In the cooler nights of late summer, there is nothing better than rounding up a few friends, tossing a screen up in the backyard and taking in a movie under the stars. That is exactly what we did in this backyard movie party–with a little added extra of a “concession stand” with a popcorn bar, single serve mason jar cocktails for the adults and drive-in cars for the kids.

Take a few of these ideas and make them your own!

Backyard Movie Party Popcorn Bar

Popcorn and movies are inseparable. To put a fun spin on a typical popcorn and movie event, create a popcorn bar instead that will give your guests the chance to be a little creative and interactive with their movie-time treats.

Set out small containers of mix-ins like nuts, cranberries, shredded cheeses, sprinkles, miniature M&M’s chocolate chips and whatever else strikes your fancy. The list of possible mix-ins is long!

You’ll need a few containers for all that popcorn. I love smallish popcorn boxes for this. The ones in this picture were printed, cut and assembled, but if you like your boxes ready-made you can buy a few similar ones here.

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I loaded up a few large (clean!) vases and a trifle bowl with popcorn to make our display a little extra fancy and wrapped the tops with strips of glitter tape (buy it here). Such a simple detail, but it really brought the table together with style!

I can never pass up the opportunity to set out a cute sign…

The kids at your party (and probably the adults, too) will love their custom popcorn creations for sitting back and watching the show. Our guests made several trips back to make new flavor combinations so they could try everything on the table.

There are so many more things to see at this party! Click to the next page to see them!