We encouraged blankets.. kids brought pillows, stuffed animals, some wore slippers.. it made it seem more cozy.
We did, however, reserve all along the walls for those who wanted to bring chairs (grandparents preferred this ).. or for those in wheelchairs... that way chairs wouldn't block any views.
All great ideas, I love the idea of laundry baskets...
Another question, what's your thoughts on seating? Our room is pretty large and i was thinking about having the front half be floor seating, with actual seats in the back.
To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
We started movie night last year. Since it's held in our gym, we decided to get foods that clean-up "easy." Our principal requested we stay away from the fruit snacks. We have the candy necklaces, airheads, skittles, M&M's, pretzels, animal crackers, cheeze its, bottled water and juice bottles (the squirt cover to help eliviate the spill problem). We purchase them at Sam's Club. We also buy cotton candy from a separate vendor which is our hottest item. We have a popcorn machine, but since it has to be popped at a special outlet in the cafe - we opt to get it donated. Most theatres will donate their popcorn to you. Saves lots of time on the popper.
We started with a budget of $400 to go and buy a variety of the above listed items. (We have 600 students at our school and typically have about 250 people attend.) We made sure we had a good inventory list of what we started with, counted it all down at the end. It gave us a pretty good idea of what we needed to purchase for the next one. We ask that no one bring food in since the concession funds are used to cover the cost of our license. There is no fee to watch the movie.
Also, we sell for the 30 minutes before show time and take about a 10 minute intermission to sell in the "middle" of the movie. That way you don't have kids getting up and roaming as frequently during the show. Since we're on the floor in the gym, this is important. It also allows the concession helpers to get it all down and put away by the time their kids are done watching the movie. Then it only takes a few minutes after the show to pick up the trash and sweep up the floor.
"And lastly - another tip... We would get a laundry basket and fill with bags of popcorn and bags of cotton candy and go into the movie room and sell that way. Just like at the ballgames - bring the food to people and they will buy it.
Oh and another big seller are glow necklaces. We buy them on ebay and sell them for $2 each. Take these into the dark movie room and kids are begging to have one. We have never had any left over."
My reply doesn't answer the original question of how much food to plan for...but we've held MANY movie nights and have certainly learned along the way. Here's some of our tips to make things run smoothly. Maybe they will help you as well.
We set up our "concession stand" outside of a classroom....so the classroom is our storage area for most of the food (popcorn popper, crock pots of nacho cheese and hot dogs, extra candy, etc.) Outside of the door - we place 4 long tables in a "C" shape so the classroom door is blocked off to the customers and the volunteers are inside the tables (hopefully that makes sense). We have 4 lines. Each line has an order taker and an order filler. We have other volunteers in the classroom filling popcorn bags, making nachos and hot dogs, etc. On the table we have the candy well-displayed and inside the square of tables are big coolers of iced-down canned drinks. We have large posters of all menu items with prices displayed on the walls behind the tables. So that's the set up.
Now...as a customer approaches the table, hopefully, they know what they want. The order taker literally takes the customers order on a menu sheet - it looks like the one below (I print this 4-up on a page - you can customize with your menu items). This makes it easy for the order taker to keep up with large orders and to tally up the price. The order taker takes the money, then hands the menu sheet to their designated runner who fills the order. Meanwhile, the order taker can take the next order. The runner brings back the food and gives to the customer. Everything is written down, so there's no discrepancies. And with 4 lines going (more if you have the room and volunteers), then people get through the lines quicker. (Also - I liked the menu sheets because us volunteers would write our name at the top of a sheet and use it as a running tab for our family - every time my kid came up to get more food, I would check the appropriate item, then at the end of the night pay at one time. It was awesome - all the volunteers would do this so we didn't have to stop and pay for our kids stuff)
And on the popcorn - somebody already posted this...but seriously, prepop as much as you can - you can bag it up, staple the top and it's fine to serve later. You will not regret doing this. Also, if you don't have a popcorn machine - you can always purchase the mini-bags of microwave popcorn (very cheap at sam's or wal-mart) and pop it that way. Get a couple microwaves going and pop away. Don't open the bags, just sell that way. It's awesome - not as profitable, but works great - we do this at the baseball concession stand.
And lastly - another tip... We would get a laundry basket and fill with bags of popcorn and bags of cotton candy and go into the movie room and sell that way. Just like at the ballgames - bring the food to people and they will buy it.
Oh and another big seller are glow necklaces. We buy them on ebay and sell them for $2 each. Take these into the dark movie room and kids are begging to have one. We have never had any left over.
Hope these tips help someone. We're gearing up for our next movie night in which we are showing "Cars". And yes...we have our license, too [img]smile.gif[/img]
Concession Stand Order
Pizza ___ X $1.50 = _____
Popcorn ___ X $1.00 = _____
Cotton
Candy ___ X $2.00 = _____
Drinks ___ X 50¢ = _____
Cookies ___ X 50¢ = _____
Candy ___ X 50¢ = _____
Candy ___ X $1.00 = _____
Oh, and another thing on tickets.. we have a table just for FOOD tickets.. where people purchase food tickets. That way, one table is handling money, and the food handlers only haveto take a ticket for a box of popcorn or a drink. We use separate color tickets for drinks and popcorn.
