Outdoor Movie Night in a Small Garden
On Fridays and Sundays, we typically like to do movie nights as a family here at home.
I’m not a big fan of staying inside huddled around a screen— especially since we live in SoCal, where the weather is usually gorgeous, and something is always in bloom. So this weekend we decided to try outdoor movie night.
It only took a few minutes to set up, and worked wonderfully.
We didn’t need any special furnishings or equipment. We simply placed our vintage, folding outdoor table (which we also use for pop-up dining, crafts, and for offering refreshments outdoors when hosting,) on the back stoop, and topped it with my work iMac.
We’ve been meaning to mail this desktop computer off to a family member, as discussed in this post about our recent home-office modifications, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet. It’s been sitting on the floor of our closet in the meantime, so this was the perfect way to put it to continued use.
We lit a non-toxic mosquito repellent stick nearby, and it kept the bugs at bay. I really like this particular product, because it doesn’t have the overwhelming (often stomach-turning) smell that most other sticks and candles have, and yet it works. We only need 1 to cover our back garden and attached bedroom.
I wore a full-length medium-weight hoodie from Garnet Hill for extra protection from the mosquitos since I can’t sit still for the length of a movie and end up darting around the property. West and Adam curled up under a blanket as it got cooler. (No bug bites!)
Our usual stack of outdoor pillows kept us cozy on our custom couch, which was made from reclaimed materials by Tumbleweed & Dandelion here in Venice.
We watched episodes of “Sarah & Duck” and ate popcorn and veggies. To serve the snacks, we used our PlanetBox and shared a stainless steel insulated cup that works just as well for pre-schoolers as it does for adults.
Desktop computer or not, we’ll be doing this far more often now that we now how simple and delightful it can be.
