Thread: Voodoo in the Bayou

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Okay so I have decided to change my outdoor party plans to a "Voodoo 0n the Bayou" theme. I still plan on doing the cemetery, but then I paln on doing a house of Voodoo (aka food tent)...a bloody shack (aka photo op)...and a swamp (this will be the main party area).

I plan on shrunken heads, gris gris bags, bones and potions to be in the voodoo area along with the food. Green lights, alligators, fog, moss, etc everywhere else.

But I am finding it difficult to find props for this theme...that being said I will be constructing everything myself (very limited on budget). Please if you all have any ideas how to add some realism and scary effects, i would love to hear them.

There have previously been some threads on this theme.

Attempting a Voodoo Bayou Theme

2010 Romp in the Swamp - Louisiana Theme

201 Voodoo on the Bayou was a success!!

Hope these help

Hi pumpkinpie, the voodoo party was a blast, you're going to have so much fun. I can't really build anything so I just decorate. lol My theme was also Voodoo in the Bayou so I brought a lot of New Orleans in. The front of the house I set up as Mardi Gras - a skelly with feather boa, beads and mask, a skelly with a saxaphone, I made a three foot Mardi Gras mask from foam core, a full size paper cut out jester on the door with his head torn off dripping blood, A Mardi Ghoul - a life size dummy dressed for MG with a light up ghoul head and hands and Mardi Gras music playing as guests came up.

The house was the Mambo's house. I used gris gris bags for favors and set up a table with bowls of ingredients with a description for each type of bag. Luck, love, money, ... I used actual names from voodoo shop sights but I made up my own ingredients.

Same with the Mambo kitchen - jars and bottles with names like - Five Finger Grass, Goofer Dust, Devil's Shoestring, etc, you can find all these names online. I also set up jars from the swamp - lizard gizzards, egret quills, possum tails....you get the idea. I also had a chicken sacrifice - a rubber chicken tied by the feet and under it a lot of bloody feathers (white boa from dollar tree with red paint). I had a sign Tonight's Sacrifice: goat, black cat, (both crossed out) white chicken. Specimen jars with labels, made from info on line, with grow-in-water animals. I had a shark, alligator, turtle, starfish, and snake.

You have to make voodoo dolls. Tie sticks in a cross shape, wrap Spanish moss around them, cover with material, and add beans, buttons, strings, etc. I used hot glue for everything.

The voodoo altar is what made people the most uncomfortable. It was authentic to New Orleans voodoo, including statues of saints, religious candles and I had a rosary too. Also, some African looking figurines, a sage stick for cleansing, (just leaves wrapped in twine), incense, shells, Florida Water, (bottle with plain water and a printed label from google images), bowl of salt, cowie shells, skulls, voodoo dolls, snakes, small jars, wooden bowls with herbs/grass, etc and don't forget lots of mardi gras beads and gold coins.

Above the altar, I made a collage of Marie Laveau, pictures of her, her tomb, snakes, beads, black roosters, I forget what else was on there. But a bunch of crap.

I replaced family portraits hanging on the wall with veves. Just printed them out from online. Look up voodoo veves on about.com for an idea. I thought they were pretty but again some people were uncomfortable with the images of voodoo saints (loa). Put pictures of Baron Samedi around too, his image is pretty cool.

We have a screened in area with pool which was the swamp. I bought 10 lbs of Spanish moss on ebay, stuff goes a long way, I had it everywhere, fake vines wrapped around chairs, poles, etc. Lots of bugs, insects, lizards, frogs, snakes, etc. The pool was dyed red for the Bloody Bayou, with swamp grasses and a skelly floating on an alligator. I had a "Crazy Cajun" in overalls grilling body parts in one corner. I strung a clothes line by him and hung up tiddie whities, stained and holey crawling with roaches and dirty socks. I also drew a circle on the ground and put chicken bones in it for "throwing the bones". Oh yeah, we had gotten some chicken feet from the Spanish market, boiled and dried them and had them hanging in the kitchen.

I had 2 bathrooms, one was a swamp monster bath with a monster that pops out of the toilet (too funny) and the other was a spider's den. Cobwebs, egg sacs, spider victim, blood, a large spider with light up eyes, a drop down spider, three big hairy spiders and 144 small spiders. Yup, I used the whole bag - poster puttyed them to the wall. I unscrewed the lights and put in a strobe with a red filter. It gave the effect that all those spiders were moving. I had teenage boys at the party who wouldn't use that bathroom. lol

geez, I'm sorry this post is so long, it all came back to me once I started typing. I hope you get some ideas you can use. If you need suggestions for food, music, or a killer Hurricane Punch recipe let me know. Have fun!!!

Just remembered: in the swamp area I made a bunch of eyeball plants, skull flowers, and a man eating tree complete with bloody foot. I also found a wooden oar (around 4ft) painted it and made a sign out of it. "Swamp Tours", "departs at midnight", "free Bayou Bites", etc. I added vines, moss, and hot glued a bunch of creepy crawlers on it.

Many of the ideas I used last year came from this sight, just keeping searching.

I read an idea online where you first put down some pieces of (or a sheet of) bubble wrap. On top of that you put down a rug or a tarp or a sheet or something to cover the bubble wrap so it is not visible. On top of that you place some fake bugs or critters. As your guests walk across the area the bubble wrap will pop like they're squashing bugs. Might get a quick scare out of folks if they don't expect it. I think I'm going to try that at my part this year because I'm going with the swamp/cajun/voodoo theme too.

Tannasgach, I really loved your ideas!! This year only my kitchen is going to be voodooed (is that even a word ) and I got some great ideas for that but I´ll write all of those down and use them later when my whole party is gonna b voodoo theme.

You can get plenty of props at Kentucky Fried Chickenm, LOL. That is to say, chicken bones. Clean 'em, boil 'em, clean them again. Let dry. Dip in flat shellac if you want. If you live near a chicken processing plant, maybe you can get skulls with beaks. They are pretty creepy. And maybe lots of feathers?
I remember a site that had an Indian Burial idea that might work. She used sheep bones (they were available) and had them on a raised platform, I think made of woven vines or something. The bones look real because they are, but scattered around they don't look like sheep. Depending on where you live, you might be able to get bones from a taxidermist or hunter. Something about a rib cage and spine is just creepy. Chief white owl? Chief grey owl? What was the name of that display?
AHA! Found it! Flat Owl by Uncialle! Found it on the Monster List. Check it out, because it is doable, not too expensive, and very creepy in the right atmosphere.
http://www.halloweendarksite.com/haunt/hhflato.html
Diane
Who is upset because today is her birthday and she doesn't know how to get that info onto Halloween Forum. No place for it that I could find on my profile.

happy birthday Diajoh!!

All these ideas are awesome! Gonna have to add all these to my journal for a later date!!!

First, here's recipe for edible shrunken heads. You can probably do the same with stuffed bell peppers. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-live/shrunken-heads-recipe/index.html. For edible voodoo dolls, make gingerbread men, decorate them like voodoo dolls, and stick pretzel sticks in them. A recipe for, "pig snout," jambalaya: Basically use any jambalaya recipe, but cut up a smoked sausage, and cut 2 round holes side by side in each slice, and add to recipe.

Hey PumpkinPie--how's the planning going? We're doing the same theme. Thanks to all who have provided such great ideas! I'm all ears!