Throw a movie themed birthday party

Would you like to have a movie themed birthday party? Are you looking for an easy birthday party idea for a teen or a tween? A movie birthday party is perfect for kids of all ages. My daughter recently turned 12 and she wanted a movie party for her birthday celebration. We came up with some fun party activities and food for her Movie Birthday Party. She decided to make her party a sleepover party since that seemed to fit in well with a late night movie. Read on to find games and activities, an adorable Popcorn Birthday Cake, and movie themed party favors.

I used a box mix and can of icing for this cake.You can click on the "cake" link to get step-by-step how-to directions to make this fabulous cake. All I needed to add was some decorator icing and some kettle corn for this adorable cake.

Watching a movie is the main activity that we planned, however, we did come up with some other fun things to do during my daughter's movie birthday party. The kids all had fun and had a great time playing some games before the movie. Here are some fun things to do in addition to watching the movie:

1. Play "Who Am I?" As the girls arrived, I pinned a character name on their back. They could ask yes or no questions to find out what movie character they were. I used Disney Princesses to make this easy for the girls to guess since they were all familiar characters.
2. Play Movie Trivia (I used Disney Movies for our trivia game since most of the girls had seen many Disney movies.)
3. Play Movie Bingo (This one was done during the movie itself--more info below in this lens.)
4. Walk the Red Carpet (The girls had fun giving each other makeovers with make-up and hairdos, then they took turns walking the red carpet and being announced to the other party guests.)
5. Visit the concession stand (I gave out play movie money and the girls could "purchase" snacks at the concession stand for the movie.)
6. Tye-Dye T-shirts (Okay, so this one wasn't totally movie-related, but put teen and tween girls together, give them a white t-shirt and some tye dye bottles and watch the fun happen!)
7. Make Your Own Sundae Bar (Making sundaes was more fun than just eating ice cream with the cake.)
8. Have a Movie themed pinata.

I must have popped at least 3 pounds of popcorn kernels. I would recommend popping more than you think you will need. I had bags popped for each girl and a few extra bowls for refills. The girls loved having popcorn during the movie and they snacked on it all evening. I just love my Orville Redenbacher hot air popcorn popper! You can add all kinds of fun flavors to your popcorn and serve them in popcorn bags.

I printed out bingo cards with things that would appear in the movie. We chose objects, people and places that were specific to the movie my daughter had chosen, then the girls played bingo during the movie. I cut out little stars with a scrapbooking tool and used these as bingo markers.

You can generate your own bingo cards using any words you choose here: Print Bingo Cards.

I made my own pinata for my daughter's party. I made it in about 20 minutes and I think it cost a grand total of $3.50. Kids of all ages like pinatas. With lots of kids (I have 7), I need to be frugal. I simply use paper bags as the candy bags and make my own pinatas with a paper grocery bag.

I got each girl a plastic popcorn box as a party favor box. We didn't use these during the movie, since we didn't want them to be greasy. We filled them with boxes of Movie candy, pencils and mini notebooks, lip gloss and glow sticks that they could use during the movie.