With Fall coming to the Rose house in Minnesota, we decided to do something super fun—how ’bout a weekly outdoor movie night for our neighborhood on the big screen! 

When my wife first proposed the idea she was initially thinking of just inviting a few neighborhood families to sit around in our driveway around a small projector and screen, or even just casting the movie on the garage door. When I started kickin’ the idea around in my head I thought, “Man, we’ve got too many friends to invite…our little driveway is gonna be too small.”

So I walked to the front yard and gazed across both mine and my neighbors connecting yards and thought, “Man, this is perfect!” But then I thought, “Why limit this to just our friends? Why not invite ALL our neighbors?!” 

So, after purchasing a 20 foot blow-up screen, an 8500 lumen projector, and a 6 gallon popcorn machine, and obtaining a city permit, we are hosting this crazy outdoor neighborhood movie night every Tuesday starting Sept, 14th right out on the street in front of our house! 

We are inviting folks to bring their own lawn chairs, blankets, and whatever else they want to make themselves conformable with, and to sit back and enjoy the weekly shows! Popcorn and drinks provided, and maybe some snacks as well. We’ve even thought of serving some chili and getting our fire pit going once the temperature drops a little. The shows will start a few minutes after sunset. 

I’ve made some fliers to pass around the neighbor and hope to knock on some doors the week and do some personal invites. We’d love to see the whole street filled up with folks! I’ve asked folks to RSVP just so we can have a rough head count to know how much popcorn to pop, but walkups are totally welcome too.  

 For the movie nights, we decided on going through “The Chosen” series. This is a two-season television drama based on the life of Jesus as recorded in the Bible. It is the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus, and season one was the highest crowd-funded TV series or film project of all time. The series portrays Jesus through the eyes of those who met him.

What we like about this series is that finally someone made some film about Jesus that isn’t preachy or cheezy! I’m sure that the past movies were well intended, but apart from Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” (which may not be suitable for all ages for a family movie night), the former attempts have either been casted poorly, funded poorly, or unrelatable. The Chosen is directed very well, the actors are real and believable, it is updated to be relevant to the time, and it makes for a encouraging and uplifting family viewing experience.  

We are going to try to view both seasons, watching 1-2 episodes each Tuesday, unless the wind or cold weather prevents us. 

So, that’s a fun little family update from the Rose’s. If you are local, come out and join us for some Fall flicks in front of our house!