How we Plan a Movie Night

we start with the basics.

We don’t need many things to throw an excellent movie night, but a large screen and good speakers are essential. Especially if we’re throwing this party at a senior living community, we need to ensure that all of our guests can comfortably see and hear the movie. 

Select our movie (or movies).

Our cinematic selection will have a profound influence on the night as a whole, so choose wisely! As we’re reviewing our options, we try to seek out crowd-pleasers. Use platforms  like Rotten Tomatoes to see what critics and audiences think of new movies. If several people will be joining us, consider picking a few options and then we ask the group to vote.

Enhance the experience with a theme.

Who doesn’t love a themed party? To give our movie night some direction, especially if we’ll be watching multiple films, we try sticking to a certain theme. We could base the theme around a particular holiday, time period, place, actor, or director. Here are some way we do it:

• Christmas: It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street

• Westerns: The Searchers, High Noon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Stagecoach

• The 1940s: His Girl Friday, Casablanca, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Third Man

• NYC: Taxi Driver, Saturday Night Fever, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Annie Hall, Goodfellas

• Cary Grant: The Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest, To Catch a Thief, Bringing Up Baby

We could also use decorations and food to bring the theme to life. For example, if we’re going for a Western theme, we could set up a red-checked tablecloth, use bandanas as napkins, and serve BBQ with cornbread and s’mores.

Create a cozy atmosphere.

One of the best things about watching a movie at home as opposed to the movie theater is that you can get truly comfortable and cozy. So we set up some comfortable seating, and pull out some blankets in case people get chilly. Finally, remember to dim the lights.

Offer delicious snacks.

Popcorn is a necessity for any movie night. We're sure that we have a plentiful amount on hand, and consider offering different types – salted, buttered, cheesy, caramel, etc. But why stop at popcorn? We could offer common movie snacks like candy, pretzels, and chips as well. If we want to steer this in a healthier direction, we could provide slices of fruit and chopped vegetables along with little containers of peanut butter or ranch dressing for dipping.

Debrief after the movie.

Discussing the film after the credits roll is often one of the best parts of a movie night. we encourage everyone in the audience to share their thoughts and ask questions. To get the ball rolling, we might ask everyone to rate the movie on a scale of 1 to 10.

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