Sunday, September 16, 2012

Cinema 2341

Last weekend we did something I've been wanting to do for a very long time: we hosted an outdoor movie night in our driveway.

I thought about doing it last summer at our old house, but time just seemed to sort of slip away and we never did it. I also think I was a bit hesitant because 1) I didn't know who would actually show up (some of our old neighbors got along, some of them didn't) and, 2) our house was right smack on the corner and it was kind of a busy street sometimes. It was hard to tell who might be coming and going and if it would be a busy night, which would disrupt the movie (lots of car traffic = lots of noise!).

Anyway, we really do want to foster a wonderful neighborhood climate in our new home, so this was the perfect venue.

We made flyers for all of the houses in the neighborhood, and our little friends in the 'hood colored them in and delivered one to each house. I borrowed some of the equipment from work and Kevin combined it with our DVD player to show the movie on the garage door. We bought a white, king-sized sheet and some PVC pipe and Kevin fashioned the perfect movie screen. Here are a few pics of the set-up (sorry, we got busy and it got dark before we could take more photos of everyone enjoying the movie):

We added homemade lemonade and some goodie bags with movie treats; neighbor Julie made and brought lots and lots of popcorn; Marisa, who lent us the movie (a Japanese animation film called 'My Neighbor Totoro' also brought boxes of Japanese cookies; Hernando and Xiomara brought cheese & crackers; Brian, who works for Disney, and his wife Christine brought a TON of Disney DVDs to be passed around and shared. We set up chairs in the driveway and blankets on the lawn, and some of the kids brought their own blankets and beanbag chairs.

We had a great turnout - about 20 people! We ended the night by saying 'this was the first of many more movie nights to come'. Can't wait for the next one.

...I think Nemo is calling.

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