Cars Movie Night

Ka-chow! Start your engines and get ready for a fun and memorable Cars movie night with our easy and fun party ideas, delicious recipes, complete menu, and free printables.

This party was featured on “Catch my Party” as party of the day on April 27, 2022. You can view it here using this link.

About Cars

Cars is an absolute classic and is loved by many for good reason. While traveling to California for the Piston Cup Championship, Lightning McQueen finds himself in a run-down town called Radiator Springs. Through the friends he meets, he discovers that relationships matter more than riches and fame.

We had a fabulous time putting together a movie night filled with fun details. This theme also makes a perfect birthday party theme.

the Tablescape & Decor

This tablescape was so much fun to put together! The color scheme was inspired by Radiator Springs – rusty red, mustard yellow, and orange from the southwestern desert, turquoise from Flo’s V-8 Cafe, and black & white check reminiscent of racing flags.

We love the vintage vibe of Radiator Springs and enjoyed using decor elements from an earlier era when the city was in its prime such as retro place settings, vinyl record cake plates, and old fashioned glass coca-cola bottles.

There are so many fun details in Cars! We share shopping links below for the products we used including the custom decor created by Bring Home Magic.

For our place settings we mixed turquoise and yellow Gibson Home Plaza Cafe dinnerware. This dinnerware has a cute retro look and reminds me of Fiestaware but is quite affordable. You can shop for the dinnerware on Amazon but it is also available at Wal-Mart.

The place settings were centered on simple round yellow placemats and were paired with turquoise handled retro flatware by Annova. An old fashioned soda fountain glass with a Flo’s V8 stir stick rounded out each setting.

The Route 66 napkin rings by Bring Home Magic were one of my favorite elements of the table. We used black and white check napkins that matched our table runner.

We created two cake plates using simple mini construction cones from Hobby Lobby and my Duke Ellington vintage vinyls. To make them we placed a canning jar ring over the cone and traced around it. Then we cut along the line with a utility knife and sturdy scissors. To finish them we simply set the vinyl on top of the bottom portion of the cone and set the top portion of the cone on top. They were fun and easy to make and added such a cute touch to our dessert table.

We created custom Radiator Springs oil cans and enjoyed using them in our decor. We’re offering this free printable to our readers. Simply print at full scale, cut out and tape around a vegetable or soup can. Download them here.

We created a casual table centerpiece using an antique white tiered tray. We showcased a two-layer wooden “Rust-eze” sign created by Bring Home Magic. Potted artificial succulents and wooden beads from Michaels and a Route 66 potted succulent from Dollar General completed the centerpiece. We also created some oil cans inspired by the film with custom printables that we wrapped around aluminum vegetable cans. These were easy to make and added fun details to the table.

We decorated our dessert table with a rust colored tablecloth, rustic wooden crates, desert inspired plants, and custom oil cans inspired by the film. My favorite element of the dessert table was this beautiful three layer wooden “Welcome to Radiator Springs” sign created by Bring Home Magic.

The Menu

Our menu was inspired by our favorite Cars characters. The treats are all simple to create and so much fun to serve. Get our recipes below.

Sally's Cozy Cones filled with Mac & Cheese

served with Mater's sweet tater fries

If you’ve visited Cars Land in Disneyland you are probably familiar with the Cozy Cone filled with bacon mac & cheese. Unfortunately this treat isn’t offered elsewhere so we decided to create an easy recipe that could be recreated at home. Get our recipe here.

Cozy cones are the ultimate comfort food. Flaky and buttery puff pastry holds creamy mac & cheese with bacon. These cones take just 30 minutes to make and use only four ingredients: puff pastry, egg, your favorite mac & cheese, and bacon bits. They’re delicious, fun to eat, and a great dish to serve for a movie night or party.

Ramone's sweet & salty Popcorn cones

We love Ramone and wanted to offer a stylish snack on our treat buffet. We filled custom purple and gold flame popcorn cones with a mix of cheese and caramel popcorn. This treat is perfect for movie night!

Filmore's Organic "Flower Power" Fruit

We’ve got some groovy flower treats to share! These “flower power” treats are made of pineapple cut into flower shapes with halved blackberry centers and kiwi stems and leaves. They are easy to make and so fun to eat {and healthy.}

Flo's Neapolitan milkShake

This Neapolitan milkshake is inspired by the one served at Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land. Creamy chocolate, strawberry and vanilla milkshake is layered in an old fashioned soda fountain glass. The shakes are topped with whipped cream, “road gravel” (a.k.a. oreo bits), and topped with a cherry. We served these decadent frozen treats with custom Flo’s V8 stir sticks created by Bring Home Magic. Get our recipe here.

Luigi's tower of Tires

Luigi loves running the local tire shop, Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, “Home of the Leaning Tower of Tires.” Have fun stacking miniature chocolate donuts to create a leaning tower. Your guests will have as much fun stacking them as they do eating them!

Lightning McQueen's Stoplight Brownies

The lone traffic light in Radiator Springs is famous for a slower blinking yellow light. Your Cars fans will appreciate these classic stoplight brownies. This simple frosted brownies are decorated for a fun Cars-themed spin. Simply cut your favorite brownies into rectangles and add M & Ms to create a stoplight.

RAdiator Springs Cupcakes

We celebrated our favorite Cars characters with these Radiator Springs cupcakes. The chocolate cupcakes are filled with chocolate mousse and are topped with vanilla frosting and “gravel” bits (a.k.a. oreo crumbles). Get our delicious chocolate mousse cupcake recipe here.

Doc's Piston "Candy" cups

Doc is such a great character! We picked up these mini trophy favors at Dollar Tree and filled them with yellow and blue M & M’s. These were only about 2 inches tall. If you’d like a more substantial trophy to fill, Amazon has several good choices.