[Mogwai]

This will be our third Halloween party and second time doing a theme. Last year was zombies, this year is vampires.

We're going to be decorating the garage, back yard, lounge, kitchen / dining, hallway and bathroom. So far, we've decided to make some big red gothic windows (to go over the actual windows) and most likely a cemetery with some big gates for outside. Those are the big projects we're working on, but there's still a lot to think about and plan for. It's not particularly easy getting props here in Western Australia and postage from overseas is stupidly expensive, so we'll be DIYing the bulk of the decorations. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We're going for an elegant gothic vibe, and want it to be scary as well.

 

[Mogwai]

AussieBoo: nice seeing another Australian on here It can be helpful to get the perspective of someone that understands the struggle to get Halloween stuff here, haha. I'll have to check out that shop. Like you said, even if a prop doesn't look great to begin with, you can still work with it sometimes. Love your theme, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

NightmareFamily: we're going for an elegant gothic look. So more Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, etc.

Love everyone's suggestions and advice so far. I picked up some red and silver Halloween goblets and a bag of plastic rats yesterday at the dollar store. It's a start

 

[Mogwai]

ooojen: Fabric is very expensive here. More so than in the US, I believe. I'm counting on being able to find cheap curtains and tablecloths second hand. Can usually pick up a lot of lace / net curtains, so that could be useful.

Hilda: How would you go about altering the photos in order to make them look like vampires? I was thinking about getting some of those holographic type changing portraits, but so far I've only seen very small ones so I'm not sure how effective it'd be. So perhaps making my own pictures is the way to go.

I'm going thrift shopping tomorrow. I'll be on the lookout for candelabras, ornaments, fabric and anything else that looks suitable.

 

[Mogwai]

So I went thrift shopping a couple of days ago and came home with quite a lot of good stuff.

These were $3 each. I'm going to use the big dress for my costume, and the other most likely to dress a prop figure.

I'm going to try to make these into haunted busts. Any ideas for that? I was thinking of styling the hair, then painting the whole things light grey and maybe adding some blood to the eyes or making vampire bites on the necks. Not sure on that one yet.

I also got a whole bunch of net curtains and one of those net canopies that usually hangs above a bed. Definitely a lot to think about.

 

[Mogwai]

Thanks, ooojen I'll be collecting more stuff all the time and working on what I already have, so I'll keep posting in this thread whenever I have something new. I've been checking back almost every day to see everyone's great ideas as well.

 

[Mogwai]

I love what you did for Dracula's suite. It's so convincing. We've had an antique mantle in storage for years and we were planning to get it out for Halloween to make a false fireplace. Hopefully it'll look good. Great work

 

[Mogwai]

Hey guys Another quick update;

Ordered this bat mask on eBay last week and it arrived today What do you think? We're going to use it to make a figure to stand outside the bathroom window.

 

[Mogwai]

ooojen: That is so funny. You'll have to show me how he looks in yours

I searched through a lot of pretty bad quality vampire masks before I came across this one. I liked it instantly and had to buy it. My sister came over yesterday and although she is normally terrified of any kind of mask, she said this one is 'cute'. Kind of discouraging, haha. But just wait until she sees him on the night

 

[Mogwai]

Exactly We're thinking of filling the bathtub with some red water and putting some floating LED tealights in, and putting a black lace curtain over the window. The tub is right in front of the window (it's also a really big window) so it should look pretty creepy, I hope.
A lot of people have a bit of a fear when it comes to bathrooms. I guess it makes sense when you think of all the horror movies that use bathrooms as a setting in scary scenes. It always makes it fun to decorate the bathroom when you know how spooky it can be.

 

[Mogwai]

printersdevil: That sounds great! I've always wanted to do a spider room but it's never really fit into our theme. We have a large poseable black spider decoration that we're probably going to have emerging from our attic in the hallway this year. Maybe we could make the hallway spider / bug infested? Hmm. We do have 100+ plastic roaches to use, haha. Do you have any pictures of yours? I really like the idea of the spider cocoon.

 

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Deadna: That sounds really scary. I bet it startled quite a few of your guests

 

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bethene: Thank-you Unfortunately, those would be rather difficult to come by over here. I could probably do something similar with a polystyrene wig head though? Hmm.

Wolfbeard: I love your staked skelly! He's very expressive. Those skeletons are not common over here. I don't think I've ever seen one in stores, not even in October. I would really like one though, they're very versatile. I'll have to see what I can find. Your room set-up looks great, nice lighting.

 

[Mogwai]

That sounds fantastic, Erzebet. I really like the idea of labelled blood bottles. I might use that idea for the spice rack I posted a photo of earlier.

I also like that you incorporated the 'blood' theme into the food. We have a tiered fountain punch bowl I want to fill with red punch

 

[Mogwai]

booswife02: I'll have a look now. The colour scheme (black, red, white) for Twilight is fitting for our party, if nothing else. I've been on the hunt for vampire-y desserts especially, but a lot of the ones I've come across have been more directed at children's parties

 

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I'll have a look. Thanks

 

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ooojen: I know what you mean. I've seen quite a few people, on here and elsewhere, discussing their disappointment when their guests wouldn't touch the themed food because it looked too gross! The only thing I would consider making a bit more 'scary looking' would be the desserts. You can use Jello molds and other things to make some interesting stuff. You just have to make it look edible and tasty too, haha.

 

[Mogwai]

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while. Things are coming along nicely. I've ordered a few props, have been working on a few DIY projects and have nearly completed my costume already. I'll photograph what we have so far when I can and keep everyone up to date with the progress.

We're considering calling the party 'Vampires, Villains & Victims'. The decor will still be mostly focused on vampires, but we'd like to give our guests the opportunity to create costumes based on all kinds of dark and monstrous figures from history and classic horror stories, stuff like that. I'd still appreciate any suggestions you might have! We still need a lot of ideas for props, food... basically everything, haha.

 

[Mogwai]

harboe: That sounds fantastic. Would love to see your costumes when they're ready

 

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ichasiris: I hope there's something here you find useful. I'm starting to build props now so there'll be a lot more photos and ideas here when they're done

 

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girl77: Looks great! We're definitely going for a similar style and colour scheme.