That people talk about for eternity.
No really.
But first, I’ll be honest.
When it comes to throwing together an awesome party that people love and talk about for weeks afterward, I’m sort of a big deal.
At least in my hood.
I’ve never had a suck party credited directly to me (I don’t count my 16th birthday party that was a bust because, technically, that was thrown by my parents).
People usually love the decorations (made almost entirely by BFF), and the food (made entirely by me because I do not allow others to contribute food stuffs for fear of my thunder being stolen), and the entertainment (in the form of a trivia type game that brings out the inner Michael Jordan in my neighbors) equally.
So yeah, my parties are a hit!
But, that success is not easy to come by.
The days, sometimes weeks, leading up to said soiree’s are generally wrought with stress.
What will we serve?
When will it start?
How will we get people here? Handmade invites or online evites?
Do we need a playlist? Will it include I’m Bringing Sexy Back? Of course it will.
All things an expert party thrower like myself needs to consider.
All things that lead to tons of yelling at obnoxious children and the occasional pre-party breakdown over the mysteriously missing Dixie cups or the half eaten cake pop (I know it was #2, it almost always is).
This Sunday we celebrated our 3rd Annual Happily (un)Haunted Halloween House Party at Casa de Dummies.
Similarly to the two years previous, it was a hit.
Everyone had fun. Some appreciated the clever decor (can I get a woot for my HANDMADE BY ME Halloween banner?!), and all appreciated the food (cake pops a hit again!).
I figure three straight party success stories makes me some kind of an expert in the area of throwing successful parties, so I’ll share some tips!
Dumb Mom’s Guide to Throwing a Party People Will Talk About and not just because Uncle Joe got drunk and peed on his ex-wife’s boyfriend’s tires Forever and Always Amen
1. Make it pretty. By spending hours constructing, from scratch, by hand, a Halloween themed paper banner that you hang super high, at a creative angle in sketchy lighting to prevent people from seeing how crooked your letters are accentuate its gorgeousness…
Throw in some creatively edited photos of other attendees kids (funny how much people enjoy photos of their kids, even if they are ghoulified)…
And, a thrown-together-with-candy-from-last-year’s-Halloween candy table to please the kiddies…
IMAGINE IT PEEPS, IT WAS EPIC and I’m too tired to go fetch the camera to prove it.
Party gold I tell you. Party. GOLD!
2. Make it tasty. Even better? Cute and tasty. Like these bad boys…
Funny thing, though. I actually spent a good 8 minutes crying over the fact that I’d ruined them (long story short, I bought a different brand of candy melts that didn’t melt quite right and got all lumpy and ucky, and yeah…near disaster) and then I came up with a novel idea. I call it the make-them-ugly-on-purpose idea. I drew the funny jack-o-lantern faces and changed the “aliens” into mummies and voila, more party gold!
3. Make it cheap. The fall and winter are really expensive months for Casa de Dummies. I’m not as busy in my business (winter in Maryland is not the most popular time for outdoor photography), the holidays are coming (which means Santa is gonna have to work his magic which doesn’t really feel like magic when you’re shelling out the cash), and it’s birthday season too (all of The Dudes are born between November & March). Point is, since Sugar Daddy Dumb Dad isn’t big baller shot caller rolling in dough we have to be creative with our cash flow to fund all this awesome. Not hard because I just bully people into helping me all of our neighbors and friends are super laid back and easy to please.
4. Make it fun. Seriously, the trivia game (designed entirely by moi, thanks for NOT helping Dumb Dad) is like the highlight of our yearly soiree. People really get into it and it usually ends in pushing and shoving smiles all around.
5. Make it timeless. It’s the photos that do it. Everyone loves to see them afterward and I know that you all do too! Particularly ones of me as chunky-black-Katy-Perry-inspired-chick-in-a-tutu a dork (BFF is NOT a school girl gutterminds, she’s a NERD). Those are more than timeless, they’re priceless you know!
Are those cake balls? I love them, we made some for my son’s 2nd b-day party. I can still taste them. Sooooo good.
My cake pops were a total fail when I tried them. They fell off the stick into the chocolate. Any tips on that? And 2, awesome party! I used to throw Halloween parties until “the incident.”
Naw, the nerds were with us at the university orchestra’s Halloween concert.
Great Party. I can only do a cowboy theme.
Looks like ya’ll had a blast.. Love your outfit and your decorations..
We had a big Halloween party this year, but we had a hayride. Oh yeah. What’s that on the awesome scale? I would say pretty high up there.
But I totally can’t see myself doing it all again. Even though David thinks it was great and would LOVE to make it an annual thing.
I keep seeing those cake lollipop thingies everywhere, and I feel so left out! (Or at least my kids would, if they knew everyone has them but them.) I wanna be invited to your parties! Looks great!
The banner looks great.
There IS nothing like a good party. And, expensive decorations and such totally don’t mean anything to me. It comes down to whether it was fun and the food was good.
Amen.
This year the only party I went to was a campfire. So thanks for sharing a bit of your EXTRAVAGANZA smash hit.
Look at you rocking the long hair and tutu!! Hot mama.
I’m so impressed that you go all out with handmade stuff!
Love your halloween treats.. it must have been a really rocking time at your place.