How to Throw an Outdoor Movie Party

“Anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel. I doubt anybody would miss you.” — Melvin “Mel” Horowitz. My husband loves to use this Clueless phrase constantly! It’s one of the best!  Get pumped for the 90’s ya’ll cause we are about to throw a super fun Clueless themed party!

If you need outdoor movie night ideas, too, you’ll want to keep reading because we turned this Clueless party into a fun backyard movie night birthday party! This movie night outside with yellow and plaid party decor turned out incredible!

I’ll also share some inspiration for creating modern Cher and Dionne outfits! I also feature Tai Clueless outfits, too!

IMPORTANT! I link a lot of video demo’s below so you can see what things really look like in real life! So read carefully!

Our daughter has a summer birthday and it’s always fun to throw her birthday. We once threw her adorable kitty themed party and a science themed party when she was young. We also often throw holiday Favorite Things parties, too. It was a blast to throw this party for her as a teenager!

She and her teenaged friends love the movie Clueless. So we threw an outdoor movie, Clueless themed party!

Here’s everything you need to throw an amazing outdoor movie party – ours was yellow plaid themed in honor of Cher’s signature outfit, and everything was decorated for the 90’s theme movie – I mean, “As If!” But I made sure that Cher and Dionne outfits were the inspiration behind the party. 

Watch the videos before to see all the things in full review and detail!

No one can mention Clueless without proclaiming “Ugh! As If” So we made that famous Clueless quote the main decoration statement for the party area.

I used fishing line and command strips to hang the oversized letter balloons from the ceiling, big, bold balloons were a huge hit! We added in some sparkling lights to make the backdrop come to life!

We also added yellow and black balloons all over the main party space, including balloon garland around the movie screen.

But the most fun thing we did was to used oversized balloons all around the outdoor movie theater! Buy really, really big balloons for the biggest impact! Tie them to a strand, and use a weight to ground them and keep them from floating away. We tied plaid ribbon to the base of the balloon for the finishing effect to the balloons.

Cher also wasn’t the only one to wear plaid. Both Cher and Dionne outfits featured plaid. Dion wore black and white check. So both red plaid and yellow plaid ribbon was used as the accent ribbon on the balloons.

Tip: The bonus of using oversized balloons is that they can easily be moved around! So if you have a party that changes locations (like from the backyard to the pool) you can grab them and easily relocate them and save money on party decorations!

In most birthday parties, the cake can be the place to bring a birthday theme come to life! While I love cakes, I find cupcakes the easiest for serving a large group of girls. We have a local baker who can create extraordinary fondant cupcake toppers.

She needed no prompting on what to design for the Clueless birthday cupcakes! She came up with the most adorable designs featuring Cher, lots of yellow and plaid and cute phrases.

But if you’re going to DIY Clueless birthday cake topper route or need Clueless birthday cupcake toppers, I found these fun toothpicks for cupcakes and this cake topper.

While I went with budget friendly yellow plastic plate set that comes with silverware, cups and napkins. It’s a great bargain for any party!

For our movie night in the backyard, we set up a big card table full of snacks for our movie night outside so the girls could help themselves throughout the movie. Movie theater candy was set out, and I made these fun stickers that I put on black popcorn boxes.

I made stickers for Clueless party decorations designs on Canva. The same design was used on the party gifts, too so there was fun consistency in the graphic!

To match the Clueless party decorations, have the birthday kid wear clothes inspired by Cher and Dionne outfits!

Here are some modern Clueless themed outfits they could wear. These aren’t straight boring Clueless costumes, they are individual pieces so you can pick and choose how much or little you want to dress up like the characters! Two different Tai from Clueless looks are included – the original and the “glammed up” version!

Cher Outfit

Skirt | Top | Stockings | Shoes | Phone | Earrings | Notebook

Dionne Outfit

Skirt | Top | Vest | Stockings | Shoes | Hat

Tai Outfit

Skirt | Cardigan | Stockings | Ballet Flats | Flannel | T-Shirt | Brown Jeans | Doc Martens

When you’re throwing a movie night outside you need movie setup ideas. This is the inflatable outdoor movie screen we use – and we love it! I’ve tried a few outdoor screens and nothing makes the same impact as this giant inflatable movie screen! The size is gigantic! It does have a blower so it can be loud, but if you crank the speakers it’s totally fine.

The bonus of this screen for a movie night outside is you can see it from both sides (one side is just obviously flipped) so if you’re having a big gathering where mingling is involved, you can see the movie from both sides!

Watch video demo of blowup movie screen!

We use a pretty powerful projector that my husband spent way too much on, but my sister uses this affordable movie projector and has just as great of luck, plus it gets thousands of five star reviews. I find that movie night in the backyard don’t have to be the highest of quality – the atmosphere and novelty of being outside is what makes it special!

To play the movie, we use the Amazon Firestick and our laptop to connect and we don’t hook up any other speakers. The one in our projector is more than sufficient.

I love, love, love lighting because good lighting can absolutely set the mood. I set up cafe lights that run on battery packs so no wires or electrical wires are needed. These are my favorite go to lights for outdoor parties. Movie night in the backyard are made special with great lighting.

I se these cafe poles to set them up. You can watch a video review of the poles here.

Watch video review of cafe lights I use here!

Another lighting favorite are these Govee Colorful lights (that do need to be plugged in) but they run with the use of an App so they are very customizable. You can change the colors, the flashing cycle and they just an all around fun addition to my party supplies!

Watch video of the color cafe lights here.

Using cafe lights as backyard party decor is just the best – and it’s party decor you can use all summer so it’s worth investing in!

Also, watch video of the poles I use to hang them here.

For the outdoor movie seating, we used blowup mattresses and some bean bags I already had. Then I put our outdoor chairs around the back for those who preferred to sit in a chair with a back and be a bit higher.

Using blow up mattresses made for fun girl time. Plus, we already had these (I keep them for sleepovers!) so it was a cost saving way to seat the guests.

This is where the real Clueless themed party starts…the decorating! The character Cher is most known for her yellow and black plaid skirt and vest. So the entire party was centered around the yellow plaid theme!

We also made sure to use plaid to match Cher and Dionne outfits – black and white was used for Dionne, yellow for Cher.

You can find a ton of cheap plaid party decorations. Here’s what I used:

Movie Theater Seating Blankets: I scattered a bunch of yellow and black scarfs on the mattresses (but they sold out), both to cover up the mattresses and to be used as light summer blankets. The ones I used sold out, but this blanket look perfect!

90s Decor: No 90s party isn’t complete without a giant phone. The Clueless movie poster shows Cher on the phone, so we used a giant blowup one for the cake and gifts table! Watch video demo of what phone looks like!

Tabletop Decor: To keep things simple and affordable, I just used a black tablecloth and added this black and white checked table runner. Then I sat out the yellow plastic plates, the cell phone, some of the yellow checked ribbon and laid out the party gifts. I was just trying to save money here since the balloons took up the bulk of the money! Watch video of my table set up!

Speaking of Clueless themed party gifts…boy did I have fun with these! I found these incredible yellow and black plaid notebooks! The Composition Notebook in itself felt so 90s and the color scheme couldn’t have been more perfect!

Watch video showing what composition notebooks look like!

I went onto Canva to create the sticker design, then had them printed at Office Depot.

As the second part of the party gift, I made pens just like the one Cher used. I just wrapped pencils with small white ribbon, and then cut up a white feather boa and hot glued it to the top! So each girl went home with a notebook and fluffy pen!

The Clueless party decorations were great – but having the take home gift to match was even better!