Take the family night outside

There’s no reason why a backyard movie screening can’t lean toward SpongeBob SquarePants instead of Paris Hilton.

Partners Carl and Terry Haley combine their son’s love for movies with their love for a good party by frequently throwing outdoor screenings for friends in their Toluca Lake backyard.

The couple, schoolteachers and movie aficionados, started these family-oriented movie nights a few years ago when their son was in preschool. As their circle of FWKs (Friends With Kids) grows, so too do the parties — and if tonight’s feature presentation is any indication, they are as much a hit with parents as with kids.

“They do it up really well,” says friend Helene Goldsen, taking a break from helping her son Brenner, 7, fill a squirt gun. “Brenner loves it so much, we’re doing our own.”

The Haleys were inspired by a couple of movie nights at their son’s school.

“It is such a great way to get your friends together with the kids,” says Carl, who usually works the barbecue while Terry takes charge of the projection.

The Haleys’ title selections lean toward the eclectic and the campy. Tonight’s film is the original 1960s tale of Herbie, “The Love Bug.” Lindsay Lohan, to many parents’ relief, is nowhere in sight.

Before the opening credits roll, children run through the house, burning off steam. Gleeful cries erupt from manic 6- and 7-year-olds, including one boy who yells “Movies!” as he tries to tackle a taller girl skipping ahead.

By the time the sun slips behind the hills, the din of child’s play and conversation dies down. The crowd settles into fold-up chairs, candy-colored beanbags and wool blankets fanned out across a patch of lawn. The projector is switched on, and an audience clown makes shadow puppets in the light shining on the screen — a white sheet hung from a pergola, the effect invitingly homespun.

No annoying commercials, no pre-show pleas for silence during the film. Instead, the crowd is shushed by the flash of the first image, a little PowerPoint message from Carl: “Diapers may be changed in theatre.” Parents giggle.

Herbie appears on screen. The kids love the film. The Haleys’ backyard begins to feel like an old-time drive-in.

Terry’s parting tips: Give the projector a trial run the night before the party. Decide in advance where partygoers will sit, and run cords out of the way, so no one will trip. And, finally, don’t forget the popcorn. “For some reason, popcorn is what people remember. Buy a big bag.”