R&R in your Back Yard with Movie Night

It's great to travel, but sometimes its nice to stay home and have a fun movie night at home. Theater rooms are great, but if its a beautiful night and the stars are out, what better way to have movie night but in your own back yard. Invite friends, neighbors, and family and relax and enjoy.

I love the way Pottery Barn has put together their version of movie night with a huge queen size sheet as the screen and awesome futons as chairs. Add pillows, soft lighting in the trees (or stars in the sky), and big bowls of popcorn and you're ready to begin a wonderful evening.

Pottery Barn's Version of A Backyard Movie Night. See their Create a Backyard Movie Screen DIY.

I also came across Katie and Incredibly Strange Movie Nights in Niagara. They find areas to set up a screen and invite a group to watch. Have everyone bring their most comfortable deck chair and make it BYOC - Bring Your Own Chair.

Recipe for success: 1. Set up a screen on large chain link fence.  2. Add dog. 3. Wait until dark and enjoy.

A backyard movie night is also a great way to share family photos and home movies. Invite family and friends to see your wedding movie or maybe old family movies from when you were kids. We have some footage of our family from the 50's and 60's that is awesome to watch and would really make a great movie night. So make it more nostalgic and show home videos.

Festoca calls this Roller Box in the Backyard.

Although most people are only looking for a quick and less expensive option to create an outdoor movie night, there are some more affluent options I thought I would show:

Colorworks studio created an awesome outdoor entertainment area.

A projector inside designed for both day and night viewing shoots the picture onto the back of a 9-foot-wide glass screen. Small speakers are strategically placed to distribute the sound evenly to the seating areas only, so that any neighbors beyond the large lot aren't disturbed.

Campion Platt Interiors has designed a beautiful poolside movie experience at a 1926 Palm Beach home.

DIY Movie Screen

Aside from the fun and romance of watching a movie outside, some people would like to build their own and yet keep the cost down. I found a couple of websites that provide options on building movie screens and provided them below:

From WIRED: A 5′ x 9′ screen constructed of blackout cloth stretched over a 1.5″ PVC frame. Blackout cloth was a great solution, offering nearly-perfect color and texture for viewing movies.

From Hum-Dum: Stretch a tarp or duckcloth between 2 x 4s that have been anchored into the ground.