If you’ve been following me for any time, you know, I love a good theme! I am all in from matching paper goods, hats, naming drinks to fit the theme, all the things you can imagine that are themeable, if that is even a word.

I am going to share with you some movie nights I have thrown in hopes to inspire you and your friends to do the same. My passion is to help you create opportunity to further build your community. Hospitality is part of who I am, and having time for conversation and fellowship with friends is a key to building that community. 

A few pointers

I am going to share with you three different themed parties that I have hosted that all include a movie. I have done other events centered around things like the Oscars or Super Bowl Sunday. Choosing a movie or also a limited TV series, can really help you to create a theme and hone in on food and beverage ideas.

You do not want to invite a house full of people for this type of event. Unlike a Super Bowl party, when you want the energy of a lot of people, a movie night is something that you need less people. You want to create a more intimate environment. I like to cap the guest list at 10 people for a movie night in my home. If you have an even small viewing area, then plan this number accordingly. My living room is set up with couch and three chairs but it’s open to my kitchen that also has four barstools. People can sit up high and see over the furniture so it works for me.

If you have younger guest that could be on the floor, you can create an atmosphere with lots of pillows and blankets and have a camping theme.

Choose a Theme

If you want your friends to bring food or drink and have more of a potluck, be specific to your theme. Let’s say you’re doing some thing with a Mexican theme. You can decide you want your friend to bring chips and salsa. You can say specifically chips and pico de gallo if that is what you are need. If it’s not something that you’re super invested in, then you can let your guests determine a little bit more of what they’d like to bring. Either way, giving direction is totally acceptable.

You can suggest themed attire. I love any time that I can wear my pajamas in public because I adore them. A lot of my pajamas have fun prints. Some people are afraid to wear color and prints in their day-to-day life. Pajamas might be where they are willing to spread their wings. You could have people dress as their favorite character from that movie. There are a lot of options of things that you could do if you were interested in having this be a part of your party

Must haves

I always like to have a variety or two of popcorn. There’s almost no other food out there that immediately makes you know it’s movie time than popcorn. You can buy pre-popped brands like Skinny Pop or Smart Food or you can pop your own. Freshly popped corn can be tossed with seasonings like Parmesan cheese and truffle oil for an elevated popcorn experience.

My Three Movie Night Ideas

I have done all three of these themed movie nights. One was with couples, one was with my neighborhood friends and one was with my bookclub friends. In all honesty, I love doing all three of these parties. I hope this inspires you to create a movie night that would fit with what you love to share with friends.

Sideways Themed Movie Night with Couples

“Sideways” is one of my husbands and my favorite movies. Note it is rated R for a reason. I would not suggest watching a rated R movie with friends if you are uncomfortable or think they will be uncomfortable with the language and or nudity involved. 

“Sideways” takes place on the central California coast in the wine country of the Santa Ynez valley. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to ruin it for you. There is a famous line that actually crippled the California Merlot industry for years. The scene is outside of a restaurant with his friend about to go in for a double date. He screams “he’s “I’m not drinking any %$#^@&* Merlot!”.

When my husband and I decided that we were moving to Texas, we had a Sideways party to announce the move to our friends. Since we were moving to Texas wine country we had to do it.

We started the evening with a blind wind tasting. My husband had the idea to make all of the wine Merlot. All of the bottles were in paper bags and no one knew what to expect. It was a lot of fun! No one guessed that it was all the same varietal.

After the wine discussion, we served up our plates with heavy appetizers and watched the movie. It was a fantastic evening.

Book Club Night

Even if you don’t belong to a book club you can have this themed movie night. If you have a group of girlfriends, who have talked about a book together that has been made into either a movie or a limited series, this could be a fun event for you.

Six months ago, one of the book clubs I am in read the book “The Last Thing He Told Me”. When we heard it was coming out in a limited series, I knew we had to watch some of it together. If there is any reference to food or culture at all that can be the launching point for your theme. For this particular movie night, part of the story takes place in Austin. I invited the girls over for a pajama party with a Tex-Mex theme.

Once we were done with our Tex-Mex dinner we were ready for the movie. One of the attendees brought a bowl full of movie treats, so we grabbed handfuls of candy and watched a few episodes of this new Reese Witherspoon endeavor on Apple plus TV.

Girlfriends Night In

One day, some of my girlfriends and I were chatting about the movie “It’s Complicated”. It is one of my favorite movies. Between “It’s Complicated” and “Sideways” they are what peeked my interest in visiting Santa Barbara. (If you are interested in reading about our trip, check out that blog post here).

A few of my friends hadn’t seen the movie, so we decided to do a movie night. All of the ladies came in their comfy clothes and brought a snack. We wanted to re-create the scene in the movie where the friends all get together and chat casually in Meryl’s living room. That was totally the vibe we got.

It was a perfect relaxed evening filled with conversation and laughter. It is a great movie to see with girl friends on a chilly night.

Next Steps

What movie night do you picture doing with your friends? Will it be with a group of girlfriends, couples, co-workers?

If you host a movie night, I would love if you would share about it in the comments below.