Drive-In Movie Theater Birthday Party

Your grands can make their own car, so they can have a Drive-In Movie Theater Birthday Party!

What's a Drive-In?

Of course, their first question will be, "What's a drive-in?” What a great chance to fill them in on life before big screen TVs in our homes!

You can pull up a picture to show them what it was like to drive your car into the drive-in and watch a movie. That will help their imagination come alive so they can jump into their "car" and "drive" to their own drive-in movie theater birthday party!

Apple Boxes for Car Bodies

Call the local grocery store and have them save you the number of apple boxes you need so that each grand has their own car. These work very well because they are heavy and have a slide off lid that is easy to cut into shape and slide back onto the box.

Cut the Lid

Slide off the lid and cut a hole in the top leaving the width of one flap as the dashboard of the car (as shown in the picture).

Slide the lid back on the box and use strapping tape to hold the lid securely on the box.

Wrap the Box

Cover the entire box with brown packaging paper, like you purchase to wrap packages for the mail. Wrap the box like you would a gift. Use strapping tape to secure this paper as regular transparent tape isn’t strong enough, this paper is heavy like a brown paper grocery bag.

Note: If you have a source of other colored paper that you would like to use that would be awesome as well but it may tear more easily.

Cut out the paper where the top of the box has been cut out. Use strapping tape around the cut edges of the box to secure the paper to these edges so it doesn’t rip as the kids get in and out of their cars.

Detail the Car- Wheels/Headlights

Use black magic marker to trace around the top of a plastic whipped topping container as a pattern for four wheels on each car. Draw headlights on the front of the car as well.

Steering Wheel

We need a steering wheel of course! Using an ice pick, poke a hole through the center of a foam or paper plate and the dashboard of the car. Place a brad through the hole and secure on the inside of the car. Cover the brad with a couple pieces of strapping tape so the brad doesn’t scratch the grand.

Now, let each child decorate their car. We used crayons, but I’m thinking that markers may show up on the brown paper more vibrantly.

Aren’t these cars cute?

Off to the Drive-In Movies

Now, off to the Drive-In Movie Theater Birthday Party!

A great idea would be to hang a white sheet on the side of the house and project a movie onto the screen. The grands could go to their Drive-In Movie Theater Birthday Party and even eat their birthday treats in the car that way.

Since the mosquitoes were a bit thick where we live, we opted to stay inside to watch the movie. I wasn’t too excited about having birthday snacks in the cars on the living room carpet! Especially since the grands had made the White Chocolate Party Pretzels with lots of sprinkles. Ha.

So, we had our party snacks at the table and then drove the cars over to the living room Drive-In Movie Theater! It was still a blast and the movie was a hit.

More Fun

The kids played in the cars the whole time they were visiting. My favorite thing was seeing them read books in their cars the next day.

More Ideas

They came up with the great idea to cut holes in the bottom of the boxes so they could “drive” around the house with their cars. I’m thinking that would be a great idea and would also work for a great Halloween costume. All it would take would be adding a couple shoulder straps!!

Oh, isn’t it fun to brainstorm creative ideas and make things with our hands? I love to help pass this on to the grands!

Enjoy!

Welcome to Nana’s! Where there’s fun things to do with your “grand” kids!

Come join the fun at www.WelcomeToNanas.com

Supplies:

Apple box(es)
Brown packaging paper
Scissors
Strapping tape
Black Magic Marker
Ice Pick
Foam or paper plate
Brass brad
Crayons or markers
Movie to watch
Optional- white sheet and DVD projector if watching outside

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