Hitchcock "Drive-in" Movie Night

June 23, 2012:  What could be more fun than reminiscing about childhood when summer entailed a trip to the drive-in?  This summer we hosted a "drive-in" movie night featuring the best of concession stand food, and a double feature of Alfred Hitchcock films.  We lucked out too.  No rain and temperatures were a mile 70 degrees.  Also no wind, which is perfect when you need a pull-up movie screen to show movies outdoors in the summer. 

 

Menu:

• Popcorn (purchased popcorn butter and salt to add flavor)  
• Gourmet pizza
• Hot dogs with a variety of gourmet fixin’s
• Modern, flavorful “French”-fries - I took the menu from Cafe Hollander in Milwaukee, and made several of the dipping sauces (Favorite?  Basil Aioli)  
• Dairy Queen ice-cream

Snow cones - purchased kit w/cones, straws and flavoring from Amazon (but I've seen flavoring at Shopko stores as well).  Used a professional margarita and slushy machine to shave the ice. 

Entertainment:

The entertainment was the double-feature movie played at dusk.  It took a little technology know-how to set up but was worth it.  I used my laptop (which plays DVD's), and connected two computer speakers to it, and we used a presentation projector which connects simply with a monitor cable.  The projector we used was an Epson, which has a higher luminosity than some of the less expensive units.  This enabled us to watch old Hitchcock TV shows before dark.  The laptop has a wireless connection, and with our Netflix subscription we could play whatever we wanted easily.  The screen?  It was a borrowed garage sale find for $20!  But screens are available from Best Buy or Amazon for around $99. 

Making it extra fun:

We made sure we put out candles and our most colorful "summertime" linens.  We arranged the furniture on the deck so there wouldn't be a bad seat in the house.  A basket full of blankets was stashed nearby for after the sun went down.  (Just prior to guests arriving, we took care of blood sucking pests by fogging the yard.)

Guests went home with movie candy and a commemorative can coozie - featuring scenes and famous lines from the films we watched.  Even though the party broke up after midnight... it was worth it.  Summer is the time, as a kid, we were allowed to stay up past our bedtime - and this party made it feel that we could get away with that special privilege.