Drive-in Movie -5yr- Music of the seventies!

For my daughter's 5th birthday party we had a drive-in movie party.  The fact that they had no idea what a "drive-in" was did not take away from the fun one bit!  The party was held at our church fellowship hall.  Not only was the room the perfect size (big), but the church also had a video projector/sound system, large screen and popcorn machine.    As the children arrived, they were greeted by a lighted-movie marquee (dry erase board with Christmas lights stapled around the edges announcing "Celebration Drive-In Presents:  Anna Grace's 5th Birthday Party".  An usher (my 12-year-old niece)gave the guests tickets for the show (designed and printed from our computer) and directed them to the drive-in.  

As the guests entered the room, the sounds of 50's music set the tone.  I also used 50s decorations purchased from a party store to decorate the room.  The colors for the balloons, plates, napkins, etc. were also 50s inspired -- turquoise, bubble gum pink and black.  The screen was placed at one end of the room, and I placed large, blank packing boxes (1 per 2 children) in front of the screen. 

The boxes served as the "cars", and we had markers, glue, construction paper wheels and hub caps and make-your-own license plates (letter stickers were used for this project)for each child to decorate their vehicle.  Who knew a bunch of boxes would be such a hit!  Even the parents got into it, and we had some pretty slick rides by the party's end!  This all lasted about 45 minutes, and then we proceeded on to cake. 

The cake was made to look like a box of popcorn.  The kids and parents loved it!  I've also seen a recipe for cupcakes that look like pop corn on familyfun.com.  

After cake, we opened the "concession stand" before the start of the movie.  Each child was given play money to spend at the stand.  You would have thought I gave these children actual gold!  They thought they were so big and had a blast "buying" their own treats. 

The concession stand had gummy candy hot dogs and hamburgers, mini candy bars, bubble gum, giant pickles (very popular!), sodas (the little 8 oz. versions were perfect) and fresh-popped popcorn from the popcorn machine.   

Next, the kids settled into their "cars" for the movie and we dimmed the lights.  Our feature presentaton was "The Magic School Bus Spins a Web", which depicts the characters visiting a drive-in movie show and actually going into the movie reel.  This was the perfect show in both content and length for this age group!  After the movie ended, no one wanted to leave, so we ended up watching one more episode that was also on our DVD. 

Even after that, the kids still wanted to play with the boxes some more!  Party favors were popcorn boxes filled with gummy hot dogs and hamburgers, wax soda bottles and buttered-popcorn-flavored jelly beans.  I used yellow shredded paper as filler inside (it looked like popcorn) and celophane gift wrap and curly ribbon to wrap up the outside of the box and keep all the goodies on the inside.  This party was such a hit with both the kids and their parents!  This summer we plan on taking a trip to a real drive-in that's not too far away from our home so my daughter can see the real thing.  =)