DIY outdoor movie screen – M O D F R U G A L

Long time readers know we are big fans of outdoor movie nights, and this weekend we hosted a party for Thing One’s group.

We upgraded our movie screen and it has been performing really well, but we had to add a little tweak this time to get it as taut as it needs to be. I think that washing and drying the movie screen will bring it back, but we didn’t have time for that Friday afternoon, so picnic tablecloth weights to the rescue!

The ants smoothed everything out nicely.

We like to keep the food pretty casual – it’s a kid party after all, so we went for all finger food and provided trays for easy on-lap eating.

This was our third time scheduling this party!!Â The first two attempts were rained out thanks to our new monsoon-like climate.

While it was dry, it was pretty hot and humid, so, no campfire and s’mores offered for this one, but the way those boys inhaled brownies and cupcakes, I don’t think they even noticed.

Our previous outdoor movie screen was a pitiful, shabby eyesore that required a ladder, 2 people and 20 minutes to install. We had stapled a sheet between two pieces of lumber that were then mounted to the trees. Because of the bulk, it had to be stored in the basement where it would get dirty, but I couldn’t wash the sheet because it had 500 million staples attaching it to the “frame”. This kind of inefficiency makes me grumpy.

Enough was enough and it was time to improve upon what had clearly been haphazardly slapped together 2 years ago. I wanted something that could be put up in minutes by one person, and could be tossed into the wash.

I thought I was SO clever getting a rubber backed drop cloth because it would be so durable, and the matte rubber would be a nice projection surface. We opened the package only to find 2 honkin’ SEAMS running through the middle. NO CAN DO. Scramble time and it’s Target to the rescue with a double sized sheet cut down and hemmed. Add grommets and bungees to affix to the trees and we’re done. No ladders, no drama, and if a bird poops on it…NO PROBLEM.

Sorry for the poor photos (again) my DSLR battery ran out, probably because I’ve been neglecting it so.

Turns out the canopy ties didn’t work-too small, so we used the regular kind of bungees. The canopy ties are great for fort building though, so we’ll keep those after all.

We didn’t return the drop cloth either, and instead used it underneath the brown picnic blankets to act as a moisture barrier so the blankets and pillows all stay dry from the dew.

There were 10 boys who didn’t care one bit about a new screen, but were just thrilled to kick back with some popcorn and enjoy the show.

Tag: DIY outdoor movie screen

Movie Nights

Movie Screen