This file is one of the Wolfstone archives of the Halloween mailing lists. You can find out more, and reach the entire collection here: http://www.pobox.com/~wolfstone/_r/HalloweenArchive.html This is a copy of Don Bertino's archive from http://www.calweb.com/~bertino/halloween.html on the subject of "Party Themes". Minor changes have been made, mostly removal of E-mail headers and signatures, but the germane content is unchanged. - - From: RoboJay at aol.com Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 18:53:21 -0400 Subject: Re: Party Themes I am a member of Mensa, and at our Regional Gatherings we frequently have themed costume balls. Here are some from the past that have come to mind: Mythological Come As Your Favorite Space Character Come As Your Evil Twin Song Titles The Night the Stars Fell on Alabama Come As Your Fantasy Cartoon Characters Party Animals And here are some I've thought of: Politically Incorrect Costumes Come As Your Favorite (or Least Favorite) Villain Costumes that suggest movie/song titles Be A Kid Again All-Star Sports Hope you have a great party this year! - - Date: Thu, 01 Jun 95 19:49 EDT From: Donna_KENNY at umail.umd.edu (dk62) Subject: Re: Re: Party Themes Hi, Don! Thanks for your reply re: my party themes message. I liked your ideas, but when we give a Halloween party, it's usually the Saturday night preceding the 31st of October, and *not* the actual night of Halloween, mainly because that's when the kids *are* out "trick or treating." We make a point of being home the actual night of Halloween, when the kids come out with their bags in our neighborhood, and we leave up the decorations from the Sat. night party. For example, we leave the eight-foot blow doll of Frankenstein on our screened-in porch for them to see (it's a front porch, across which/through which they must walk to get to our front door to get candy!). Also, we have our pumpkin/jack-o-lantern out with candles, and our old record player out on the porch table, playing (loudly!) haunted house and general creepy sounds. We also have a noise and bump-activated ghost hanging on the screen porch door, and it goes off and howls when they open the door. The rest of the decorations are mainly indoor ones. We also don't yet have a kid (but plan to acquire one...as long as they like Halloween, of course....) next year. But again, many of my friends have lots of kids. My husband (Dave) is a decade younger than I, and his friends are just now embarking into marriage and none of them has children yet. (They -- the friends... -- find us a bit silly, but I think when they have kids, they'll be as into it as my friends are...very!). Anyway, anything on Halloween is appreciated. I hope I did this replying thing right -- I sent this message just to *you* and not to the entire list. Was that right? It sure was nice to get a bunch of lovely responses! I also feel lucky that Dave and I are equally into the Halloween thing (my birthday is seven days prior to 10/31 and *his* birthday is seven days following 10/31 -- maybe that's why????!) Donna Harrington Kenny (and Dave Walton, Halloween Husband) - - From: dbell at cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Re: Party Themes Date: Fri, 2 Jun 95 15:11:35 PDT Donna Kenny sent: > Thanks for your reply re: my party themes message. I liked your ideas, but > when we give a Halloween party, it's usually the Saturday night preceding > the 31st of October, and *not* the actual night of Halloween, mainly because > that's when the kids *are* out "trick or treating." Yep. Ours this year (let's see - might be the 11'th annual) is the 21'st. We usually find even the Sat (just) before the 31'st can come too close, and collide with too many other plans/parties. > We also don't yet have a kid (but plan to acquire one...as long as they like > Halloween, of course....) next year. But again, many of my friends have > lots of kids. My husband (Dave) is a decade younger than I, and his friends > are just now embarking into marriage and none of them has children yet. > (They -- the friends... -- find us a bit silly, but I think when they have > kids, they'll be as into it as my friends are...very!). On choosing that kid: Don't sweat it - I think *any* kid will love it, if you just start them soon. Our 4 1/2 yo is suggesting ideas to *us*, this year! 'nother Dave, and Toni, Bell - - Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 11:23:42 -0700 From: milwiron at ix.netcom.com (D.D. ) Subject: RE: Party themes My wife and I always had the same problem setting up themes and getting adults to go along with it. Not everyone gets into Halloween like we (uh...I) do. I decided a few years ago to concentrate on the house and forget the parties. Strangers enjoy the work that goes into the decoration and will stop and thank us. We were invited to a very adult (X) themed party a few years ago that was professionally put on. As a novelty and it was alot of fun. Probably would never go again though. We all have our upper limits to the weird and unusual. - - Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 14:53:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Don Bertino Subject: Re: Party Themes On Wed, 31 May 1995, dk62 wrote: Hi Donna & Kenny! > A few weeks ago, I introduced myself to Halloween-L for the first time since > getting on the listserv a few months ago, and it's been wonderful to > (finally!) see a lot of action on this listserv! Yes indeed! > SOmeone asked me (I forget who--sorry!) what themes my husband and I have > used for our annual Halloween party (we've had two so far, going on #3 this > year). > Well, the answer is a bit boring -- for our theme is simply Halloween. I'd > thought about doing a "black and white" theme, or "come as someone dead > theme," or "come as a dead rock star" theme, or even a general vampire > theme, but we are limited by several factors, and I'm wondering if other > people have the same "problems." Simple is best sometimes. Thanks for the descriptions. [snipping great ideas] > Then, since we are East-coasters (D.C. area), it's simply *cold* at the end > of October and we can't really use our large and very usable backyard for > the party. Has does this deter kids from going door-to-door? If its 20 degrees outside do parents let them go? Indoor Shopping malls out here in California are having parties were each store gives out candy. A group of homes about five miles from my house do Halloween up big. (Well, almost as big as I do ;-) Around twenty homes get together and dress up a court of 5 homes at the end of the street. Two years ago they did the theme "Hook". Pirates, pirate ships (made of cardboard) 8' by 10' (they were built in garages and dragged out) A castle facing 15' tall by 20' wide. (also made of cardboard with 2x4 braces) A cute indian camp. About 150 crosses and 50 nicely craved pumpkins. Yea.. they kind of drifted in there but it looked great! They turned off the street lights and blocked off the court. This same group did Alice in Wonderland this past year, but I was unable to make it. I am not sure how grave markers and Alice mix but I am sure they did a great job! The biggest concern I have (ok ok.. my wife has :-) is building great props that either fold up for easy storage or are a one shot deal (throwaway). But more on this later... - - Date: Wed, 31 May 95 14:58:44 EDT From: wurst at eng2.uconn.edu (Karl R. Wurst) Subject: Party Themes A Halloween party theme that I always liked is "Come as you AREN'T!" - - Date: Wed, 31 May 95 11:49 EDT From: Donna_KENNY at umail.umd.edu (dk62) Subject: Party Themes A few weeks ago, I introduced myself to Halloween-L for the first time since getting on the listserv a few months ago, and it's been wonderful to (finally!) see a lot of action on this listserv! SOmeone asked me (I forget who--sorry!) what themes my husband and I have used for our annual Halloween party (we've had two so far, going on #3 this year). Well, the answer is a bit boring -- for our theme is simply Halloween. I'd thought about doing a "black and white" theme, or "come as someone dead theme," or "come as a dead rock star" theme, or even a general vampire theme, but we are limited by several factors, and I'm wondering if other people have the same "problems." First, we have a *small* house, with a tiny kitchen, medium-sized dining room and medium-sized kitchen on the first floor. Luckily, we at least have a medium-sized (finished) basement, where there's a TV and where last year (after total insanity the first year with too many adults and too many kids all on the first floor) we decorated and set up with snacks for *kids* and then told parents to send their kids' favorite scary/Halloween movies with them so we could have a sort of "kid-video night" down there for them. (That worked great!) Then, since we are East-coasters (D.C. area), it's simply *cold* at the end of October and we can't really use our large and very usable backyard for the party. Finally, our guests are mostly old grad school and current work friends who have a hard enough time dressing up as *anything*, nevermind trying to adhere to a theme. We did have something interesting happen last year: four of our families (friends who are married with kids) came as a theme unto themselves! We got the following: a Star Trek family; a Christmas Carol family (with the ghosts of xmases past, present, future, etc...), and Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf family. Even though we've only given two parties at Halloween time, I also hosted a summer Halloween party last summer for a group of about 40 teenagers at the local university (gifted high school students in a residential program, where I taught creative writing last summer). The party was given mid July, and I *did* request a theme this time: PAIRS. I was *amazed* at the incredible costumes, made from bits and pieces, since they had few supplies with them. Among my faves were Ying and Yang (a boy and girl team); Three Blind Mice (not exactly a pair, but close!), and Pebbles and Bam-Bam. Anyway, what have *you* all been doing about themes? Because of last year's fanily theme thing, I'm thinking of suggesting a family or "group" theme (for those unmarrieds.....). We only had two people show up without costume each year (out of about 45 people each time), so i guess that's pretty good? I'd love to hear about your themes and experiences with parties that have kids and adults. (I did "kid" games the first year, the usual dunking for apples, the donut game, etc., but again -- there was no room and it was packed!) Thanks! Donna Harrington Kenny (and Dave Walton) - -