Thread: 2012 End of the World Theme?

Tweet

With December 21, 2012 supposedly being the end of mankind, I would like to make my Halloween party theme just that. So obvious and expected I know, but still what I wanna do nonetheless. Only problem is I can't decide if I want to make each room a different ending, or decide on one scenario and go with that.

What do you guys think? Should I pick one specific ending and stick with that theme throughout, or have a variety of endings in each room? I would love to do the second option, but not sure how to make that happen as our house layout is so open. Most of the rooms can be viewed from the other rooms.

I am limited to the following rooms:

Living room (usually where music is played and some people dance early in the evening, before eventually ending up in the garage)
Breakfast Room (where we keep the bar, just off the kitchen, open to the living room & kitchen)
Dining room (where all the food is but nothing else, we usually have a pretty elaborate table setup, but nobody really ends up hanging out here other than when they are getting food)
Kitchen (open to living room and hallway/breakfast room, some people hang here but mostly it's used as a pass through)
Powder Room (half bathroom, usually where we do some pretty neat things. Our guests have gotten accustomed to checking out the bathroom upon their arrival knowing there will be some neat little surprise in there)
Garage (this is the ultimate party spot, and is always transformed into a totally different atmosphere, you would never know you were in a garage...music is loud, keg is there, usually where everyone ends up as the night progresses)


My existing props/decor consist of the typical skulls & bones, (NO glittery Martha Stewart type things), spiders, and spooky true antique props. I'm more into the Gothic, sometimes Victorian looking stuff. NOTHING cutesy here, but no blood and gore either. I like to go for the more elegant, realistic, downright eerie feel.

Any thoughts and ideas are sincerely appreciated. My guess is, if you are participating in this forum in early January, you are the true die hards that I wanna hear from.

"The end of Mankind"... I guess some women always wanted to be all alone... and you say you want to hear from die hards, that means those hardy survivors?
I like the sort of classic Gothic feel whereas to me Gothic has always been sort of about such things as the end of the world, with some cleverness of style.
Maybe an ancient ceramic jar with a scroll inside with some dead language on it with scribblings on it depicting a planet's destruction? Maybe one for each guest? Put the scrolls all on the table, turn them over and in the correct order the entire sheet spells out......?
A small table with a ruined Oui-Ja board, the edges blackened and curled up, the point of the platton buried in the center and a small bloodstain coming from the "heart" of the board. A few small finger bones sticking out of the edges of the pointer, right where odd forces of gravity took them.
Don't forget to secretly pull the mains on all the electricity coming into the house at some time during the night.
If you happen to have an antique telephone, see if you can figure out beforehand how to at least make it ring. How much current ? AC or DC?. Cob webs on the phone would also help the illusion..
Everyone might be in period costuming, whatever period, you are all time travelers all arriving at the moment humanity ends, "How Unlucky!" "Drat!"

Originally Posted by Gym Whourlfeld

A small table with a ruined Oui-Ja board, the edges blackened and curled up, the point of the platton buried in the center and a small bloodstain coming from the "heart" of the board. A few small finger bones sticking out of the edges of the pointer, right where odd forces of gravity took them.

LOVE IT! I think you get exactly where I want to go with this. Sheer terror...not some kitchy expected Halloween party.

Not that there is anything wrong with the whole sparkly jack'o lantern thing, it's just not my own cup of tea. If I can really spook out my gusts, I know I've done my job! Great ideas...THANKS!

You could have these rooms: alien, zombie, nuclear, heaven and hell, and all other aspects. Guests could dress as anything dealing with these themes.

I like the idea of each room being a different theme! That'll be a lot of work, but very, very cool!

In each room, use different colored lightbulbs. Yellow for nuke , green or purple for alien, etc.

Originally Posted by Gym Whourlfeld

"The end of Mankind"...
Don't forget to secretly pull the mains on all the electricity coming into the house at some time during the night.
If you happen to have an antique telephone, see if you can figure out beforehand how to at least make it ring. How much current ? AC or DC?. Cob webs on the phone would also help the illusion..
Everyone might be in period costuming, whatever period, you are all time travelers all arriving at the moment humanity ends, "How Unlucky!" "Drat!"

Hallow and WHOA BUDDY!!! GYM -- you have nailed it!! We are also going with this theme in October and your idea to pull the plug on the house lights is superb! I also want to build in a sub-story about how the only creatures that will survive a global meltdown are those that crawl into the cave depths of the planet. This means BUGS!!! BUGS!! and MORE BUGS!!! that are all covering the walls and making their march into the basement! From all scientific evidence, things like cockroaches and ants actually have survived for millions of years - no matter the planetary conditions. And then there are the tube worms that survive in the depths of the oceans.

This past October, we scored the remnants of the Spirit Zombie Apocalypse scene complete with underground sewer scene, steam pipes, etc.
So I hope to build that environment in our basement.
Then, how about creating an invitation (a Mayan calendar design?) that suggests your haunt party will welcome guests dressed in everything from steam punk to bugs - and set each room with the random themes - all unified by bugs and a steady march to the basement where the dance part of the party is taking shape. Cut the lights - break open the glow-sticks and pump up the jam!! ( Anyway - that's my plan... A ghoul can dream, right?)

Here's a link to whet your appetite:
http://historicmysteries.com/the-mayan-calendar-facts-theories-and-prophecies

How about several large flood halogen lites outside pointed at the windows / house & set it up to "explode" all the lites ON at once with a HD bass system pumped up with an extremely loud boom & heavy winds sound, right after then kill all the power in the house for a few minutes at a set time that evening & "simulate" some sort of atomic bomb or earth exploding.....??!! Now your parties world has come to a world ending......LoL Let the New World order apocalypse begin !!!!!!

I remember they did something like that at a Pink Floyd concert to give the crowd a sense of a "life ending deviation from a world wide atomic bomb threat"......the crowd sat in the dark for a few minutes before stage lights came back on.........but they were making a good point !

& don't forget you Mad Max outfit !

FWIW: the idea of an "end of the world" party has me thinking Douglas Adams, fin de siecle, and the orchestra playing on the decks of the Titanic as the ship was sinking. Everyone dressed in their finest, free to do anything they want because very soon nothing is going to matter... ever again.

We are doing 'It's the End of the World - As you know it' Have had the theme picked out for a couple of years but not sure how to go about it.

I do have the Cd of songs to be burned picked out.

I want to do something with the Crystal Skulls, need to get 13 of the Crystal Skull Vodka bottles - I have 2 big ones, 6 little ones (and 5 of the 'shot glasses' that come in special packages, if I don't find bigger ones - probably going to get more bottles - there is also a tequila skull bottle, but not crystal) - Not sure what to with them yet?? Story is when all 13 are gathered 'Something Big' will happen - maybe have guests on a scavenger hunt for them?

Want to do the Tempt your fate game, with the fates in a balloon that you pop to retrieve it!!


Have a few other ideas, but not thinking of them right now - I am looking forward to seeing what ideas people come up with for this theme!!