Drive-In Movie Night: Movie Night Under the Stars

One of my fondest memories growing up was the family piling up in the good ole Ford van and heading to the Drive-In Movies. It was definitely a family affair which made it that much more exciting and fun. Maybe not so much for my parents, but definitely for my sisters and I.

It's a shame few Drive-In Theaters exist for this generation to enjoy and I definitely feel kids are missing out on the experience.  Since they're not easily accessible, I decided to host my own Drive-In Moving Night and bring a little of that nostalgia back for the adults and make it fun for the kiddos.

To recreate the "drive-in' experience", I needed cars so I decided to create them out of cardboard boxes. I thought it was really important to make them all the same so no one would be disappointed if they didn't get the one they wanted.

As you can see from the pictures, each was painted red with wheels (plastic plates), tail lights (yellow construction paper), a bumper (black duct tape), a tail pipe (paper towel rolls covered in silver duct tape) and even headlights (dixie cups covered in alum. foil and yellow construction paper inserted inside to make it look like a light). If I were to do things differently, I would've used brass fasteners on the wheels because the hot glue didn't hold them very well and would pop off. Additionally, I wish I would've cut the box differently to accommodate a windshield, dashboard and a steering wheel.  Next time... = )

Movie night could not be complete without a concession stand so we supplied plenty of candy so the 8 kids could pick out 2 candies and choose from three types of popcorn; caramel corn, kettle corn and regular popcorn for the purists like myself. In addition, I made funnel cake for the kids just to ensure that each child was filled to the brim with sugar.

You can see it in the picture on the right that each car had a box attached to their car that held all their goodies and glow sticks that they were able to put on once it got a little darker.

Make it a craft activity:
I would've loved it if the kids were able to paint their own car, however, time just didn't allow and I thought it would be much easier if we did all the labor. We did however allow each of the kids to customize their box cars by creating and decorating their own license plates. We had a kids table (which happened to be two extra large boxes my husband found at work) covered in the same linen as the grown-ups table and gave them the freedom to create whatever they wanted. It was entertaining to see where each of them chose to place it.

The movie of choice was Frozen and it worked out great. Everyone had a blast and not one child left their box car until the night was over. It's safe to say...Movie Night Under the Stars was a HUGE success!