What could possibly be better than splashing around, dining outdoors or lounging poolside with friends? If you said watching your favorite movie, catching a sporting event or playing video games on an oversized outdoor TV, your nature-meets-modern-technology dreams are about to come true. With plenty of outdoor theaters on the market today, you have plenty of options when it comes to size, features, and materials. These outdoor theater systems use projector technology and most of them come with free standing speakers and convenient carrying cases for all the equipment. Some screens are flat-surfaced and held up with aluminum stands, while other screens are inflatable.

In terms of size of screen, most outdoor theater set-ups consist of a 12-ft-wide by 6-ft-tall projector screen; however, some screens are 9-ft-wide by 5-ft-tall. Price range is all over the spectrum: Target sells an outdoor inflatable screen for just $150 (not including accessories, such as speakers and the projector). Frontgate packages everything together for you; therefore, the price tag is closer to $2,500. CineBox (right) offers a complete set, too, but it is a bit smaller than Frontgate’s. This complete set will cost you roughly $1,800, but it’s worth if, especially if you’ve ever wanted your very own backyard drive-in (or swim-up) theater.