A New Take on Fundraising with Outdoor Movies

The FunFlicks National office has been very busy this winter and has developed a couple of amazing programs and partnerships.  One is the www.fundmyoutdoormovie.com school fundraiser.

Fundraising

Having seen school struggle with fundraising Darrell and Laura put their heads together and developed an event based fundraising program with Swank Motion Pictures (a company that provides licencing for movies).  Originally designed for schools, they have seen sports leagues and non-profits shown great enthusiasm for the program.

How it works 

• Sign Up

• Share Your students connect with friends, family & sponsors to raise money for your program

Students share a link to their personalized fundraising web page

Friends, family & sponsors donate funds towards your school’s outdoor movie night

Track your overall progress through the custom school fundraising page we provide

• Enjoy! Pick a date for your movie night and invite all of your students and supporters to attend

FunFlicks provides EVERYTHING for your movie night (including the movie licensing)

Sell concessions at your movie night to raise even more money!

• Celebrate! Announce your fundraising results before your movie starts!

Advertise big donors on our big screen!

Here is a great video showing how the program works.

I think it's a great program, Darrel and Laura have created a wonderful program to enable schools, sports leagues and non-profits to make money with movies and fund their outdoor movie night.

Happy Fundraising

Paul the Outdoor Movie Guy

FunFlicks is a sponsor for National Night Out

We are proud to announce that FunFlicks is one of the sponsors for this year National Night Out. 

National Night Out is the largest neighborhood event in the nation with over 37.8 million neighbors across 16,124 communities. This years event is, Tuesday August 5th. 

Visit the National Night Out website to find out more information and to register your neighborhood.  You can also find them on Facebook.

Thanks
Paul the Outdoor Movie Guy

Oscar Party Planning Guide

The nominees have been selected, now it's time to plan your Oscar party.

Oscar Party Planning Guide

Get the Invites Out

Invite people to your Oscar party.  Speed up the process by using an online service like Evite or create a Facebook event.  Evite has some fun Oscar Party Invites.

Make an Entrance

Every Oscar party should have a red carpet, have your guests dress the part in formal wear.  No red carpet is complete without a photographer and backdrop.  Your guests will love it, plus you will have some cool photos to remember your event.

Food and Drinks

Pull out the elegant glassware and have classy cocktails with hors D'oeuvres.

Fun and Games 

An Oscar party would not be complete without some fun games.  Have your guest fill out a ballot when they arrive and place in a ballot box.  You can get your ballot on the Oscar Website  At the end of the night see who wins.  Have a movie related prize for the winner or even a mini Oscar.

Oscar bingo is great fun, your guests are each provided with a bingo card, pen and clipboard.  On the Bingo cards possible actions that may happen on TV are described... "Actor thanks the Academy", "Actor cries" or "Frozen wins an award". As the Oscars unfold you cross of actions.  Five in a row wins.  Here are some Oscar bingo cards to download.

Swag Bag

No Hollywood party would be complete without a fancy swag bag with the latest products.  If you have friends with home businesses like Plexus or MaryKay ask for samples to place in the swag bag.

Viewing

Make your viewing area comfortable.  Have places for guests to rest drinks and bingo cards.  If you want it on the big screen, Contact FunFlicks to bring the big screen to you, make sure to check the locations you plan to have a screen have some way of connecting to your TV feed.  On the West coast, if you plan on doing it outside, remember that it is still light when the Oscars start.

And the winner is?

You and your friends

Cheers,

Paul

Superbowl Party Planning Guide

One of our friends in Washington hosted an amazing football party.  Yes, that is 2 screens, one for the game and one for Fantasy Football stats.  Taking the Man Cave outside!

A Quick Super Bowl Planning Guide

Get the Invites Out
Invite people to your Super Bowl party.  Speed up the process by using an online service like Evite or create a Facebook event.  Evite has some fun Big Game invitations.

Food
Make it easy, everyone loves a potluck!  Many people have their own "family dip".  Here's one that gets rave reviews at our parties, Mississippi Sin Dip.  Get an idea what each person is bringing in your RSVP,  then when you get the "What can I bring" question, you can guide them to something you don't have.

Beer and drink
Supplying the drinks can be very expensive.  Make it a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle).  Don't forget to have a sharpie available or, if you are crafty, make these stickers like these to mark those cups and bottles

Fun and Games
Superbowl Pool (betting squares), Trivia,  player name drinking games and even some Maden.  Just remember "Gambling is illegal at Bushwood sir" and also in some States.

Decorate
Team colored balloons, crepe paper and mascots make for a festive display.  Don't forget football shaped plates, a tablecloth and coordinating napkins.  For more fun, check out these other over the top football items.

Viewing
Depending on your space, have the game showing in different locations.
BEFORE game day check all locations you plan to have a screen have some way of connecting to your TV feed.  On the West coast, if you plan on doing it outside, remember that it is still light when the game starts and you will not get an image on the screen until around half-time.
A stats screen is a great addition to your main viewing area.  You can use ESPN.com NFL gamecast on a laptop, tablet or web enabled device connected to a larger screen.

Puppy Bowl?
If children are present, think about showing the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet in a separate room.

Commercials
Some of the best TV commercials and special effects are used in the Super Bowl ads.  Get interactive and create ballots to vote on the best commercials. Keep the sound up and enjoy.

Cleanup
Make cleanup easy!  Use paper plates, cups and tablecloths. Put a trash can in each room\area and label recycling, compost, trash etc.

Cake
If you love to bake don't forget a fun themed cake or cupcakes.  Type football cupcakes or cake into Pinterest for more ideas than you will know what to do with!

Have Fun!

Cheers,
Paul

Project 365 - A Photo a Day

It's that time of year when many make resolutions and promises for the New Year.

Last year I even managed to keep a couple, lose weight and start a Blog about one of my passions, Outdoor Movies (which you are reading).

This year I will attempt a Photo-a-day project.  That is, to take, and post, a photo every day.

Why?
1. With both my businesses I get to travel around California and Oregon. This project will help me keep track of the people, places and things I have done during the year.
2.  I love taking photos and I hope this will get me to take more and improve my technique.

When I started thinking about this project, I Googled to see what others have done to succeed:

• Making your intention public (like I am) increases the chance that you will follow-through with the project.  Find groups of people who are doing the same thing (project365 on Flickr)
• Choose a platform to post to and make it easy.  If you take all your photo's with a smart phone, choose a service that you like and use it to post your photos.   If you are constantly on Facebook, create a folder with your images there.
• Blog it, even if it just a couple of words to give your photo context.
• Take your camera with you!

I am looking forward to the challenge!  Eager to get started I chose Christmas Day to begin my journey.

Day 1  - Christmas Dinner

I am storing my photos on Flickr and have joined the project365 group (it's inspiring to see what other people are capturing).  From flickr I will Blog to http://paultheoutdoormovieguy.blogspot.com/

Be it an iPhone, Android, DSLR, point and shoot or GoPro, grab your camera and start to tell your story, one photo at a time.

Cheers
Paul the Outdoor Movie Guy

P.S.  If you are going to attempt the Photo-a-day, let me know how I can follow you.

Documenting Jackie the House Elf - Elf on the Shelf Photo Project

You may have seen the Elf on the Shelf.  Our house has one.  Armed with a vintage Nikon lens (fast lens 1.4), my Canon 60D and a tripod I set myself a photo project for the Holiday.  Document Jackie the House Elf escapades.

I use Lightroom to process the photos, a few images are enhance using HDR Photomatrix Pro.

Here are the first few days.

Enjoy

Paul the Outdoor Movie Guy

Jackie the House Elf is back! He brought the children advent
calendars and looks so innocent... but we know better.

Jackie the House Elf Photo-bomb's a Charlie Brown Christmas

Jackie the house elf wins the sack race

This morning, Jackie the house elf was acting like Godzilla and scaring the villagers

Jackie the House Elf enjoying his favorite sport of bareback reindeer trick riding

Jackie the house Elf scores a triple word score with MISTLETOE

Looks like Jackie the House Elf and Red had a date last night!

Jackie the House Elf hit the slopes last night

Jackie the House Elf and Red found the mistletoe

Jackie the House Elf taunts the family dog!

Jackie the House Elf gets captured by the dogs Lego hit-men "Don't mess with my bone!"

Jackie the house Elf took a night off from mischief to have a nice relaxing marshmallow bath!

Jackie the House Elf goes Zip-lining, the Angel is not amused!

Jackie the House Elf gets in a quick 9 "Fore!"

Jackie the House Elf was up all night playing "Little Big Planet"

Jackie the House Elf added a decoration to the tree

Jackie the House Elf with a front-side air in the Kitchen Bowl!

Jackie the House Elf "came in like a wrecking ball"

Jackie the House Elf loves a good game of Twister

Jackie the House Elf and friends toasting marshmallows at a camp out

Jackie the House Elf high dives into 2 inches of water

Jackie the House Elf knitting up a Christmas sweater

Jackie the House Elf wrapped the TV remotes

Jackie the House Elf made a huge mess last night with his attempt to bake cookies!

See you next year Jackie!

Winter Movie Night Top Tips

An Outdoor Movie Night in the winter can be great fun.  The nip in the air really adds to the Holiday feeling of your movie.  Wrap up warm and follow these great tips

1. Have your party guests bring sleeping bags, warm jackets and hoodies
2. Have a basket of blankets that guests can grab (personalized blankets make a great gift for corporate events)
3. Place a large tarp on the ground to help guests stay dry
4. Blow up air matressess for kids to lounge on
5. Have a fire-pit or outdoor heater to warm your hands by
6. Put up a pop-up tent for guests to sit under and stay dry
7. Have hand warmers on "hand" HeatMax Hot Hands 2 Handwarmer (40 Pairs)
8. Have a basket full of inexpensive knit gloves
9. Have a basket of scarves.  Fleece scarves can be easily made by purchasing some fleece and cutting it in strips (try movie or sports themed fleece)
10. Plan on warming "comfort foods."  A crock-pot full of Chili, soup or stew, gooey mac and cheese or a baked potato bar with all the fixings.    
11. Skip the ice cream and roast marshmallows 
12. Have plenty of hot chocolate available (and maybe a hot toddy for the adults!)

Happy Holidays
Paul