Thread: Attempting a Voodoo Bayou Theme

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Hey everyone, sorry if this is redundant but, I'm new here and didn't want to hijack someone else's thread...

This year will be my first year hosting a Halloween party. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I'm totally stoked! I decided on the swamp/voodoo/bayou theme because well.... I love it, though I've never been to New Orleans.

Living in the SF bay area I can do an inside/outside party because the weather is usually conducive. So, my idea is to keep the swamp/bayou elements outside. The inside is what I need some help with. I want to do an old abandoned southern mansion that's being used on the d/l by crazy voodoo practitioners (emphasis on crazy). So basically inside of the house I want to try to have the old southern classy elements but with like the dusty sheets on the furniture, abandoned feeling with the crazy voodoo elements all over.

Anyone got any idea for things I should get/do to achieve this for the inside of the house (preferably cheaply)?

How about a old wet sign that says: for Goverment Flood Assistants call 555 - Dated 2005
Wa Wa Wa.

Skulls, rubber chickens and a Ouija board for props.

Originally Posted by BooBoo

How about a old wet sign that says: for Goverment Flood Assistants call 555 - Dated 2005
Wa Wa Wa.

that seems inconsiderate in my humble opinion.

For the abandoned look, I would throw drop clothes over the furniture as though the house was a summer home, that was closed up for winter...

Originally Posted by kallie

that seems inconsiderate in my humble opinion.

I have to say I agree, especially being from New Orleans and not seeing my home for 2 & 1/2 months after Katrina.

But on the up side! Try to find some sort of recording of cicadas (locust), you hear them all the time and make creepy background noise. They've been driving my dog crazy for the past 3 weeks. Also moss cause its everywhere in the bayou. If you could do a busted pirogue (like a canoe) maybe like an alligator got to it. If you do a Marie Laveau tomb make sure you put X's all over it. They are for good luck. O and don't make anything stand straight up cause everything sinks here and it's a pain! I'll let you know if I think of anything else!

I just found a link to poisonprops.com, they have a CD called "hillbilly swamp" seems to have a nice creepy swamp ambiance, you can hear a clip on the website.
Also, find a store near you that sells real chicken feet. Hispanic or Asian groceries may carry them. They are cheap, and you can hang them up - early the day of the party, they start to stinkin' quick. Or put them in jars filled with tonic water which fluoresces under black light. Add a little rubbing alcohol to the mix to hold off the smell.

We did voodoo in our bathroom 2 years in a row. Key elements that really set it off. Lots of candles, skulls with homeade runes (black rocks with symbols painted on them). We had a rubber chicken, some rubber snakes. Homemade voodoo dolls. Those were fun to make. A couple of shruken heads. Oh, and the part that threw it over the edge for us. A hidden cd player that played chants. had one guy who came out of the bathroom and said it was too creepy, he couldn't pee with the chants playing. WIN!

I'm also planning a voodoo/bayou party. It's such a fun, fun, theme! I don't know if I can help you with the crazy part but I can share some of the ideas I'm planning.

I'm doing a mambo kitchen with potion jars and bottles, eg frog hearts, lizard gizzards, snake oil, etc... I've been saving all my chicken bones in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When I get enough I"ll boil them down and bleach them for props. I have a fake feathered chicken and an animal sacrifice - a rubber chicken and I found a white feather boa at the dollar store which I'll cut up and bloody.

I'll also have an altar with candles, incense, shells, stones, skull, salt, mardi gras beads, religious figurines, some old looking boxes, and anything interesting I can find. For party favors I'm setting up an area for guests to make their own "gris gris" bags (homeopathic charms).

I have a wall with family portaits on it right behind my dining room table where the buffet will be. I didn't want to cover up the pictures or replace them so I printed out veves (symbolic drawings of voodoo loa/spirits) to put in the frames. Some of the images are really beautiful but in a eerie voodoo sort of way. http://altreligion.about.com/od/symb.../Vodoun-Veves/ Also goggle image: brigette and erzulie's veves - very pretty.

For that old mansion look use lots of ripped up lace curtains, tea stained tablecloths, lots of cheesecloth or creepy cloth, tarnished silver and lots of skulls, snakes and voodoo dolls.

What ideas are you using for your swamp/bayou area?

Just saw a string of dragonfly lights on clearance at Target for under $7. Might add a nice touch to the outdoor portion of the them. I'm getting lots of great ideas for another year's party from this thread!