Follow the yellow brick road to our backyard for an outdoor movie night. Who remembers watching this movie as a kid? I know I do. My favorite character was the good witch, Glinda and to be honest the evil laugh of the Wicked Witch of the West still sends shivers down my spine. As an teenager in high school, my friends and I dressed up for Halloween as the cast from the movie. And you know what, I was the Wicked Witch and tried desperately to master that laugh to no avail. Since this is a classic movie that all kids should see in their lifetime, then I figured it would be the perfect fit for our outdoor fall movie night.
OZ PARTY FOOD
Let’s talk food for a minute. I admit that I sugar load just about every kid that comes within 500 yards of one of my parties. I know all the parents love it too! There is so much fun to be had in planning out all the details of the snack table. The irresistible treats included Ding Dongs Witch is Dead; Yellow Brick Road Rice Krispies; Rainbow Cupcakes; Munchkin Donuts; Tin Man Kisses; Toto Chow; Lollipops; Lions, Tigers, and Bears Oh My Animal Crackers; and last but not least a Rainbow Cake. Take a look at the inside of this rainbow cake for a minute and take in all it’s yummy glory. And to answer your question, it was heavenly.
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
The guests entered the backyard on a yellow brick road. After I recovered from all the paint fumes, the final result actually turned out great. I cut out a piece of foam board into a brick pattern. Then laid it on the grass and sprayed yellow spray paint, then repeat. Don’t worry your grass will only be yellow until the next spring. We also added some fall decorations with scarecrows, which seemed appropriate, and pumpkins. I even decided that we needed a ruby red pumpkin. For seating, we provided straw bales set up in rows and a few more by the fire pit to keep warm.
DECORATE WITH RAINBOWS, EMERALD GREEN, & YELLOW
The actual night that we had the party, it felt very much like a tornado with the wind. This added more life to my decorations to put it nicely. For the cake table backdrop, I used plastic table clothes draped down in a rainbow pattern. I also made the Emerald City out of foam board and added green lights. My absolute favorite decoration of the whole party was the homemade hot air balloon made out of paper mache and tissue paper circles. On the table, I spray painted subway tiles yellow to make a yellow brick road and also spray painted the letters OZ in a glittery green color. I am beginning to wonder why I used to much spray paint and how many brain cells were lost in the process.
MOVIE POPCORN BAR
What’s a movie without popcorn? A different spin to the standard popcorn bar was with a flavored popcorn bar. I used a local store, called Poptique Gourmet Popcorn, to get several different flavors. Of course the traditional buttered popcorn was a must. All this was displayed on a yellow tablecloth that I drew lines on for the yellow brick road.
PHOTO BOOTH & PARTY GAMES
Along with the movie, I set up several areas with games to keep the kids entertained. The first stop was a photo booth with my best attempt of a lighted tornado and emerald green backdrop. I found super cute masks and made word bubble sayings. We also had a rainbow pinata because we didn’t have enough sugar already. My artistic abilities, or what I think my artistic abilities are, painted a witch’s face on foam board. I used washable paint so that the kids could use squirt guns to ‘melt’ the witch. To follow up with the witch theme, I created witch pitch. I splattered glow in the dark paint to represent a melted witch under the hats, added numbers, and used glow necklaces for the rings. the kids took turns playing ring toss all night. Lastly, we set up the classic pin the heart on the Tin Man.
MOVIE VIEWING
The equipment set up was actually pretty easy. As far as the screen and movie set up, you can find out how to do this in my previous post. Here, you will find out all the details on what we used for the actual screen and the type of projector that will work best.
What are your childhood memories of watching this movie and how are you creating new ones with your family? Post in the comments.
“It’s not where you go, it’s who you meet along the way” by Wizard of Oz.
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