Lights, camera, action! Check out these ideas for the perfect movie magic themed party

Make your own movie screen by hanging a large white sheet over a fence or a washing line. Place the projector on a table about 5 metres away, depending on the size of the machine.

Tip

Use rugs, blankets, cushions and beanbags to create a comfortable area for guests to lounge around. Consider a director’s chair for the birthday child.

Invitation

Our invitations were made to look like movie tickets, inviting guests to a premiere.

Gifts

Small torches are reminiscent of usherettes and fun to have as the light goes down and the party starts. More take-home gift ideas: sparklers, glam dress-up items like feather boas, or this fun Oscar statue.

Games

Before you start the show, host some movie-related games to get the party started.

Which movie?

Write down some funny or famous movie dialogue and see if the kids can tell you which movie it comes from. Here are some examples:

• “Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.” – Madagascar
• “Are we there yet?” – Shrek
• “To infinity and beyond ...” – Toy Story
• “If I’m not back in 5 minutes, wait longer!” – Ace Ventura, Pet Detective
• “Fish are friends, not food.” – Finding Nemo
• “Look at this. I’m so ticked off that I’m molting.” – Aladdin
• “I can’t wait to be king” – The Lion King

Movie trivia

Make up some movie-related questions. Think of theme songs, famous actors and details from the plot.

Dress up as a movie character

Ask guests to dress up as a movie character, or as someone from the cast of one of your child’s favourite films.

Movie charades

Divide guests into two teams. Each team comes up with the names of 5 movies or TV shows and writes each one on a piece of paper. A representative from the other team picks one, reads the name, but does not show any of her team members. It’s her job to act out the name of the movie for her teammates to guess.

Here’s how it goes:

• First, indicate to your team whether you’re going to mime the title of a movie, (by pretending to crank an old movie camera) or TV show (by drawing a square in the air).
• Next, show how many words are in the title (hold up the number of fingers). To indicate the number of syllables, tap your forearm with the right number of fingers.

Teach your guests some more charades clues:

• “sounds like” – cup your hand around your ear.
• “little word” – bring your thumb and index fingers together. The people guessing will call out “on”,”in”, “the”, “and” etc until they get the right word.
• “longer version of the word” – pretend to stretch an elastic.
• “shorter version of the word”– chop with your hand.
• “close, keep guessing!”– frantically wave hands to keep the guesses coming.

Movie magic party snacks

These snacks are perfect for a Movie Magic themed party. If you are having a movie themed party, you can set out small trays or boxes so that guests can create their own movie-style combo packs from the snacks on offer.

Mini baked potatoes

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 12 baby potatoes, washed
• 4 rashers streaky bacon, diced
• ¼ cup cheddar cheese, grated
• Salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and cook the bacon until crispy. Set aside but keep warm until needed.
3. Gently brush the potatoes with olive oil and a little salt.
4. Line a mini muffin tray with squares of baking paper. Place a potato in each hole. Bake in the oven until soft to the touch but crispy on the outside (about 30 minutes).
5. Cut open the tops of the mini potatoes, stuff with bacon and grated cheese and pop back into the oven to melt the cheese.
6. Serve with bowls of freshly chopped tomato, avocado and cucumber.

Chicken and veggie sausage rolls

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 pack ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1kg chicken and sausage meat
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• ½ red pepper, finely chopped
• 2 baby marrow, finely chopped
• ¼ cup corn
• 1 egg with a little milk, lightly beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. In a bowl, mix together the chicken and sausage meat, onion, red pepper, baby marrow, and corn.
3. Gently roll out the puff pastry onto a floured surface.
4. Cut the pastry sheet in two down the middle.
5. Lay the cut sheets horizontally in front of you and brush the edges with beaten egg.
6. Lay a thick ribbon of the meat mixture in the middle of each piece of pastry lengthways, and then roll up the pastry around the chicken meat.
7. Cut to the desired sausage roll size.
8. Brush with the beaten egg and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Place on a serving platter with homemade tomato sauce in a dipping bowl on the side.
10. These sausage rolls can be kept in the fridge and reheated in the oven.

Homemade tomato sauce

Ingredients

• 1 kg tomatoes, whole
• 2 tbsps olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsps mixed herbs
• 200g tomato paste
• 2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsps brown sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Make a criss-cross incision on the base of each tomato. Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
2. Wait for 5 minutes or until the skin is easily pulled away from the tomatoes.
3. Peel all the tomatoes and finely dice into cubes. Set aside.
4. Place the olive oil into a heated pot and gently fry the onions until soft and translucent.
5. Add the mixed herbs.
6. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Stir well.
7. Cook for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
8. Remove from the stove and cool before storing in a container.
9. If you prefer a smoother consistency, blend in a blender.

Quick fudge

Makes 24

Ingredients

• 100g butter, cubed
• 1 can condensed milk
• 420g castor sugar
• 5ml vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Mix butter, condensed milk, and sugar in a large pot.
2. Place over medium heat and melt.
3. Keep stirring continuously while it bubbles and changes to a caramel colour (20 minutes).
4. Add vanilla essence and stir well.
5. Pour into a greased baking tray and leave to cool for about 5 minutes.
6. Use a sharp knife to cut the semi-set fudge into equal squares while it’s still warm.
7. When it is completely cooled down, recut into squares.
8. Turn your fudge out onto a clean surface and trim the edges to ensure the squares are neat.
9. Store in an airtight container.

Mini doughnut skewers

Serves 30

Ingredients

• 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg or mace
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 egg
• Oil for deep-frying
• 2 cups castor sugar, in a bowl

Instructions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add cooking oil, milk and egg and mix well.
3. Preheat the frying oil in large pot.
4. Drop a small teaspoonful of the mixture into the hot oil.
5. Fry for about three minutes or until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.
6. Roll warm puffs in castor sugar and place on wooden skewers for easy eating.

Tip

Dip the mini doughnuts into melted chocolate and then into hundreds and thousands or different coloured melted chocolate.

Hot chocolate

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 litre milk
• Bowl of broken-up chocolate
• Bowl of marshmallows
• Bowl of chocolate-coated honeycomb
• Bowl of chocolates

Instructions

1. Heat the milk in the microwave for about two minutes until it is steaming hot.
2. Pour into individual cups.
3. Place cups, spoons and bowls of treats onto a tray and let the partygoers mix their own hot chocolate drinks.

Movie magic reel cake

Vanilla sponge

Ingredients

• 270g butter, softened
• 3 cups self raising flour
• 1 ½ cup castor sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 tsps vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Place the butter, self raising fl our, castor sugar, eggs and vanilla essence into a large bowl.
3. Beat all the ingredients together with an electric beater until pale and creamy.
4. Divide the mixture into two round greased baking tins.
5. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Vanilla butter icing

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 3 tbsps milk

Instructions

1. Beat the butter until white.
2. Gradually beat in half the icing sugar.
3. Add milk.
4. Then beat in the other half of icing sugar.
5. Beat until smooth.

Fondant icing

Instructions

1. Divide your store-bought ”plastic” icing into ¾ and ¼ .
2. Colour the ¾ ball with brown gel until desired colour is achieved.
3. Colour the other ¼ ball with black gel until desired colour is achieved.
4. Wrap the coloured balls separately with cling wrap and leave at room temperature until required.

Assembling the reel cake

1. Place one vanilla sponge round on your serving platter.
2. Ice the top with butter icing and sandwich together. Using the rest of the icing, neatly ice the top and side of the sandwiched rounds.
3. Roll out the brown fondant icing on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar.
4. Make sure your rolled circle is big enough to cover the entire cake with about 2cm extra.
5. Gently place the rolled icing over the sponge cake and ensure it’s neatly covered. Trim any excess icing and smooth the edges.
6. Brush lightly with a little water to get rid of loose icing sugar.
7. Roll out the black fondant icing and cut a 20cm diameter circle.
8. Gently place it in the centre of the cake and lightly brush with water.
9. Let the cake dry and set.
10. Decorate with a stripey ribbon, write a message and then place your sparklers (a nice alternative to candles).
11. Light the sparklers and see the magic!

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