Everything you need to know to host a backyard movie night for less than $400 with recommended equipment, snacks, and seating.
Core memory unlocked: backyard movie night! Over the years, hosting an outdoor movie night in the backyard has become one of our family’s favorite ways to make memories together.
My favorite time of year is when the air gets crisp, the bugs calm down, and the sun starts setting earlier to create the perfect environment for watching outdoor movies with friends and family.
If you’ve ever wanted to host a movie experience in your own backyard, this post has you covered.
How to Set Up a Backyard Movie Night on a Budget
A while back, when I shared how we made a DIY outdoor projector screen using just a cheap shower curtain on our back porch, I had a ton of messages asking for all the details about our outdoor movie projector screen set up.
So I thought it was the perfect time to walk y’all through it.
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Equipment
Since last year, I’ve done a lot more research on projectors and outdoor projector screens to determine the most bang for our buck. And I managed to pull together an excellent quality movie experience for around $400!
I figured out a few alternatives to make it even cheaper than that too.
Best Projector on a Budget for a Backyard Movie Night
There are several outdoor-rated projectors that are specifically designed to weather the elements, some even with solar power capabilities.
But not a single projector I found was less than $600, and I just can’t see spending that steep amount for a casual family backyard movie night, especially since we likely wouldn’t watch an outdoor movie in the rain anyway.
After lots of comparing, this projector from Amazon beat them all with over 1,000 5-star reviews for around $200 (make sure to click the coupon) without sacrificing the bells and whistles for a great user experience like:
- 5G wifi
- Bluetooth
- 4K
- Dolby sound
- iOS/Android pairing capabilities
- 9500 lumens to be viewable in brighter light
The projector does need a power cord so I’ll explain how we set that up later in this post.
Outdoor Projector Screen
We use this 120-inch 4K outdoor projector screen for $104 for larger 160 degree viewing and results in a clear, high resolution picture with richer colors versus the homemade route we used before.
Cheaper Screen Alternative
If you want a really cheap alternative to a store-bought outdoor projector screen, you can see this post for a DIY projector screen repurposing a shower curtain liner and bungee cords for around $20.
How to Stream Movies onto a Projector
The easiest method we’ve found to stream movies onto a projector is with an Amazon Fire TV Stick for about $50.
Cheaper Streaming Alternative
Just the basic $30 Fire TV Stick Lite works completely fine too, if you don’t mind sacrificing the 4K picture quality and Dolby Vision.
Setup: Just plug the Fire TV Stick receiver into the HD-2 port into the back of the projector.
Select HD-2 on your projector’s menu screen, and follow the directions from your Fire TV Stick manual to register your device and sign in to whatever streaming services you prefer – Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, AppleTV, ESPN, etc.
How to Position and Power Your Projector
We chose to use this adjustable laptop tripod for $36 so we could easily raise and lower the projector as needed to best fit the outdoor projector screen.
Cheaper Projector Stand Alternative
Just a simple stool or small table you already have will work totally fine if you don’t mind sacrificing the ease of adjustability.
To get power to the projector, we just used a long outdoor extension cord. Make sure to use a cord with at least 2 ports to plug in the Fire TV Stick along with the projector for movie streaming.
We are still in a waiting period for our backyard fence replacement, so while we wait for power in our backyard added onto the new fence, we ran the outdoor extension cord behind our fence…
…and up to our porch to plug into our back porch outlet.
We made sure to place it where no one would trip over it. That’s not ideal, but it works. Just keep tripping hazards in mind when running an extension cord and always store it out of your yard when not in use.
Setting Up an Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker (Optional)
You definitely can get away with only using your projector speaker and forgoing this Bluetooth speaker step without any additional cost.
If you need to increase the volume of your projector or want the flexibility of directing the sound from your movie closer to your viewing audience, you can pair the projector to a portable Bluetooth speaker. Follow the steps on the projector menu for Bluetooth pairing.
We used this JBL Flip speaker for a volume boost and placed it in the middle of our seating area. Depending on how loud you need the movie experience to be, you can utilize speakers as loud as this JBL boombox with 20,000mAh.
That’s the set up! And now you can enjoy a fun-filled backyard movie night.
It really is one of our favorite ways to spend time with family and friends making memories during this season.
Do you recognize this movie we watched?
Seating
We like to set out any and all patio chairs or beach chairs we own in case people don’t bring their own. Here is a post with some of our favorite outdoor furniture.
In case it gets chilly later in the evening, we keep a big stack of blankets on our back porch for anyone to grab for sitting in the grass or snuggling under to warm up.
For a birthday slumber party for Olivia one year, we even set up air mattresses to let her friends have an outdoor theater experience camp out on our back porch in September. It was a total hit! We just added some twinkle lights for extra magic.
Honestly, I kind of wanted to be 8 years old again. See more slumber party ideas here. (For younger kids, it would be so cute to set up large cardboard boxes decorated like cars for a drive in movie theme.)
Lighting
Hanging a few outdoor string lights in a section of the yard away from the movie screen is helpful in case anyone needs to get up in the middle of the dark movie to get snacks or take a bathroom break. Or use these solar powered walkway lights to light a path for party guests.
To keep kids occupied since their attention spans are shorter, it’s fun to hand out glow sticks (I usually can find a whole tube of them in the Target Dollar Spot or at the dollar store).
Timing
Plan for your crowd to arrive about an hour before sunset so that everyone can get settled with snacks, drinks, seats, and the kids can run around in the yard or on the playground to get their jitters out.
The lighting for the outdoor movie is usually best a few minutes after sunset (we just refer to the day’s weather forecast for sunset times to send invites set for an hour prior).
Backyard Movie Night Snacks
Best Popcorn Machines
The most budget-friendly popcorn maker for the most delicious popcorn is the Whirley Pop (it won a taste test here) that makes it just like movie theater popcorn on the stovetop.
You have to babysit the pot a little bit while turning the crank, but it makes a fluffy popcorn portion equivalent to 3 standard microwave bags in about 3 minutes.
After a few years of outdoor movie night hosting, we finally sprung for this larger popcorn machine that we can set on a tabletop or countertop for people to serve themselves into these paper popcorn boxes.
These popcorn flavorings make it even better to set up at a popcorn bar for people to personalize.
More Snack Ideas
S’mores – If we’re hosting a backyard movie on a chilly night, we usually light a fire and set out a tray with s’mores ingredients: graham crackers, cookies, marshmallows, Reese’s cups, and Hershey bars.
These retractable marshmallow skewers are next level.
If you don’t have a real life fire pit, we love this tabletop fire pit you can simply place on an outdoor table.
Candy – We can usually just pick up movie theater style candy at the dollar store: M&Ms, Skittles, Whoppers, Twizzlers or Red Vines, Gummy Worms, Milk Duds, Junior Mints, and Raisinets. If we feel like prepping, we’ve even put together baggies with assorted wrapped fun-sized candy inside to hand out.
Hot Drinks – If it’s a chilly night, we love setting out a big batch of hot apple cider, cocoa, or hot buttered rum (for the adults) in a slow cooker for people to ladle into their cups.
Cold Drinks – People usually just bring their own cold drinks, but we put bottled water and sodas in this rolling cooler in case anyone needs some. For the adult crowd, I sometimes make a batch of sangria in a drink dispenser so they can serve themselves.
More Movie Night Snack Bar Ideas:
- Nachos
- Chex Mix
- Candied Pecans
- Chips and French Onion Dip
- Chips and Salsa / Guacamole
- Pizza
Of course, if you’re planning an outdoor movie night last minute, just let friends bring their own snacks and lawn chairs to enjoy some new releases in each other’s company.
No one says it has to be an entire experience with everything fancy. The best part about it is to make memories together.
Crowd-Pleaser Outdoor Movies to Watch
If you need some movie recommendations, here is our huge list of the 100 Best Outdoor Movies to Watch for a Backyard Movie Night.
Here are some back porch movie night decorating ideas we did for a backyard movie night too that helps make the entire experience even more magical.
Got any good movies that are crowd favorites and perfect for crisp, cool nights?
More Backyard Entertaining Ideas
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