9/2/07

Theme • Pre-invite • Invite • Favors • Decor • Menu • Activities

It doesn't look like we'll be having a party this year ('07) but by 2008, we hope to be in a new location and there WILL be one. So I'm starting to plan now (Aug. '07). This one is going to take some work, because it's, well, weird. Feel free to follow along... but please don't be disappointed if you're not invited. We're small-gathering people. This isn't so much a "party" as it is a small gathering for no more than ten people, including ourselves. But we do many of the typical party things (invites, etc.), so we call it a party.

Theme: The weird starts here. At our last party (long ago in 2004), we had a "bad movie night" theme. One of the movies we showed was one of my all-time favorite bad movies: House of the Long Shadows (I saw it in the theatre when it came out in the early 80s). I guess it was supposed to be a comedy, but with Desi Arnaz, Jr. in the lead role, it just wasn't. However, the (so-called) supporting cast made the move worth it: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine, Sr. They carried that movie! The move was based on a 1913 novel called Seven Keys to Baldpate, by the author of the Charlie Chan series. Apparently, seven movies have been based on this novel, but I've only seen the one mentioned here.

All I know for sure is that I want the theme to have something to do with a combination of the book and movie -- the best elements of each. Creepy, long-empty building, everything covered in sheets, some back-end story to add suspense.

9/2/07: So, the book did not help. The only thing the movie had in common with it was the last name of the hero, one of the names of the heroine, and the fact that a lot of people had keys to this vacant building and hardly anyone ever told the truth. Not a bad book, but nothing spooky or scary that would lend itself to the theme. So, we're sticking with the movie.

Pre-invitation (Save-the-Date): The point of a pre-invitation is to make sure your party gets on your guests' busy schedules. Since our gatherings are so small, we REALLY want these specific people to come. I have been wanting to use this pre-invitation forever, but it hardly fits the theme, so it goes on the back burner (again).

The theme of both the pre-invite will be keys. I need to find or make key-patterned paper and will probably track down some Edward Gorey images (stamps?) for the pre-invite. Gorey's style is Victorian Gothic, which is pretty close to the time period of the novel.

7/10/08: Pre-invite
Postcard from fictional inn
With - Hope to see you on the ____. You'll need a key -- watch the mail!

Invitation: Sent closer to the date with all the details. Once again, I have one planned, but it won't fit this theme.

I'm envisioning a letter on parchment -- a thick kind of parcel -- with a skeleton key. The letter would contain some of the back story (set up) and a key, asking the invitee(s) to come to ______ Manor (our home) at x time on x day.

9/2/07: Based on the decison to stick with the movie theme as a base, we need to give our home a name. Since my husband is half Welsh, and the movie takes place in Wales, we are going to name the house Fesen Baradwyse, which means "Acorn Paradise" in Welsh. The guests will be asked to come to Fesen Baradwyse and to bring the key that was sent in their invitation.

I can get new skeleton keys at Home Depot for about $1 apiece and age them if I can't find enough old ones. Once I read the book, I'll have a better idea of what the gist of the letter can be.

Favors: Favor bags will probably included creepy smelling candles from Dark Candles among other cool things I find between now and then.

I want to do a music mix CD, in round decorated, which will have nothing to do with the theme at all. It's just something I've always wanted to do. DH will do the cover art and I will probably do the CD label.

Decor: The number one most important prop will be a reproduction of a statue in the movie. (See the bottom of this section.)

Since the movie (and, I presume, the book) takes place in a long-empty manor house (the book is set in an old inn), we'll cover the furniture with old sheets. We'll have plenty of time to get our creepy family portrait wall together again. We have two Lenticular haunted prints: one from Haunted Memories and one from Haunted Portraits. Around those, we'll get some larger prints of ourselves, done up or lighted in a spooky way, plus whatever else suits our fancy. (Not looking to replicate the entire movie, just the feeling.) If they'll fit in, I'll also hang a couple of the gravestone rubbings I've done recently.

I was given some very creepy baby dolls that will need to find places to hide. My Psycho Bathroom plan will have to wait until another year.

Menu:

Activities: This will be a new thing for me. I've planned kids' and teens' parties, and games/activities are very important. But the last adult party was A) food and conversation, plus B) a couple bad movies. Everyone had fun, but this time, I want to add another layer. We'll need to craft a back story (probably borrowed from the book or movie), which will be inserted into the invitations. We're very low-key, and I knit, so anyone that wants to bring knitting will be welcome. But I want to have some kind of costume contest (thinking period costumes for whatever era we settle on) and maybe a scavenger hunt of some kind. This part will take some time.

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