By the second week of any school holidays, every Perth parent is running low on ideas and high on screen-time guilt. Here is one that solves both: a proper backyard movie day. Not the iPad on the couch, but a big cinema screen in the yard, a few of the neighbourhood kids over, bean bags and popcorn, and an afternoon-into-evening that costs a fraction of a day out at a theme park or the movies. It is the low-effort holiday win, because we bring and run everything, and it turns an ordinary day into the one the kids talk about. Here is how.
Why It Beats Another Day Out
A day out for a few kids adds up fast, tickets, food, parking, the drive, and it is over in a few hours with a carpark meltdown at the end. A backyard movie day is the opposite: everyone comes to you, there is no driving, no time limit, and the cost is a fixed hire rather than a per-head ticket that climbs with every extra kid. It also fills a whole afternoon and evening rather than a couple of hours, and because the screen does the entertaining once it is on, you are not inventing the next activity every twenty minutes. For the summer holidays especially, when the days are long and hot, an evening film in the cool is exactly what a tired group of kids needs.
Three Versions
A Holiday Day Plan
Films That Hold a Group
For a mixed group of holiday kids, pick broad, bright and universally loved rather than anyone's niche favourite. Recent animated hits like The Super Mario Bros. Movie or Minions get instant buy-in; classics like Moana, How to Train Your Dragon and the Paddington films hold every age. For an older tween group, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse looks spectacular big. Pick for the youngest present, because everything feels bigger and louder outdoors at night.
Add-Ons Kids Love
- Bean bags, $11 each. The best single upgrade for a group of kids. They settle in, stop wandering, and the yard becomes a proper cinema lounge. They come in seven colours, arrive clean, and delivery is free with a screen, which suits a holiday crowd.
- Party Pack, $250 for 48 hours. If the movie day is also a birthday or a special occasion, smoke, bubbles and UV lift it into an event. The bubble machine is a guaranteed hit.
- A popcorn station. The single cheapest way to make it feel like a real cinema.
Screen and Seating
For a backyard group of up to thirty, the 3m inflatable screen from $280 is the right size and fits almost any Perth yard, including projector, PA, delivery, setup and pack-down. A bigger neighbourhood event in a park steps up to the 5m from $600. See every screen size on the cinema hire page. If you are pooling with other families, splitting a single hire across the group makes the per-family cost tiny.
Booking and Weather
Summer holiday weather in Perth is about as reliable as it gets, hot, dry and settled, so an evening screening rarely gets rained off. Heat is the bigger factor, which is exactly why the after-dusk slot works so well. The 3m screen also fits under most patios if you want a guaranteed backup. Because the summer holidays are peak season, weekend dates fill early, so if you are planning a set day, especially a group one, book the screen ahead. My weather policy covers the wet-weather plan.
Planning a holiday movie day?
Tell me how many kids, your suburb and a rough date, and I will sort the screen, the bean bags and an all-in price. Pool it with a few families and it costs almost nothing each.
What Every Hire Includes
Whichever screen you choose, the price is all-inclusive: the screen, a matched projector, a professional PA, all cabling, delivery, setup and pack-down. For a small holiday group the 3m is ready in about half an hour, and the larger community screens take a little longer but arrive fully operated.
What you supply
Hosts bring only the space, a power point and a device with the film. We handle all the technical work from delivery to running the show. A silent battery inverter covers sites where power is a long way off, so only the film makes noise. Our screen size guide helps you pick a screen for the number of kids coming.
What to Expect on the Day
We deliver, set up and test the gear before your holiday event starts, then pack down once the film ends, so you can watch with the kids. Our team needs about half an hour for the 3m screen, and operates the larger community screens throughout.
What you supply, what we bring
Your part is the space, a power point and a device carrying the film. Our part is the screen, projector, professional PA, cabling, delivery and setup. Bean bags or the Party Pack make the afternoon feel bigger for the kids, and a silent battery inverter helps when power is far from the seating.
How a Community Event Runs
For a larger holiday programme, our crew delivers, sets up and fully operates the 5m or 8m screen from start to finish, so volunteers can mind the kids and the canteen instead of cables. We arrive early, run a PA check across the whole space and pack down at the end.
What the venue needs
The site needs flat ground for the screen and seating, plus power access, or we bring a silent battery inverter for ovals and parks. A holiday screening that is public or ticketed also needs a screening licence, which we help you organise well in advance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Planning a School or Community Screening in Perth
Many Perth schools hold a movie night to close the year or raise money for the P&C, and the format covers both goals together. For a holiday programme on school grounds, the 5m community screen suits crowds up to around 300 and the 8m suits whole-school events up to 1,200, each fully operated by our team. Schools most often overlook the screening licence, which any public or ticketed event requires.
Our school fundraiser guide covers ticket pricing through to the run sheet, and the schools and community page lists the full range. Send your crowd size and venue through the contact page and we will pick the screen and arrange the licence.