12 Fun Movie Night Party Ideas for Adults

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Are you struggling to come up with fun movie night party ideas? Do you want to create something memorable, beyond just having everyone over for Netflix?

Coming up with movie night ideas can be super hard. After all, the theme of “movies” is very broad, with too many starting points to consider. And since you’re planning for friends, you need to create a party that satisfies both film nerds and casual cinema goers.

Here are some of our favorite movie night party ideas to kick off some inspiration.

The Outdoor Backyard Movie Party

If you’ve got a garden or access to one, and nice weather, there’s no better way to watch movies then to go outside.

For the movie screen, you will need a large white cloth strung between 2 trees to act as your screen, and a small projector attached to your laptop. You also need speakers for good sound projection.

You can also combine movies with a grill buffet dinner. Make sure you ask guests for their dietary requirements in the invitations, so you’ve got everyone covered.

The Movie Geek Marathon

Of the movie night party ideas here, this one is definitely for friends who are ultra-obsessed with movies. I have one friend whose seen the original Star Wars trilogy more than 45 times and knows all the lines with his eyes closed.

You can also organise party games around the movie to put your geek friends’ knowledge to the test.

The Back to Back Party

For fans of specific movie series, this is the party idea for them. A movie series can be anything from trilogies like the Lord of The Rings and the Back to The Future or a cinematic universe. You simply pop the first movie on and once that’s over, segue into the next.

Make sure you think about movie running times before diving in; some movies can be very long. You need to ask yourself if your guests are willing to sit through long movies and where the breaking point might be where they start to lose their attention.

To accommodate long movies, make sure to plan a drinks and food buffet and have plenty of toilet breaks. Give guests the chance to stretch their legs before you start the second movie. Make sure you’ve got a comfortable viewing screen and comfortable seating as well.

Movie running times also affect when the party starts and when you expect everyone to arrive. If you want everyone to enjoy the Lord of the Rings trilogy in one night, well, it might not be possible (all the movies are nearly 4 hours each). The Back to The Future movies are between 90 and 120 minutes each.

The Replica Movie Theatre

No list of movie night ideas with friends would be complete without this themed bonanza. Because a movie theatre party is about looking like a real movie theatre, you can use the setting to screen all the other movie night party ideas.

Turning your home into a replica kino doesn’t have to be expensive. To create a box office, you can set up a table by the entrance or use your kitchen counter as the cashier’s desk. You can buy life-size cardboard cutouts of famous actors to place in the hallway and greet your guests. Make or buy popcorn and set this aside on your snacks table.

You can also decorate your walls with posters and movie photos. Most cinemas play muzak before the movie begins and you can create this yourself, by streaming random songs on your playlist. Switch your room lights on and off to let everyone know the film is about to begin.

Seeing as this is a theme night, ask your friends to dress up as if they’re going to an upscale cinema. Theming the cinema can help with fancy dress ideas, for example a movie house from the 1960s or an an arthouse cinema.

The Movie Director (or Actor) Party

I recently attended a party where we watched 3 George Clooney movies back to back and it wasn’t painful at all. If you’ve got friends who are fans of certain people, this is for them.

When you’re organising this party, you need to think about movie running times and movie type. Say your friends love the director Ang Lee; a good playing list would combine his American and Chinese movies. You want there to be a constant element of surprise when coming up with movie night ideas with friends.

The Movie Genre Party

Another easy-to-organise idea is one based on your friend’s favourite genres. If your friend isn’t sure what theirs is, you can take a guess by looking back over the movies they’ve watched in the past.

Movie genres is of course as a wide as anything. There are the broad categories of genre like war, drama, crime, and science fiction. There are also sub genres, including chick lit movies, mysteries, superheroes and road movies. You can select movies from what’s provided and theme your food and decoration around it.

The Era Movie Party

There are some who might argue the 1980s was the golden age for comedy movies. The 1950s and 60’s gave rise to musicals and historical epics. If your friends have a penchant for a specific era, this is the theme to go for.

When you’ve decided on your era, again think about your friends’ needs when it comes to movie choice and running times.

The Childhood Movie Party

With nostalgia being such a big thing these days, and this being a list of movie night party ideas, revisiting childhood is a nice theme to organise around.

We all had a favourite movie growing up, right? Or if it wasn’t 100% your favourite, it was at least something that stayed with you and impacted you. Movies from our childhood are comforting in some ways, they make us feel safe.

When you’re screening movies from childhood, you’re giving everyone insight into each other and talking points of shared memories. You can use the era of the movie to decorate your party and evoke memories and mementoes from the time.

The Weird Movie Party

If you stuck coming up with movie night ideas with friends and want to keep things unpredictable, consider relocating your party to your nearest B-movie theatre.

There are plenty of alternative movie houses out who screen movies in old formats like VHS tapes or bargain basement DVDs. Leaving the movie house to decide for you what to watch can be thrilling.

The Picnic Movie Party

If the weather out is nice but you don’t want to throw an outdoor party, a picnic is your next best option.

Picnics can be anything you want them to be, with any food you want to provide. You need to bring a laptop or iPad with you and speakers to watch something together.

A iPad screen will be small so this party might be best for a group of 3-4 people.

You can also add in a few picnic games to give friends a break from the films.

The Game Night Movie Party

If you don’t want everyone glued to the screen all night, you can mix things up with a trivia quiz. You will need to create question cards in advance and create enough for a number of rounds.

Make sure to put team members of a winning team in the hot seat for special bonus rounds. You will need to think about prizes and how you adjust your games if too many (or too few) guests turn up.

For a trivia night, you can still screen movies, albeit quietly and continuously in the background.

The IMAX Blowout

Do you live near an IMAX theatre? Then movie night party idea’s where no expense is spared.

If you can’t decide what to watch, try choosing to see a random movie. Random movies put everyone on the same level playing field and give everyone the chance to be surprised. Even if everyone leaves with bad opinions of what they’ve seen, this still gives everyone a shared memory.

When it comes to movie night party ideas, you’ve got to keep your guests as happy as possible. If you want people to sit through movies, you need to find ways to keep their attention. Hopefully this list can give you a few ways to get started.