Outdoor Movie Night Ideas for Fall

Grab some snacks and blankets and get outside! These fun Outdoor Movie Night Ideas are a perfect way to gather friends this fall. Whether you’re hosting a party to celebrate a special occasion or simply want to spend time with friends and family, these easy ideas will inspire you to snuggle up and enjoy a favorite movie.

Outdoor fall movie nights are so much fun. While these movie night ideas can be adapted for indoor use, my family loves to watch movies outside!

When the weather starts to cool down, everything needs to be a little bit cozier including the food and drinks. These easy Outdoor Movie Party ideas work any time of year but we prefer hosting in the fall!

Outdoor Movie Night Ideas for Fall

I used to love hosting elaborate parties, like the one you see in the photos of this post. Now I prefer to make them much more low-key. The good thing about these ideas is that you can use them in a way that works for your party style.

How to Plan an Outdoor Movie Party

Location

Find a place to hold your party that has a lot of room. You’ll need to make sure that the area is deep so that your guests aren’t too close to the screen.

We found a local vegetable garden to use for these outdoor movie night and it worked perfectly!

As you can see from the image above, we kept seating to certain parts of the veggie plots so we didn’t hurt the plants but you get the idea.

But if your backyard (or a friend’s) is suitable, by all means, use that! It’s easy to plan a movie night in your backyard.

Make it a dinner party

Outdoor movie nights are fun for the whole family. Kids love to sit out on blankets and watch movies on a big screen. But you can easily make it an adults-only affair.

A dinner party held in a barn or garage could be super fun before settling into a favorite movie.

If you love to cook, you can easily do that, otherwise, just order in! Keep it as casual as you like!

Turning movie night into a dinner party is a unique way to celebrate a special occasion.

If you want to include the kids in the dinner portion, just have them eat picnic-style to keep things super easy.

What to watch for your movie night

Themed movies are always a good choice to play for a movie night with friends. Choose something with much-loved characters, lots of memorable dialogue, and plenty of laughs. Think Harry Potter, or Marvel movies.

For an adult party, something like When Harry Met Sally would be peak fall vibes. And Practical Magic could be really fun with playful cocktails. But you can’t go wrong with something like Step Brothers or Anchorman.

There are plenty of movies that suit a family party too. Hocus Pocus is a fun movie set in autumn. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown would be a super sweet way to get the night started.

Here is a great list of 50 of the best movies to watch with your family with even more ideas.

Outdoor movie party decorations

Veggies are a great way to decorate for any fall party. They are usually less expensive than flowers and come in so many amazing colors.

Don’t let them go to waste and be sure to send them home with your guests as a party favor! You can easily purchase burlap bags to make carrying your bounty home a breeze.

We also used them to create the centerpiece for the dinner table above. Boom. Done.

I added some super easy DIY corn husk flowers around the party. I love using corn husks when entertaining. They are inexpensive and totally durable. They cut and bend easily and are crazy versatile!

How to Make Corn Husk Flowers

1. Buy a package of dried Corn Husks from the store.
2. For each flower, you will need 5 each of 3 different sizes.
3. Cut one side of each corn husk into a point. Make 5 all one size, then make another 5 about an inch shorter and another set of 5 an inch shorter than that.
4. I used a large barrel curling iron to create the bend in each piece. (genius, I know).
5. Take one piece of each size, layer them (lining them up at the bottom) and use hot glue to attach them together at the base.
6. Do the same to all remaining sets.
7. Glue each set to each other, making sure that they fan out and look like the example in the photo above.

Cornhusk flowers and a little rope garland (you can see the knotted technique in this knotted yarn garland DIY) I used in this are all you need to add rustic elements throughout the party.

To add in some movie flair, you can use old film to create garlands (did I just totally date myself with a film reference?) or use store-bought movie decorations. They’re easy to find at party stores.

Or you can plan your decor based on what movie you are showing (like I did here with my Dirty Dancing viewing party).

Setting up your outdoor movie screen

You can use just about anything to create a movie screen for your outside movie party. We used a banner stand that we already had.

I love these banner stands for throwing parties because they are really easy to use and can hold just about any kind of backdrop.

You can also tape or tack up a sheet on a large wall or project the movie right on the side of a building (works best with a white building that doesn’t have too much texture).

Or purchase an outdoor movie screen so you can host even more of these movie night parties!

A small projector will make it seem like you are in your very own movie theater! You can use this projector inside too.

I remember watching home movies on a wall in our house when we were kids and it was SO MUCH FUN!

Outdoor movie seating ideas

For seating, we used hay bales to really play up the farm feel. To make sure that they weren’t scratchy or dirty for the guests, my friend, Carole, sewed cute denim covers with fabric side pockets.

The side pockets held flashlights (in case you need to move around or find something during the party) and also water and snacks. We also set out blankets to make sure nobody got too cold during the movie.

If hay bales aren’t right for you just spread out blankets and as many pillows as you can. If the grass is damp at all, use waterproof drop cloths or tarps hidden under the blankets.

And how fun would a few of these inflatable beds be filled with cozy blankets? This would be my preferred seating for a fall outdoor movie.

Low chairs, like beach chairs, are good for people who don’t want to lie down. Just keep those towards the back so they don’t block any views.

Outdoor movie night food ideas

For the outdoor movie party food, we served movie night favorites along with other fun snacks. We served potato chips in cute waxed paper bags, popcorn in paper containers, red licorice bundles, Boston Baked Beans candies and more.

To tie it all into the rest of the party, I used coordinating bits of the fabric from the hay bale covers to decorate the candy and snack packaging. We served everything out of a wagon to make it easy for party guests to grab and wheel around during the show.

Here are 3 popcorn seasoning recipes you can set out to jazz up plain popcorn with ease.

This crunchy Caramel Corn is also a crowd pleaser. And it can be made ahead of time so that you don’t add any extra stress to the day of the party. Or do Caramel Corn Cupcakes.

Get even more movie snack ideas including how to make cupcakes that look they are topped with popcorn!

Drinks for fall outdoor movie party

• Hot beverages are great to offer as the sun goes down. A hot whiskey and honey drink was the perfect thing!
• For the kids, this delicious Hot Apple Cider recipe is just right.
• We also served this yummy Apple Spice Fall Sangria and it was a great addition to our backyard movie night! 
• A Pumpkin Michelada would be a super unique drink idea to serve that is great for any time of year.

We used an insulated beverage container that would keep everything warm and used corrugated cardboard cups for serving. But a carafe would also work.