‘B’ Musings

Yes, I know it has only been 2 weeks since I wrapped up this year’s party. Trust me, there are still remnants everywhere! Especially the pirate ship outside my window that my husband does not want to dismantle. Either way, my goal every year is to look at all the materials I gathered from this year and figure out how I am going to repurpose them for next years’ theme, therefore forcing me to come up with a theme pretty quick. Luckily I always have tons of ideas sitting on the backburner which made choosing the next party theme very easy. Are you ready for it?

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Tim Burton and his wonderfully eccentric world is my theme. Comical Horror is a great way to play with creepy decor without making it scary. It also allows the creator, me, to have as much imagination as possible worked into the decor. Disproportionate  characters, whimsical lines, crazy towns, and all in black in white. My goal is to create a completely grayscale party where there is no color anywhere. So here’s a look at some my inspiration pics for the year:

There’s plenty more where these come from. My file already has over 400 entries for costume to decor to food inspiration. It’s time to start collecting materials and planning out a timeline to make sure it all comes together next October. Wish me luck!

That’s it. It’s over. Another year done. Last weekend was our annual Halloween party and I must say that I was fairly happy with the final product. After a year of hard work and bringing ideas to life, our guests seemed genuinely impressed with the array of decor we provided.

We originally built a cave out front that guests had to come through to enter the party. I would have included a picture of said cave but we hit dew point the night before and so the entire thing sagged by the morning of the party. I managed to make it presentable by evening but there is no picture worthy of posting.

When you got inside the house, you were greeted by a large ‘X’ on the floor. This was the beginning of the treasure map of the party in which you followed all the dashes through the event until you reached the final ‘X’ at the treasure. So here’s a look at some of the things people saw along the way…

This was the Captain’s desk inside his quarters, where we had a leather journal for people to glue in their pictures from the photo booth that was in the room and leave us a message. As the night went on, the pics and comments got quite a bit crazy.

In the kitchen, I covered all the cabinets in cardboard painted to look like wood plank and added port holes lit by twinkle lights. The overall effect was very dark and cool which I loved.

In the courtyard, I set the large table for the Captain’s feast, complete with baskets of bread and fruit and a very, very large candelabra in the center.

At the fire pit, there were hand made canvas pop tents, bottles of grog, hay bales, and blankets where the pirates had landed on shore and made camp.

Once you made it to the pool, we covered the diving board in a 14 foot long plank that people could pretend to walk.

Of course, next to the pool, was the main attraction: The Ship! This piece was 60 feet long and 42 feet tall. As you can see in the foreground, I also cut planks of wood, stood them upright, tied rope to each of them, and gave the illusion of a dock.

The pool also had a series of floating candles in it as well as I pirate on a raft that was lost at sea. I need to put that pirate back in the pool and take a good picture of it to post.

At the end of the line was the treasure chest, a large steamer trunk lit from inside and overflowing with treasure. You can see the final ‘X’ in the picture as well.

Here’s a close up of the treasure. You can see that I even included a spray painted Chambord bottle in there.

My husband is always such a good sport about my obsession with Halloween. This is my favorite picture of the two of us from inside the Dollface Photobooth.

I need to mention my wonderful brother, Brian, who made the trip up for the party and wound up working all day to help me set up.

At the end of the night, I had my photographer take this picture as if I am ready to take my own life with my sword since the party was over and there just wasn’t anything left to live for! I hope y’all enjoyed it.