A DIY popcorn bar is an easy party foods bar for celebration ideas — from popcorn party snacks treats for kids’ activities to casual popcorn wedding table, fun senior graduation party foods, family movie night themed birthday party snack bar ideas, fall themed popcorn bar, to carnival snacks or a party mix snack bar for teachers, these cheap and easy party snacks work for all special occasions!
How To Make Your Own DIY Popcorn Bar for Fun Foods For Parties
I think sometimes when people think about popcorn buffets they think about them only as popcorn bar ideas for kids.
Granted, a popcorn party is a fun ideas for kids’ sleepovers or other kid parties. But, anytime we’ve had a popcorn bar, it was a huge hit for all ages — from young kids to adults!
It really is one of the most fun party food bars or snack table ideas.
Popcorn Bar Items
For you’re popcorn party, you’ll need:
1. Popped Popcorn
I know it seems like, duh, but until you start planning, you really don’t think about how much popcorn you actually need for a popcorn snack table.
Personally, I like to pop our popcorn the old school way like this, but you can also buy your popcorn.
FRUGAL PARTY TIP: If you’re going to buy your popcorn, I’d head to a store like Costco or BJs and buy in bulk to save money. Those regular sized bags from the grocery store will add up FAST.
POPCORN PARTY TIP: Microwave popcorn will take forever to get a large amount, so I recommend skipping microwaving popcorn for parties.
2. Popcorn Containers
Once you have your popcorn, you have to think about what are people going to put the popcorn in?
We’ve done this several different ways, based on how many people we’ve had at our parties — we’ve done popcorn parties for a small movie watch party to a popcorn dessert table at a cookout party.
Popcorn Party Tip: Portion your popcorn out in containers before party guests arrive, especially if you have younger kids at your party.
Popcorn Container Ideas:
- Brown paper lunch bags – this was actually one of my favorites! We rolled down the bags and filled them with candy popcorn. It was super cute and a budget-friendly party idea! (SEE THE PICTURE BELOW)
- Hot dog baskets – we use these for hotdog cookouts, but I added food paper sheets like this and scooped the popcorn right into them. These work really well for a popcorn toppings bar because it’s easy to spread the toppings over the popcorn in these baskets.
- Carnival popcorn container – this was, hands down, the container that guests loved the most. You can get them fairly cheap in bulk and it’s fun for people to take them home as party favors.
POPCORN PARTY TIP: Those rolled popcorn cones are really cute on a party table, but they really aren’t practical for guests unless you’re also giving them party trays for their food.
3. Popcorn Toppings
Add in fun popcorn toppings and candy so that party guests can make their own popcorn creations.
Don’t forget to do a mix of sweet toppings and savory popcorn flavorings.
Also, people love having this popcorn butter spray because it tastes like movie popcorn butter!
*See our full list of ideas for toppings for popcorn below.
4. Popcorn Party Decorations
You don’t need to go all out for a popcorn table, but it is fun to have some decorations.
We use this write-on / wipe-off flag banner all the time for our DIY parties and it worked well for our popcorn table, too.
Other fun DIY popcorn party ideas:
- These cute popcorn stickers make an easy party favor
- This is a really cute sign set if you’re making your own popcorn seasonings and setting up a table
Ideas For Creating The Ultimate Popcorn Bar For Any Special Occasion
Popcorn Bar Topping List
Popcorn toppings really are only limited by your imagination!
There are so many fun things to put in popcorn or to use for popcorn toppings to create savory popcorn snack mixes or sweet popcorn ideas.
I usually create a few popcorn toppings “recipes” and write the recipes on cute signs like this. That way if some people don’t want to do random toppings they have some guidance.
If you don’t want to make your own DIY popcorn toppings, you can grab a popcorn flavorings pack like this and they work just fine!
Try toppings for popcorn like:
- Cheddar cheese powder
- Garlic parmesan
- Chocolate chips
- Ranch seasoning
- Tajin
- Cinnamon sugar
- Taco seasoning
- NERDS candy
- Dill pickle powder (this is a really good pack with seasonings you don’t see in other packs)
- M&Ms
- Everything bagel seasoning
- Cocoa powder and sugar
- Italian seasoning
- Pumpkin spice
- Crushed Oreos
- Sprinkles
& MORE!
PARTY TIP: If you having a Halloween party popcorn bar, check out our fun Halloween popcorn seasonings!
Popcorn For Dessert Table
I love sweet popcorns!
I think when people throw popcorn parties, they mostly think about savory popcorn. But, sweet popcorns are perfect for party desserts or as an addition to your other flavored popcorn.
My three favorites are homemade kettle corn, toffee popcorn (which is way better than caramel popcorn), and chocolate candy popcorn (in any party theme color you want!).
DIY Kettle Corn At Home
If I had realized how easy kettle popcorn was to make at home, I would’ve started years ago!
And, this recipe tastes just like the kettle corn you get at fairs or festival popcorn, so guests will love it.
Toffee Popcorn
Ditch the caramel corn and go with this toffee popcorn recipe, which is a huge hit with our party guests!
If you’ve never had it, it’s a lighter, more buttery popcorn than the dark caramel corn.
Candy Popcorn
I call this “candied popcorn” but it’s really popcorn with chocolate.
The best party about this recipe is that you can make it colored popcorn in any color you want to match your party theme! We’ve made it in red white and blue, purple for Halloween popcorn, red for gory Halloween foods, red Christmas popcorn for food gifts, and white popcorn with different colored sprinkles for different parties.
I hope you have fun with these DIY popcorn bar ideas!
