Halloween 2011

For the past 9 years, my friend Emily and I have thrown an adult Halloween party for 30-50 of our closest friends.  Each year the theme changes and so do the decorations, the games, and the food.  The best part of the party is probably in the planning.  We start planning in September, although we discuss possible themes throughout the year.  We've had a Hallo-wedding, a Dead man's party, a Movie party, a Hollywood party, a "Bookish Soiree", a Game party, and this year's Masquerade.

We've had the masquerade idea in the back of our heads for sometime, hoping for the right location and the right year.  This year everything came together - the location was the event center of a local restaurant, which we rented for an AMAZING price, including table linens, setup, cleanup, and 2 servers.  We also hired a magician to perform both during dinner, and a show afterwards.  In case you are looking for some fun entertainment, I'd highly recommend him.  You can find him at:
http://www.hubermagic.com/

Our invitation was a glittered mask which we embellished with a black wooded dowel, peacock feathers, and lots of ribbons.  Because our guests all live locally, we hand delivered each one.

We decorated each table with an arrangement of purple, teal, green, and silver sprays we found at a home decorating store. We added a mask and peacock feathers to each one. We chose purple table linens with a teal organza fabric around each vase. Other tables were also decorated with a similar theme - feathers and masks.

Our favors were also on the table - Emily made yummy fudge and homemade marshmallows on a stick which we packaged in a cellophane bag and attached a fun rhyme.  We also placed riddles on the table as conversation starters.

When our guests started to arrive, it was hard to tell who was who, with their "masked" disguises.  We had everyone from President and Mrs. Obama, a black and white cat, Batman and Superwoman, masquerade ball "goers", a ghosty lady and her pirate companion, a mobster and his diva lady, and much much more.

Before the party, we had asked each couple to tell us a story about themselves that no one would believe.  From these, we chose six stories and had 3 couples assigned to each story.  The story was true for one of these couples, but the other two had to come up with their version of the story and sell it to the audience.  I never realized how good my friends are at lying!  It was hard to tell which couple was the real couple.

 
Our dinner was catered by Blue Lemon - rolls, salad, rolled up chicken stuffed with herb cheese and vegetables, and then a dessert buffet consisting of lemon bars and chocolate brownies.

Until next year...