget your movie-themed cakes or cupcakes. You can have an edible printout of classic movies or modern ones. Cakes shaped as movie tickets, popcorn buckets and movie screens are fun ideas as well.

Serve your drinks in champagne flute glasses. Include alcoholic drinks such as wine or champagne, and cider or grape juice for non-alcoholic ones.

Have a totally glamorous time watching entertaining movies from the past and the present. It’s a lovely way to spend time with people you care about the most. Happy movie-watching.