Thrifty Tips for Hosting a Teen Movie Night at Home

When money is tight, hosting a movie night themed birthday for teens might be more money than what you can squeeze out of your budget. Things like movie night favors and decor, fun movie type foods, and movie goodie bags are expensive, especially when a dozen or more teens will be attending the party.

Just because you are on a budget doesn't mean that hosting a teen movie night is impossible. There's all sorts of thrifty ways this can be done without emptying your wallet. Need some budget friendly ideas? These might help:

1. Decide on a genre.

Selecting a genre (movie type) means that you will know what direction to follow when renting movies to watch and the type of decor to use. Since my teen's birthday is close to Halloween, she chooses a "horror night" theme when hosting a movie night. Other themes that might work include:

* Vintage black & white
* Romantic comedies or chick flicks
* Sci Fi
* All the sequels of a particular movie franchise
* Spaghetti Westerns
* Vampire genre
* Boxed DVD set of an old TV series (Twilight Zone, Partridge Family, etc)

2. Choose room decor based on the theme.

Movie posters and twinkle lights add a great effect to a media room at a budget friendly price and may be all you really have to do.

For my teen's "Horror themed" party, I crisscrossed orange twinkle lights from the ceiling, and draped them with leftover Halloween cobwebs (thumbtacks held everything in place). For the walls, we hung up discount store posters in a horror theme (priced $3-5 each). in a darkened media room, this decor looks fantastic. Total cost for everything, $30.

100 bulb strands of mini lights cost about $3. For the best effect, choose a color that people associate with the movie genre. Some examples:

* Red, purple, or orange for horror
* White, silver, light blue for Sci FI
* Orange, brown, yellow for western
* Red, pink, white for romance
* Black, purple, red for Vampire

Additional budget friendly teen movie decor ideas:

* Buy "movie themed" paper goods and decor from Dollar tree
* Use dollar store paper goods and tablecloths in a color that matches your theme.
* Hit the thrifts, dollar stores, and discount stores for cheap movie posters
* Scrounge around the house for items that also tie into the theme, and display them on end tables and bookshelves.

3. Setting up the room for viewing.

Most teens prefer watching movies from the floor. To set up your media room for viewing, push the furniture to the walls and place items like beanbags, bolsters, and over stuffed pillows in the center of the room. The teens will figure out the seating arrangement from there.

In the corner farthest away from the crowd (but not blocking the TV set), set up a card table to hold food and drinks.

4. Teen friendly foods that are great on a budget.

The best food for a teen movie night is food that can be prepped ahead of time and then set out "buffet style" on a table. Teen friendly food that's easy on a budget includes things like one topping pizza, a hot dog or taco bar, or homemade chili. Easy, budget friendly side dishes to include:

* Popcorn or pretzels
* Fruit or veggie assortment cut into finger-sized servings
* Homemade cookies

5. Thrifty movie rental options.

When it comes to renting movies for the evening, one of the cheapest options is rent a movie assortment from Red Box which run $1 (plus tax) for a 24 hour rental. If old, campy movies or DVD sets are the genre, then the public library is a great place to find these movies for free. You can also tap into your network of friends and relatives who might have a great collection of DVDs they could loan you for the night.

One of the nice things about hosting a teen movie night is that the teens really don't care how elaborate the decor is or even how much you've spent. Twinkle lights, comfortable seating, great movie selections, and fun food is all that's really needed for your teen's movie night party to be a success.