One of the biggest challenges of being cooped up at home is not spending quality time with friends. While waiting for the outside world to be safer, there are plenty of ways to still have a fun time with the gang over a video call!
All it takes is a bit of creativity and a lot of enthusiasm from your friend group. With a good movie and even better company, a virtual movie night will be as unforgettable as a physical one.
Fresh Ideas to Enhance Your Evening
There are several ways to amp up the virtual bonding experience. Since it’s all online, you also have more ways to make it more interesting for you and your friends.
1. Level up the food!
Even if you are by yourself at home, you shouldn’t skimp on the food! Prepare a good meal that’s fit for a party. Just think: the upside to having your movie night fully virtual is that you don’t have to make food for others.
Popcorn is a staple for every movie viewing. Don’t go with the usual old flavors next time by applying this pro-tip: sprinkle hatch red chili salt to add a sweet and mildly spicy kick to your snack. The salt works well with Bloody Mary, too, if you’re up for some drinks.
You also don’t need to have just popcorn to munch on. There are loads of fun recipes to try at home that will diversify your finger food assortment for virtual movie night.
2. Bring the cinema to your living room.
It isn’t always so fun watching a movie from a shared screen over a Zoom call. Set up a projector in front of your couch for a full cinema experience. Feel free to decorate it, too, with curtains and mood lights to replicate the movie house setting.
Wondering how else to sync the movie you’re watching without sharing someone’s screen? Several apps and browser extensions make that possible. You can also do it manually by simply setting an exact time to press “play” on your chosen movie.
3. Choose a film everyone wants to watch.
Everyone has different tastes in movies. But while it is difficult to find one movie that will be exactly to everyone’s taste, it makes for a more enjoyable time when every person is interested in what you’re watching.
To make sure you get the right movie, discuss it first with your friends. What kind of movies does every person gravitate towards? Do you want something lighthearted, cerebral, or nostalgic? This will let you know what kind of movie you should choose.
It may also be a good idea to have a pool of agreed-upon movies that you draw lots from weekly. It keeps everyone excited and adds an extra element of fun.
4. Play an online quiz game.
A challenge always makes people pay attention! Put someone in charge of the trivia quiz so that they can prepare questions ahead of time. It will be better if the assigned person has seen or is already familiar with the movie beforehand.
There are several free quiz apps and websites that allow people to join in remotely. All you need is the help of some share-screen capabilities and a mobile device, and you are all set for a post-movie trivia challenge.
5. Put your creativity to work with some costumes.
Virtual movie night can be much more exciting if you all dress up for the night. You can go with a standard pajama party getup, but how about kicking it up a notch? Have people come in as characters from the movie you see to immerse yourselves all the more in the theme of the night.
Since it’s over a video call, you can make full use not just of your actual costumes but also virtual backgrounds and filters. You can also turn it into a contest to make sure that people bring their A-game to the costume challenge.
6. Have a discussion.
You can’t have a movie night without capping it off with some conversations with your friends! After all the fun activities, take some time to sit in the conference call and throw around your thoughts, questions, or even memories about the film. You’d be surprised at the quality of discussions you can get out of watching a good movie!
Taking some time to speak with friends at the end of the night allows you to feel closer to each other despite the distance. These bonding moments are sometimes all you need to recharge and be ready for what the next day will bring.
