Backyard Drive-in Movie Birthday!

A Little About Me

Well, hello! I'm Alia from Party Like a Cherry and I am honored to be guest posting over here on the Basic Invite Blog! While I grew up in the suburbs of Manhattan, I currently live in Northern California where I try to keep 4 boys, ages 2-9, alive every day. Some days it's more of a challenge than others.

I started my blog back in 2015 to document all the events I put together for our family and friends, and it has grown from there. Now you will find all kinds of ideas, tips, tutorials and free printables to make it easier for you to create amazing memories with your kiddos. Spend more time making memories, and less time planning them, right?!

In the four years since I started my blog, there is one event that stands out from all the others. It was so fun to prep, and even more fun to host, and to this day our friends and family still talk about it! So if you're looking for a little birthday or party inspo for a warm summer night or nice crisp fall evening, I've got you covered!

Drive-In Movie Party

DIY Cardboard Box Cars

Our DIY Drive in Movie party started with, well yes, the cars! Um, yea, I may have made 20 matching cardboard box race cars. And it was SO WORTH IT! Cause guess what? They hardly got out of them the entire party! I ordered identical cardboard boxes from Amazon so they would all match, but reusing all those Amazon boxes you surely have lying around would be much more economical and earth friendly ;). I covered them in a coat of left-over interior house paint with a roller (Don't try to spray paint cardboard! You're finger will fall off and you will need like a bazillion cans). Then added black paper plates for a steering wheel and tires with a glue gun. Finally, toilet paper tubes for a tail pipe, some racing stripes with white duct tape and voila!

As the kids arrived I had all kinds of stickers, markers, paint pens etc that they could use to decorate their car. Oh, and don't forget their license plates!

DIY Concession Stand & Ticket Booth

Each child was given an allowance of pretend money as they arrived. Of course they had to purchase their movie ticket from the ticket booth, made from a refrigerator box (if you haven't yet made friends with the owner of your local mom and pop appliance store, now is the time!).

And the rest of their money they could spend at the concession stand. The trays I scrounged from our local grocery store (also, make friends with the stock boys at your grocery store). They took me back and let me rummage through their recycle pile. I added ribbon with a glue gun for the finishing touch.

To say that the kids were into the concession stand is a bit of an understatement.

Carefully considering how best to use his five dollars, it's a big decision!

And the highlight of the concession stand, which has also been pinned tens of thousands of times on pinterest, the POPCORN CUPCAKES!!!

Once they were all settled in their personalized cars (bring your favorite pillow and blanket to make it more cozy!), with their trays filled with goodies, we were ready for the movie! As soon as the sun went down we watched Phineas & Ferb, the Movie.

For all the details and free printables for this party you can check out the full post here. And if you are looking for more ideas on making memories with your kiddos I'd love to connect with all of you lovely people over on Instagram.

It's been fun stopping by Basic Invite, thanks for having me!

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