Halloween Party - It's never too early to plan ahead!

Humm.. what to do with this Monster....

Ah, the great and wonderful Halloween Party!
Let's take a close look at lil' Miss Witch shall we!

The adorable, not fully painted face, but everything a... good witch or bad witch can be!
DECEPTION at its finest!

As my dear friend put together the most awesomely but scary to the wondering guest, as hostess she makes herself both the witch you trust as a friend, or is she fooling us with showing most of her face of innocence! This particular person is not just any girl. She is blessed with the sweet "little girl" voice that can be alluring to anyone. Drawing in sweet trusting children and big hairy monsters! Whose afraid of her? There's the trick! NOBODY!

But maybe they should be! After all, take another look at her face. A very easy green blended eye shadow that appears wing-like! A dab of lighter green or even silver on the inside eye, swept outward blending into the darker green, with a trim of gold glitter that can be bought at any make up counter. Then a few dots of gold placed randomly to give it a bit more glitz & pizzaz! The rest of her face just highlighted with a shimmery translucent powder. This gives the illusion of wonderment to how much we can really trust this witch.

What we really don't have to tell everyone, but we'll let you in on the reasons and secrets is this hostess is actually very highly allergic to the drug store "Witch makeup." So she has to be very careful what she uses or she gets a horrible reaction! The cost of going to a good preservative free makeup counter helped her achieve this look! Her hair is natural long brown with a bit of red highlights. Pair her - good and reusable makeup, with this witch cloak and hat put together an easy on/off full ensemble she's ready for guest!

Now, for the party favors that her innocent look can make this Halloween party one to remember for years to come.
Already prepared are a few strategically peeled RADISHES! Yep, barely taking the red off and leaving that root on! Taking a bit of blue, green, or brown, cake icing, don't forget the  black dot it in the middle, you have two eyeballs with retinal gory parts attached! Get a small shallow bowl or dish that will hold just enough liquid so it appears they were freshly removed from a skull and drop some red food coloring over the retinal area, and into the bit of water (or even milk for thickness) and it can be quite the creepy thing to SEE ;) while you're reaching for the chips and dip. EASY NOW.... DIP? Is it really guacamole dip? Sure we want to trust our friends party, but come on it's a Halloween party after all. Oh, I'm sure you can trust it, go on take the plunge past the staring eyes and have a snack. Just because you're now questioning one thing doesn't mean you have to question everything now does it? (Ok the ghost shaped cookies could be made out of paper, the first bite just will be bland and not harmful.)
Why would a empty milk carton be labeled "Apple dumplings" if it wasn't? And, who wouldn't want a try at that anyway? Tell your guest to go ahead snag one or TWO out with those tongs and plop them on their plate. Just because you only have one eyeball staring at you doesn't mean it won't be a zippy taste to go along with what is really either Vanilla pudding with a tad bit of yellow food coloring and round red grapes or rinsed Marciano cherries, or a yummy french dip with a hint of that yellow food coloring and some kinda freaky looking dumplings that are simply cheese rotini pasta!
Food coloring can go along way at a Halloween party! Right down to the bigger noodles, normally stuffed with the many choices for dinner, but on this night, intestines that might not have digested everything and could be filled with either rinsed spaghetti O's or even a broccoli or cauliflower piece! (which is actually good when dipped into that apple dumpling *LOL*

Don't forget to drag out the old clothing and stuff them with paper (or various size balloons)  and sit them in various places! Maybe stretch some saran wrap over the bathtub after filling it with crinkled mylar (bought at any party shop) and shine a red/black light on it hung from the shower head, and use an old wig and paper mache a face with some bugs coming out of it's mouth & eyes. Only let a few things be close to the top, like the hand holding onto the side. Some double sided tape or a backward ring of duct tape should hold it in place. DON'T FORGET to put either a black light or a very dim light in the bathroom and keep that curtain closed, save the tub or shower for the snoopers! If this is too much, try the good ol' guy in overalls hanging from a noose (Although try to be aware that some pranks can lead to bad memories for some. If you know of anyone who has committed suicide, please avoid any reminders, after all, it's a party to remember in a fun way, not the house one never wants to return to, so not knowing everyone's history, the tub is really the better idea!
A broom stick with a bunch of rolls of toilet paper (some real, some maybe newspaper if you take the time to prepare) and place it either horizontal, which works best, or vertical for guests so you have one less worry of a guest being left searching for those spare rolls under the sink... which could actually be the home of a mask over a water filled milk jug! Even more fun the one that talks as seen in stores!

Place your things strategically and keep your guests guessing through the evening! Oh and don't forget plenty of paper towels or sponges for the weak stomach.. and fishing line can go a long way as well! Also a good one for the men come in handy as soon as a Mister puts the seat up underneath it can be when the fake spiders begin to dangle! So of course he'll be glad to put it back down, after all if your guests enjoy a good party, they'll want things to be set up for the next person who comes in!

A fun and intriguing door prize might be placed as a centerpiece on a table, something coveted, but trick them by picking a number, when that's not what they need to keep track of! It could be a question of what is the best trick that GOT THEM at the stroke of midnight! BUT you might want to have the tickets printed off to say -"You never know what the real question might be for the door prize so be careful what you let others know, remember what you see, and REMEMBER ABOVE ALL, WHICH WITCH IS WHICH." That will ensure secrets, ensure your party was the best night of all, and NO TOUCHING the centerpiece gift!

Be the party giver of your friends and who knows, maybe that new iPad door prize was just a ploy to keep your guest guessing and remembering your gags because it really came from the pawn shop and is filled with... just plain ol' wire! :) ::gasp:: which witch really is the witch!

Lastly, if your winner seems a bit sad that they didn't really win a good prize, have a dinner for 2 gift certificate to a restaurant on hand so the person doesn't feel empty when leaving your party, and make sure they know it's real, no strings attached.. maybe except the old bobby pin with a rubber band and large button that is twisted so it flips and flops and gives them one last gasp!

 HAPPY HAUNTING'S AT YOUR NEXT
HALLOWEEN PARTY! 

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If you really love the party idea's feel free to let me know via paypal.com, any amount is an appreciated gesture, at itsmekat@aol .com These party idea's are not just to ask since I began the first one before her fall.She's an amazing hostess!
She introduced me to another girl who I became close friends with. Now any help is welcomed for help with travel to visit at least once a year as I'm happy they are both still alive! Also some medical bills for the girl above she had no insurance. They both have extensive brain injuries and any monies donated will be used to help me travel back to my home state for them. 

If you leave an address, I will send updates on their well being and what your money was spent on and if funds permit a post card in travels or visits! Thanks if you read this far, and either way look forward for more party hosting blogs because there were plenty before either of us were injured. (I fell down the stairs, but was the lucky one with just bruises and scrapes to heal, so I travel to them until they fully recover to travel to here.) 
I will remove this part of the party posts when they are recovered and out of debt.
Feel free to write me at my email just to ask questions, I do not want to give out their names, but will gladly update on their progress or share their stories.Thank you for reading.

The Party Planner - The Dip Party - For no special occasion?

I have to write this little blog about what a great party planner my friend is! I don't think she gives herself proper credit, but she's never given a party in the past 15 years that hasn't been the coolest most unique party I've ever been to in my life! That's not an exaggeration!

The last party I was able to attend was "The Dip" party! It was a "no occasion" party, other than to get friends over and have a great time!  Which we surely did! Since I'm from out of town, and at the time it was before my eye surgery so I had to drive in the light, which made me a bit earlier than the other guests. That is always great because with me not getting to see her often we had time to chat before the guests arrived. I love helping her set up her parties and she does not miss a thing!

This party in particular, was all about dips! So she had about 10-15 different dips in perfect "1 dip" dishes. Which is the most sanitary, clean, germ free way! Nobody wants someone to double dip! She knows that, so she had different types of breads cut into perfect small bite size pieces, all with toothpicks already in them. She had them in containers with saran wrap covers so you could easily see which type of bread you were getting and stickers with the names of the dips all set in a line! Everything was perfect along the counter, so no sleeves or crumbs or lint from a shirt (or hair) would fall into any of the breads or dips! Amazing set up!

One thing she had I thought was brilliant for the party breads, was a lazy-susan in the center each section had a dish with every type bread that would fit! Even English Muffins cut into bite size pieces, yummy Artisan small cuts in triangles, nice brown pumpernickle wedges, rye, cinnamon bread with the crust torn off and folded onto the toothpick so it scoops up a lot of dip for the big dipper! Take a look down the bread isle and the picks are endless. If you live near a Panera Bread store, they can set you up with any size order of breads as well as kinds to fit a cool DIP PARTY!

On to the dips! Imperative was super cool napkins, after all they are dips! She also put out a few paper saucer plates in case someone wanted to make a few up and slip out of the way for other guests! She had two good size stacks of each, at each end! There are great easy and inexpensive dip recipes online. First she went and picked out her dips. Each dip recipe  she wanted to make she printed them. To get her ingredients without waste, she went through each one, writing down how much of each ingredient she would need for all the dips.

She'd made two different kinds of curry dip that was just awesome! She wrote down how much, then went onto the next. Apparently almost all of them had some degree of onion, both plain white ground onion to the green tips that make chives perfect. Garlic, both already diced and cloves for ones that called for just a bit of juice squeezed from one clove! Real butter and then a slide down the spice isle. I believe she mentioned several had both or either sour cream or cream cheese. Getting enough for all the dips cannot be stressed enough! The less trips to the store even for finishing touches is both a time and money saver! Don't forget your saran wrap to cover the breads, as well as extra toothpicks incase you need to cut more bread (which is super simple if you have them ready to go. Stack them, and use a serrated eged knife for clean sharp cuts of bread.)

As I helped her set up the line of breads with toothpicks and the centered lazy susan, napkins & paper saucers on the ends, plenty of soda & drinks (even kool-aid if children attend your party) all she needed was seats, music and since guest would be hovering to try each dip, not a lot of other things needed to go on, made this a fantastic party! It was a definite hit! I especially liked that she put the names on the dips, so the guest could make their own or ask her for a copy of her print off! The party was a blast. Some of the men drank a few beers and wandered to the porch and us girls actually got into a karaoke game inside!

Even though she had cards, and a few games like Jenga, dice, yachtzee out, the chatter over how cool and creative and GOOD the dips were, games were the last thing on anyone's mind! 

I really have to give credit to my good friend for her creativity when it comes to parties! I have asked her before to make a blog for them, and she isn't interested, but you can rest assured, I will certainly pass along any compliments to her! In fact I have to copyright this in her name, because she's so incredibly creative that not only do I feel it an honor when I get to help her put these together, I'm sending to Washington so we can get her idea's published into the most unique party book there has ever been on the market.
You can feel free to use this party theme, but please come back when they are compiled into a book, and you will get the full monte with photos and other details not mentioned in his post. Thanks, and please feel free to leave a comment!
(c)SLS/KA :)