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Ready to show off that impressive home theater you spent the last year building? Well a popular option is to gather some friends and family together for a movie night. There are a couple elements to make your movie night truly impressive. Below we have listed some tips that will make your home theater movie night, a night to remember.

MOVIE SELECTION

A family on couch watching TVThis one is a no-brainer. Selecting the perfect movie is an art. The first rule is to keep your audience in mind. Will there be children present? Is it a guy’s night out? Knowing the taste and likes of your audience is imperative to picking the right movie. Playing a slasher movie for your squeamish church group is not going to produce the results you had hoped for. Ask for your audience’s input, rent or purchase a small selection of movies in different genres and have a vote. The perfect movie can make all the difference on your big night.

SNACKS & DRINKS

snacksA major part of any hosting event is the food that is on hand. We suggest serving hors d’oeuvres or more messy snacks in a living room or kitchen area and save the cleaner snacks for the actual movie showing. You just spent a small fortune on your theater the last thing you want is stains all over your new room. Popcorn is a must for the movie showing. Cook your popcorn slightly ahead of time to fill the halls with the enticing aroma that is sure to bring back cinema memories as soon as your guests arrive.

THEMES

Horror-moviesThemes are a great way to really bring a movie night to life and it does not take as much planning as you would think. Start with selecting a group of genre specific movies, horror movies for a Halloween theme or chick flicks for Valentine’s Day are common themes. Of course, you are not limited to seasonal events, selecting trilogies or movies with multiple sequels are always fun. 80’s movies or Monty Python films are movie night classics. Once you have your movie theme, it’s time to decorate accordingly. It is up to you on how in depth you want to get but some great starters may be to align your snack menu to your theme. If you are hosting a Harry Potter movie night provide fruit punch in a witches’ caldron. If you are hosting a Star Wars party make cookies in the shape of stars and planets. The trick is to be creative. Spend some time decorating your home theater to complete the motif.

GAMES

triviaThere are a lot of neat ideas for games to play with your friends and family during your movie night. A fun idea is to make a quiz game asking trivia questions on the movies you are watching. Divide couples into teams or separate teams by gender for some friendly competition. Linking your game to your theme is a great idea, pick team names based on characters or groups in the movie. Print out pictures of familiar movie scenes and allow teams to guess the movie titles the scenes belong too. Award winners with prizes you bought before hand. Again creativity and imagination is what will set your night apart.