Tim Burton Halloween Party

Themed parties are always good fun, I think. This year, ours was Tim Burton. (And sorry for the delay, we are in the middle of moving, again...).

We put together some hangings that alternated black and white streamers to put up on the walls. Tim Burton essential colors, you know. Black and white, grey, red, and sometimes blue. Gold and bright colors can be applied for certain moods like memories and fantasies. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you need to watch more of his movies... (the color schemes are essentially the same for every movie he's ever made, and on that note, please watch this hysterical video: Tim Burton's Secret Formula "Something original?" "No!"; "Get my wife and Johnny Depp on the phone!")

We had some carved pumpkins. I carved one that looked like this:

My friend, Katja, carved a couple of white pumpkins to look like Jack Skellington and one was wearing a Santa hat. Some people brought simple white Xmas lights. All of the paper plates were black and white as were the napkins. The plastic-ware and the cups were red.

I made a couple of posters (I was in charge of Sleepy Hollow decor) to hang up. One was the cardinal from Ichabod's optical illusion. I sketched it out on red poster board and outlined it faintly in black glitter glue. The second was a horse like the headless horseman had. I sketched that one on black poster board and also outlined it in black glitter glue. For fun I added a glittering red eye.

We put up some fake cobwebs and candles. A few vases of black roses were left on tables.

Food was roughly Tim Burton themed. Katja and I made tea sandwiches and Krissy made cookies that said things like "Eat me." The "Drink me" bottles were delicious shots that David made. Willy Wonka brand candy was a must. Katja and I made a red velvet cake and Cat decorated it like so:

The tree is made from sugar paper. It is hard to see but the designs are in glittery black and red frosting and there are some pearly blue sprinkles on it. It was tasty!

I also made a punch that was a nice shade of red. It was called Dragon Blood Punch. The recipe I found here: Adult Halloween Punch Recipes. There are all sorts of good punch recipes out there. I used this one because I didn't use a punch bowl, but a container with a spigot. Cat and Drew carved out a pumpkin and inserted a spigot and cider was provided for that. Awesome.

Katja, with the help of Cat and Drew, made shepherds pies (in place of meat pies from Sweeny Todd).

On top of all that, we dressed in Tim Burton themed costumes. Here are some cool pictures of my friends all dressed up:

Katja as Mrs. Lovett. Love this pic.

Drew and Cat as Jack and Sally. :)

Mrs. Lovett and Krissy as Sweeny Todd.

David as Adam from Beetlejuice.

Some of our guests did not dress to the theme, which was totally fine. Some did not dress up at all, which was fine, if a little lame.

I dressed as Katrina Van Tassel from Sleepy Hollow. She has a few outfits, but I wanted her riding outfit which looks like this:

I know it is difficult with this picture to tell the colors. The dress itself is a sort of grey-blue patterned material. It looks like a corset and skirt. The lace at the top would probably be part of a dress worn under the outside clothing. The jacket is grey with the bustle at the back. The large buttons in the front are ornamental. It also has buttons on the cuffs and the cuffs are very nice if you can find a good pic. You can't tell in this picture, but the collar of the jacket and the trim are dark red.

I made this costume on the cheap and on the fly. I only had about 12 hours to work on it, total, so I took a lot of short cuts. I did not use a pattern. I left the back of the dress mostly open (because I wore a poofy dance skirt underneath to give more volume and the long jacket would cover it). I did not make a corset, just a sort of tank top with trim sewn down the front. The lace from her under-dress translated to lace sewn at the top of the tank-top.I sewed that to the skirt and put a zipper in the back (badly). The jacket was interesting. I just kind of made it up as I went along. I didn't have dark red fabric so I used plain red scraps for a make-shift and poorly made collar. All the buttons I sewed on were ornamental. I did add a little lace at the cuffs. The bustle I just pinned up and tacked in a (hopefully) aesthetic manner. Here is how it all turned out:

Sorry for the picture quality. It was taken with a phone and it was pretty dark. You get the idea, right?

A little rough around the edges, I know. If I had had more time, this costume would have been so cool. Maybe one day.

Next year, I believe the party theme will be Disney villains! Woo!

Halloween Parties

For people like me who love Halloween, Halloween parties are a great way to get the gang together, get in costume, eat fun food and drink fun drinks.

A few years ago, I started throwing my own little parties with some close friends. They seemed to keep growing. Last year marked the beginning of the themed parties thrown my my friends and me.

Last year was Harry Potter Halloween Party. It was a pretty big hit. Except that our apartment was way too small for the crowd that came. We had food, mostly stuff that was mentioned in the books. Some drinks like pumpkin juice (which was quite a pain to make, actually). That and almost all of the food that we made or had guests make was from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook which a friend of mine owned. Chocolate Frogs and Jelly Bellies in many flavors were a must. We also made butterbeer (cold, which we couldn't decide if authenticity should come at the cost of taste... it is supposed to be warm after all...). The recipe we found and tried was basically lots of cream soda mixed with butterscotch schnapps. At the experimental phase we decided it was WAY too sweet. What did we do for the final delicious (and popular) beverage? Added beer. Yep, about half Coors (because it was light and not overpowering in flavor... and cheaper than others...) and half cream soda and added some butterscotch schnapps. I know it sounds odd, but it was quite tasty. I am not sure on the exact proportions, but I'd say just mix it until it tastes good to you.

We strung white X-mas lights across the ceiling and had candles and jack-o-lantern lights all over. We didn't use any other lighting. I had lots of colored streamers on the walls for each house. My talented friends painted Hogwarts House posters which we hung up (and I still have because they are AWESOME).

Latin at the bottom means "Let Sleeping Dragons Lie" I believe. Interesting eh?

My favorite. We agreed to do Ravenclaw from the books so bronze and blue! Yay!

We had a few games. Everyone had to be assigned a house which was done by drawing colored ribbons out of a bowl while wearing our home-made sorting hat (felt). We had a "put the sock on Dobby" game and a Quidditch bean bag toss and we kept track of winners for house points.

Over the door outside we made a cloth "brick wall" (red cloth with a brick pattern painted onto it and hung like a curtain) to go through to get to my door. On my door hung a sign that read "Hogwarts Express" and on either side of the curtain were a "9" and a "10."

I sent out invitations in the mail. They were formatted like the Hogwarts acceptance letters. I used the Lumos Font and I found a picture of McGonagall's signature. For the list of required items, we had divvied up the things we needed and asked guests to bring them in place of school supplies. Here is another good resource: Invitation Letter. I also found a basic owl picture and drew in (on the computer) a square to make it look like it was carrying a letter. That is where I put in the guests' name and address. The pictures below are basically what ours looked like. I know the font looks hard to read, but I had to shrink it for the picture. When you print it out, it is actually quite legible.

This was the image on the envelopes. I typed in names and addresses, also using the Lumos font.

And, of course, I dressed as McGonagall for the party. It was great fun.

We also developed special shots (which were in individually corked glass bottles) for each house. The Ravenclaw one was especially popular, followed by the Hufflepuff. If we can find the list so we know what was in each, I will post them.

For the best Harry Potter Party that we found, go here: Welcome to the Hogwarts Celebration. I wish I could have been at that party... We did take several ideas from her. And I tried so hard to find some plastic or cloth that looked like stone to put on the walls, but no dice. Check it out.

I wanted to post all of the above as references for anyone else who might want to throw a HP party. On to this year.

This year the theme is: Tim Burton movies.

No formal invites or anything too big because we are pressed for time and money.

This is the first year we are renting space for said party. Crazy, eh?

Lots of black, white, red, and grey decorations.

Interesting selections for food and drink.

I will be dressing as Katrina Van Tassel from Sleepy Hollow. I am trying to "throw together" her riding dress and coat. I will have a special costume post detailing that bit. Isaac may go as Ichabod Crane, but I need his help getting his costume together. As such, I am taking care of some of the black and white decor, table ware, and Sleepy Hollow decorations. Food and drinks are another matter.

There are lots of costume opportunities.

I will have a post after the party with pictures and details.