Backyard Movies

 For the past 7 summers, I have hosted backyard movies at my home. I wanted a way for my kids to keep in touch with friends, give families a chance to hang out together in a fun atmosphere, give myself a creative outlet and mix in a little charity work at the same time.

 A few years ago, I asked my guests to bring canned food to donate to Help the Children, a local food pantry. For every item they brought, I gave them a raffle ticket to win giant size movie candy to enjoy during the movie.

 This year, I upped the ante! I gave away items that related to the movie I was showing. Since a lot of the family movies were sequels, such as Monsters, Inc. and Despicable Me, I coordinated the movies openings. I bought giveaway items such as Monsters, Inc. gift cards from Subway and stuffed minion dolls.

I had my usual s'more making fixin's and fire pit but then would add other items such as theme cupcakes and cookies.

 The kids got so excited checking their tickets to see if they won!

 A friend, since I have known since jr. high (1977), is an executive a 20th Century Fox and was kind enough to donate a bunch of stuff to raffle off for Percy Jackson. We had books, DVDs, messenger bags, posters and more!

 For Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I made spaghetti and meatball cupcakes. It's really frosting, raspberry jam and a Whopper.

 For Wreck It Ralph, the kids got to make their own candy race cars!

 I always like to finish the season with a classic 80's movie. This year it was The Princess Bride.

 Here is about half of the summer's donations for Help the Children. We collected almost 200 items for them. Summer is a really slow donation time for most charities so I was happy to give them a little help!

 I also had a photo booth for the kids to dress up as pirates or princesses.

It was another successful season. Thanks to all of my friends who made it so much fun!