Thread: Summary of 2009's Party What worked and didn't

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First - it was an absolutely great time! 35 attendees (most since we have been doing it) and I owe soo much to this board! So I am here, in the mood to start thinking about 2010 and decided to give back for a change and post some of the highlights from the party.

Things that worked VERY well:

• Trophies
• Door Prizes
• Food / Drink
• Random Death Contest
• Invites

Things that didn't work very well:

• Karaoke - should have had something else there. My friend ended up taking care of the area the whole night, and when he wasn't there. Nobody was using it. Either going to hire someone this year, or find some self-serve software.
• I need to have a costume repair kit. Nothing kills your buzz more than having to run up to your office and break out super glue and some needle nose pliers to help fix a costume.
• I was unhappy with the photos overall taken by myself and everyone there. We are going to get a photographer this year.

Trophies
This year's were even better than before. I have worked out a relationship with a local trophy shop that gets me all the stuffs and even mounts them for me. What we do is buy the little $6-$9 packages of cheep Halloween themed trophies and we get 'em mounted on real trophy bases with engravings and such.





I can't take credit for the Crystal Skull. That was actually a gift from my sisters. It was full of Vodka and they got a trophy base and snuck that in there. Looked great though



This year, I went a little crazy and created a special trophy for best couples costume. Started with a wedding topper that I saw (at Great Party I think) that was just hilarious. I took modeling putty (green stuff) and reshaped 'em a bit. I LOVE to paint miniatures, so I broke out my tools and decorated 'em a bit. I think you will like the effect the best Frankies Girl! Without further ado...



- end result -



Door Prizes

We got about 10 DVDs from Best Buy and had those as door prizes. (See pictures above for those) In order to give them out what we did was created a toe tag.



I got a small perforation tool from Michael's and made it so we could separate the receipt very quickly. The guests would come in, write their name down on the tag, rip it off, drop it into a cauldron. Later I picked 10 of them at random and one by one, let them come up and choose a DVD.

Food / Drink

Real short and sweet (the recipe is here at this board. Apple Pie drink - HUGE hit!!! 1 gal cider, 1 gal apple juice, 1 cup sugar, 5 cinnamon sticks. Bring that to a simmer for 2 hrs. Let it cool, mix in a fifth of Everclear. Costs all of about $20, tastes amazing, and makes just under 3 gallons of party drink! The only thing we did wrong with this, was not make enough. It was gone in the first 45 minutes of the party.

Other than that, we had lots of great food. Little hot dogs and meatballs in bbq sauce floating around the crock pot seemed to be the big winner.

Random Death Contest

I know I got this from somewhere in this site, but can't seem to find it now.

The other part of the toe-tag contained a random death. Some of the deaths included:

• Attacked by trick-or-treaters
• Choked to death by hairball
• Dying of thirst
• Attacked by a Killer Rabbit
• Seizure (we didn't use this one as it could too easily be mistaken for a real one)
• Pecked to death by birds
• Heart attack
• A slow death as narrated by William Shatner
• Halloween candy overdose
• Death by orgasm (be mindful of the kiddies if you have them there)
• Suffocated with a pillow
• With a candlestick by Mrs. Scarlet in the Kitchen
• ... and the list went on.

Throughout the night, my Sister-in-law would wink at a guest, they had 5 minutes to get ready and act out their death. She was the judge at the end since we determined that she was the only one that actually saw all of the deaths. (I want that to be different this year, but don't know how)

As the night ticked on, this got MUCH more intense. People were really getting into it, and I would say that hands down - it brought the most excitement and uniqueness to a Halloween party that I have ever seen.

The grand prize was a $100 Best Buy Gift Certificate.

Invites

Finally the invitations. This year was a whole bunch of fun. I scoured the internet for some images, stitched 'em together and this is what we came up with:





We had them printed and cut at FedEx Office, all 100 (50 sheets) were only about $50. Not too bad - they were 5"x7" and on heavy card stock.

Again - it was a great time, I throw thanks out to all of you in this board that help to make all of our parties a blast!

I love everything, especially the bride & groom trophy...very cute. I may try to incorporate your toe tag idea this year. Thanks for the post.

Glad to hear it. A little more detail on the toe tag was that we also used a standard hole punch and those little stick on reinforcement deals. They really added a bunch, couple that with a ivory or linen paper to print them on, and you have the look and feel of authenticity.

I went ahead and removed all our text and saved a high res PDF then uploaded that in case you wanted to save / print it. It is ~25 MB.

http://www.piegdon.com/scott/images/...ankToeTags.pdf

They are three to a sheet, (don't for get to cut out the little diamonds by the perforation marks.) and have fun!

Also, I live in Mundy Township, so I have that on there - if you want a copy with your township on there, just lemme know.

Thanks I appreciate it.

Wow, very impressive and creative! Love the trophies!
Thanks for sharing
What's your theme for this year?

Wonderful job on every aspect of throwing a great Halloween party! Particularly love your trophies & invitations.
I collect all kinds of recipes- that Apple Pie drink is definitely going in the folder. Re: using Everclear- the 190 proof or the mere 150?

Originally Posted by Marie Roget

Re: using Everclear- the 190 proof or the mere 150?

Unfortunately the 190 is still illegal in Michigan last I checked... We used the "mere" 150.. heh!

Originally Posted by MsMeeple

What's your theme for this year?

Thanks for the complements.

For this year, we haven't settled 100% yet (it's making me nervous) but I think we are going to go further down the massacre road (more-so on the invites along the lines of a murderer running loose and just slaying people) OR the insane asylum. Which I really want to do, but don't want to do it 1/2 way. As I continue down the road, I will post some more.

Well we are all anxiously waiting to steal....oops hear your plans for this year

MsM

Originally Posted by Peniwize the Clown

Glad to hear it. A little more detail on the toe tag was that we also used a standard hole punch and those little stick on reinforcement deals. They really added a bunch, couple that with a ivory or linen paper to print them on, and you have the look and feel of authenticity.

I went ahead and removed all our text and saved a high res PDF then uploaded that in case you wanted to save / print it. It is ~25 MB.

http://www.piegdon.com/scott/images/...ankToeTags.pdf

They are three to a sheet, (don't for get to cut out the little diamonds by the perforation marks.) and have fun!

Also, I live in Mundy Township, so I have that on there - if you want a copy with your township on there, just lemme know.

Do you mind changing the pdf to say "Wallburg Township" and then posting it again for me? Thanks so much!