[moocheex55]

Let me run a few ideas by you all and see if anything sticks (or new/better ones come out!):

I live in an apartment, so I can't do anything that would be too nailed down, but I have a very large livingroom and dining room connected by a wide front foyer area, so I think that the dining room is going to be the "swamp" of the bayou theme.

I'm thinking of hanging/attaching long, twisty, knarled branches from the ceiling fan in there, w/ hanging moss. I want a real weeping willows kind of effect. I found these great battery operated plant lights at the dollar store that give off a sort of bluish color. I think a couple of these mixed in the branches will help with the "moonlight through the canopy" kind of thing.

The food will be creole (ettouffe, muffaletta sandwiches...) but I don't know what to do for dessert - HELP!

For livingroom decor, I think a voodoo-type of shop design. Like tarot cards, potion jars, shrunken heads, voodoo dolls hanging from the ceiling and lots of
branches...I need to research the true look of those places and see what they look like. I'd like some cool prop suggestions to help carry out this theme...

The foyer is my real sticking point...I don't know what to put there to welcome my guests into the world I'm creating....also, the bathroom...ugh. It's kinda small, so I don't know how to carry the design through...maybe make it swampy as well? fogger in the tub? I don't know.

I have a ground fogger that fills the apartment pretty well, so that will work like under the dining table and I'm thinking of having the punch bowl fog as well for a swamp effect....

Am I crazy or will this work? Any good ideas? Thanks for your (anticipated) help!

I'm constantly in awe of the creativity of all of you and really could use your imput.

 

[litemareb4xmas]

That is a challenge, I guess I'd start hitting yard sales and thrift stores for fake plants, trees.
Netting would work good, you could hang stuff from it, have fake vines growing up it.
Mood lighting would help of course, maybe some led fireflys.
Foggers indoors sometimes make people gag, use in moderation and don't rely on having many people being able to put up with it for long. I tried it once and had to shut it down. Dry ice in buckets of water might be better.

 

[litemareb4xmas]

maybe four your entrance how about a arch of vines?

 

[Frankie's Girl]

i love this idea!

For dessert, Pecan Pralines are a New Orleans tradition! Or either bananas foster (from NO) or bread pudding... but here are a few other ideas:

Creole/Cajun: Dessert!


the foyer:

I'd do fireflies (twinkling lights hidden behind a scrim fabric with branches above) with chirping crickets. Have very low lights, and if you can partition off the foyer with a curtain of shredded fabric or jute.

the bathroom:

You HAVE to put a gator in the tub. I saw a decent one for a lawn ornament in Sears Hardware, and also at Hobby Lobby recently. VERY realistic and cool. I would switch out the bulbs for dim or flicker lights (think gas lights) and put out voodoo items - especially clumps of dried herbs and magic related items hanging from the rod, the ceiling, etc...

This is the google image search for the New Orleans' VooDoo Museum, and has some good ideas for things to decorate with.
new orleans voodoo museum - Google Image Search

 

[moocheex55]

ooohhh...

Gator in the tub!!! Love it! Maybe my ground fogger should be in the bathroom...

oh, you have such good ideas....I'm loving the idea of fireflies, but wondering...could I use those "chasing" x-mas lights, in like amber or white? but I'd want a random look...so they wouldn't go on or off at the same time...also, I think less is more for this, so how would I get there to be only a few? hmmm...so much to consider.

I'm also loving the idea of using camo-netting to cover ceilings and to hang over the windows/doors....torn randomly so they hang like vines and such...now I just need to find a good quantity.

I did the Google image search too...I have several pictures to use as inspiration for the displays...

Keep the ideas coming...can't wait for more garage sales to start so I can find all of the detail props I'll need...LOVE THIS!

 

[Frankie's Girl]

They DO make random twinkle lights now. I picked some up for my tree last year. If you can find them, You could cover the bulbs that don't twinkle (the strands I found had a random twinkle bulb every 5 bulbs that were regular steady on ones) and that would give you a pretty decent firefly effect...

You should also check out ultrasonic misters for the tub. If you got a gator like what I saw, you could absolutely put a layer of water in your tub and run a couple of misters in there and there would be NO problems with a confined space and fog juice exposure. they don't make clouds of fog, but they'd keep the surface of the water nice and misty and some have a light up effect...

 

[Hallowtheme]

vines

We made vines one year for a party by taking either rolls or long strips of brown paper (kind you might wrap packages in) and twisting it into basically a rope with perhaps a one inch diameter. Then we added leaves. Looked pretty cool and I ended up saving them since they turned out so well. Maybe I can dig them out of the attic and take a pic.

Also, snakes. Lots of snakes. Look at Big Lots and your dollar stores for the kind that swell up and grown when soaked in water for a long time (days?)

 

[Hallowtheme]

cypress knees

Maybe try making some cypress knees by making tall cones out of aluminum foil/poster board, then covering them with Celluclay. After they harden, paint brown.

 

[reverb99]

What a great idea, moochee!

For your entrance, you could drive the theme home with a "Swamp Tours" sign like this: http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//1000/000/50/0/31050.jpg

Of course, you could embellish it with some "bloody" puns, etc.!

LOVE the gator in the tub idea! Hallowtheme, the vines would be perfect... and easy.

You know, I am thinking of scaling back to just a small dinner party this year, rather than a big party, and I am really loving this voodoo louisiana swamp theme for it. Really great idea.

 

[MHooch]

What a great theme! All the suggestions have been just fabulous, especially FG's gator in the tub. I have used those ultrasonic mister thingys and they really do work amazingly well, and would be PERFECT for the bathtub with the the escaped swamp visitor in it! When I was looking for plants for Herbology class (for a Harry Potter theme) I had great success at thrift shops, very cheap, and didn't feel bad about hacking them up for various uses. Dollar store are also good places to find fake plants at a reasonable price. Micheal's craft store (or whatever craft store you have locally) should have Spanish moss that you could drape. And if you know anyone who has a farm, or just wooded property, ask if you could look for viney growth to steal...here in VA a kind of wild grape grows and the vines are perfect for draping.

Also, check out Terra's tutorial on making PVC candles tutorial, 'cause the more candles the better, and the more electric candles, the safer!

Halloween Forum - Terra's Album: Tutorial: Outdoor flicker lights

 

[moocheex55]

yeah, I'm thinking more candles in the tarot/voodoo area and more like lanterns in the swamp areas....

I'm digging the paper vines idea...I've used thick rope that was actually like 8-10 strands coiled together (then as they branch out, you uncoil and chop off what you don't need) then painted w/ wood stain to create branches, but the stuff aint cheap and I don't really want to staple all of that to my walls...I think the paper will work as well and can still be painted/molded to the shapes....

I've been researching the firefly lights...ouch. expensive. too bad I'm not more electrically inclined or I'd make some, but I'm afraid of killing myself....I think the random twinkle lights will have to work, but are they really random? or will they all twinkle the same rate and at the same time? there doesn't seem to be any videos online of the places I've found that sell them....

 

[Junit]

Great idea for a theme! And a lot of wonderful suggestions from other members as well

 

[Samhain.Voodoo]

One word: Bones. Bones everywhere, animal bones, human (all fake of course) but that'll set the mood wonderully. If you live near a Michael's art store, they sell beautiful potion bottles for 99cent. If you need a visual, watch Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest for Tia Dalma's hut, that's a very accurate voodoo swamp.

Also with the gator in the bath you could always just have dry ice in the the water with it so it doesn't flood the bathroom with fog.

 

[moocheex55]

Dollar General finds: "Luau Party" table skirt - is 4' of raffia I can cut up for my voodoo dolls and added bits of flotsom for the displays; Twine - again for voodoo dolls and such; 2 wood signs - they are sort of rustic shaped (they say Beach House and point one way) but I'll repaint them to say Bayou Buffet for the food one way and Voodoo Shop for the other (I could use a better name for the Voodoo one though - suggestions?); 3' Rubber Snakes - to hang from the "trees"; 4' vines w/ leaves; lots of different leaves/greenery; & stems of long grass...

I simply adore that I can find cool stuff at the dollar store...this party is going to be so cool...

RUN, don't walk to your nearest Dollar store today!!! hehehehehe

 

[litemareb4xmas]

Voodoo Lounge is one of my favorite, Headhunters Cafe is another.

 

[litemareb4xmas]

Don't forget some Tarot cards too!

 

[Samhain.Voodoo]

Or Rev Zombie's Voodoo shop

(an actual shop in new orleans)

 

[litemareb4xmas]

I already have a headhunters cafe I made up a few years back for a sticker design

 

[HeatherEve1234]

Tub Gator

I had snakes in our tub last year, the kind that grow in water from Dollar Tree.

Unfortunately, I didnt read the instructions early enough - they take DAYS to WEEKS to grow to their full size, so ours never really got that big, but were still fun. Maybe you could start them in a bucket or something a few days before.

One other caution - they leave behind a very slippery clear slime for whoever jumps in the shower next

 

[moocheex55]

I'm re-naming this party...it's now going to be "Voodoo on the Bayou". What do you think?

I've been going nuts at garage sales and thrift shops finding all sorts of kookie and varied stuff (crap) to dress my wall of bookcases in the living room with.

Through Google images, I've found lots of different and interesting Voodoo themed signs and posters, so I think I'm going to use those to cover the walls in the foyer (I'll print them and blow them up), then I'll have branches hang from the light fixture there and dress w/ moss. This will help bring both of the two rooms/ideas together.