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. Seven colours, delivered clean, free delivery with a screen.
- 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. The full range is 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. The 3m sets up in about half an hour; the larger community screens take a little longer and come fully operated.
What you supply
Just the space, a power point and the film through your own device. Everything technical is ours to bring, set up and run. For sites where power is a walk away, the silent battery inverter keeps the only sound the film itself. Our screen size guide helps you match the screen to your crowd.
What to Expect on the Day
We deliver, set up and test everything before your event, then pack down after, so the night runs itself. The 3m screen takes about half an hour to set up, and the larger community screens come fully operated by our team.
What you supply, what we bring
You supply the space, a power point and the film through your own device. We bring the screen, projector, professional PA, cabling, delivery and setup. Add bean bags or the Party Pack to lift the night, and ask about the silent battery inverter where power is far from the seating.
How a Community Event Runs
Our team delivers, sets up and fully operates the 5m or 8m screen for the whole event, so your volunteers can focus on the crowd, the food stall or the fundraiser rather than the gear. We arrive early, test the PA across the space, and pack down after.
What the venue needs
A flat area for the screen and seating, and access to power, or we bring a silent battery inverter for ovals and parks. Public or ticketed events also need a screening licence, which we help you arrange well before the night.
Frequently Asked Questions
Planning a School or Community Screening in Perth
Most Perth schools run a movie night as an end-of-year event or a P&C fundraiser, and the format does both jobs at once. The 5m community screen suits most single-school crowds up to around 300, while the 8m covers whole-school events up to 1,200, both fully operated by our team. The one thing schools miss is the screening licence, which any public or ticketed event needs.
For the full method, from ticket pricing to the run sheet, see our school fundraiser guide and the schools and community page. Tell us your crowd and your oval on the contact page and we will match the screen and sort the licence.