Scaryview Cemetery Scrapbook

Heaven & Hell Party Photos 2011

2011-10-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

The party's over, and it was a great time for all, methinks! Thanks to Maicie Wolfe for taking pictures this year - she did a far better job than I could have, for sure. You should be able to click on the photos for larger versions, I think. I haven't identified anyone just in case they'd rather remain anonymous (relatively speaking).

A Dark Angel (tied for 1st place), a flower, and dirt (funniest costume award).

Eek! Devils!

An evil (?) wizard...

Um...

Ooo...now there's our very dapper looking host!

Your split-personality hostess (why yes, my halo is leaning...).

A lovely good 'n evil couple. :-)

Trouble x 2!

Now that is one scary devil!

Dark Angel #2 (tied for first place)

A not-so-angry bird...and look! A geisha and a nun!

Our esteemed photographer and her lovely (?) date...

Need to get to heaven? These two will drive!

Busted by the emperor! Or was it Caesar? Hmm...

Knockin' the balls around (there's a reason this party is adults only...)

That specter is fixing to drag this guy off for not wearing a costume...

Another costume slacker. Watch out guys. Just try that next year. I dare you! ;-)

Dark Angel #2 again, and our Blue Angel...

Very dangerous to do at a party...passed out!

And a lovely swirly skull to end the evening. :-)

Thanks to all who came - it wouldn't be a party without you!

Next up, Halloween night in the graveyard out front...if you're local, stop by, & bring the kids. :-)

Decor Progress!

2011-10-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

The new carpet is in (well, mostly), and we spent Tuesday putting the outside power outlets back on the new siding (with help from my dad) and getting the new entertainment center delivered. So today was the first real day we had to get on with cleaning and actual decorating, and we worked most of the day and a few hours tonight as well. A lot of cleaning, so tomorrow will be the main decor push, but we met the Devil:

Don't worry. If you're coming to the party, you'll meet him soon enough. ;-)

We also helped a ghost get off the ground:

Ooo...good pic of the new carpet too!

And then tonight, I put up one of our Halloween villages in the new entertainment center. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but you get the idea:

So a busy day all around, and tomorrow will be a lot more decorating as it's our last day to really work on the indoor decor (we still have a graveyard to put out, you know...).

Two days to party time! :-)

How to Make Your Spiders Happy

2011-10-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Just eleven days to party time this year, and we've barely started decorating! We've had some issues getting new carpet in (it won't be installed until next Monday - eek!), and it's been a bit slow starting because of that. But we're moving now, and tonight it was time to make the spiders a cozy home.

First, of course, they needed a welcoming environment. Enter the webs!

Ignore my socks there. This is a work in progress, after all...my feet were hot!

Once the webs are in place, it's time to set the spiders. But be sure to put the biggest ones out first. They get jealous otherwise...

Then it's time to put the medium spiders out. They normally like to hang around, so I hook 'em up with curtain rods and whatever shelving I can find.

I have a little dropping spider - his specialty is "Boo!". He'll need to hang...somewhere spooky for the party, but for now, this hook will do.

Then it's time for the tiny spiders - they're happy just hanging out on the counter top, which is handy. Now we're almost done...

Still, I feel like I'm forgetting something. But what?

Oh, right. Food! Don't forget to leave your spiders a nice big snack. Wouldn't want them to get hungry and start munching on party guests now, would we?

I think we can safely say that the spiders are happy now. :-)

What's next? I'm not sure. It may or may not involve skeletons...

Party Pics 2010

2011-09-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

Alrighty then - we're starting to gear up for Halloween 2011, and I realized I never actually posted party pics from last year! Bad blogger! Of course I was going through the few we have, and honestly, I'm not sure how I managed to get such blurry pics. But you get the general idea, right?

I know, my photography skills are scary, right? Anyone wanna come be the photographer this year? ;-)

I need to get invitations out by October first...eek! More coming later this month...

T-Minus Two Days & Counting...

2010-10-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

We're in all-out party prep mode around here - the house is coming alive with all things creepy, crawly and furry. Tomorrow the graveyard will come together, baking will commence and we'll start on all the final details.

Here are some pics of what things are starting to look like - the last until after the party. Watch for party photos Sunday or Monday...

Ooo...a dark hall. Wonder what's in there?

Skulls on top the entertainment center - they are entertaining, actually...

Our front window - glows in during the day, glows out at night.

Dr. Jekyll's Lab...spooky, no?

Wonder what's in the jar? Do you dare get closer?

More of the lab...and who's that standing by the shelf?

Skulls under lamplight - much spookier at night.

Shiny! Sparkly! Time-warpish!

We may have an infestation on our hands here...wonder what's behind the curtain?

Party favors for guests....

And our graveyard, currently hanging in the living room. Tomorrow all this will go out to the yard.

Here's to a great weekend and a spectacular party - more by Monday!

Four Weeks to Party Time...

2010-09-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

...and today, we hung a witch in stocks above the dining room table. Hard to get a good picture - I'll try again when we have better lighting in place. We also went on a shopping spree...and got a feather wreath for the living room:

And adopted two more Zombie Babies from Spirit Halloween to join our nursery. Cute little buggers, aren't they? ;-)

Brent's pretty well finished with the mausoleum with a final wash of gray/stone paint today. I think it looks rather rugged and worn, don't you?

And from the front - the moss adds quite a dingy touch, I think.

I hung the skull curtain today as well - I think it will fit well with the "ancient" theme we're doing for the living room area...very nice for atmosphere, wouldn't you say?

Tomorrow is all about the party invitations - must get them finished and sent out this week!

50 Days to Go - New Stuff and Party Prep

2010-09-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Look at that - the countdown clock says 50 more days to Halloween! that means there's only 42 days to the party on Oct. 23rd...and we'd better get moving! I got the official clock out today - it plays scary sounds every hour on the hour during daylight. My favorite clock, bar none. It's especially fitting this year, since our theme is a "time warp" - Halloween through the ages. We'll be focusing on ancient times (celtic/druid), 1600's - 1800's, and a nod to the future for our party deco.

We did some shopping today too - Target finally has their stuff out here, and we had a good time. This year, no paper plates for us - we bought a whole set of 20 melamine plates, and 8 bowls (all dishwasher safe, of course). We need to go to the other Target store and see if we can score some more bowls...

Naturally we got napkins too. Can't have a party without napkins. Just above and to the left are the bags I'll use for trick-or-treater packages this year. We also got a big beverage tub, and a whole kit of lights/sounds found at Lowes - because you can never have too many flashing lights or scary noises.

We also got some craft supplies for other projects - including this year's invitations:

Then we came home and while I was washing up 24 brightly colored coffins...

Brent was in the garage working on a new prop for our cemetery.

He's also been working on a few other things...wonder who will end up in this?

This week, I'll be working on getting those invitations done, and I think it's time to start putting some interior decorations up!

It's Coming...

2010-08-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Deep in the basement, a sense of anticipation is in the air. The tubs and boxes sit quietly, waiting for their moment under the watchful eye of a lone sentinel.

The clown is still sleeping in his corner...

While the babies whisper excitedly in their crib just a few feet away, "Did you see it? It's so big!"

The snowman cowers in his box, trembling in fear at the newest addition to our collection of creatures.

And upstairs, the cause of all the fuss sits proud and 2ft tall, surveying his new domain.

It's coming...

...are you ready?

Party Pics!

2009-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

I'm horrible at taking photos at events, but here are the six I got. I think we can safely say a great time was had by all!

Next year's theme: Time Warp!

Party Week: Thursday Scenes

2009-10-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Blogger went down last night, so this is yesterday's post, finally up.

My main mission today was to finish painting the graveyard fence black - mission accomplished! Of course I forgot to get a picture, but there will be plenty once we get the tombstones out tomorrow. After letting my hands recover for a bit (I don't love spray paint!), I headed downstairs and set up the autopsy room:
Cool in regular lighting, but way spookier with the red bulb in!
I spent the rest of my time today cleaning, putting totes away and working on the main activity for the party. We're very close to being done with all the scene setting - here are some shots of the pediatrics ward:

Peek-a-BOO!

What's that they're playing with?

We also brainstormed the party ideas our guests will vote on for the 2010 party. The themes are:

Heaven & Hell
Worst Fears/Superstitions
Time Warp

Which one would you vote for?

More to come...

Party Week: Wednesday Report

2009-10-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

A lot of cleaning today - putting away unused decorations, getting the glassware rinsed and put out, finishing up the last loads of laundry so I can turn that area into "Autopsy". Not too much to show though...just a quick pic of what I was working on late this afternoon: Sorry, I can't tell you exactly what these are for. Don't want to spoil it for the party guests. I'll let you in on it after the party. Should be pretty fun, I think.

Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be decent, and I'm headed outside to finish painting the fence, and set up the graveyard in the front yard. Hopefully it won't be too cold. I'd also like to finish up the stuff in the photo above, and maybe get the gift bags done. We'll see how far the day goes.

More tomorrow!

Party Week: Tuesday Report

2009-10-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today was half taken up with errands this morning, one of which was gathering up and donating Halloween stuff we don't need/want anymore to the local rescue mission store. Most of what I did this afternoon involved cleaning, vacuuming and putting stuff away.

So I thought I'd share some pics of things already mostly done:

Our bartender this year - the creepy lab technician.
Brent's crematorium - looks creepy this way, but with the lights and fog...primo!
Our MRI machine - another of Brent's brainstorms. This one will have special lighting/sound too.
This afternoon I put the x-ray box up...looks pretty good here, even without the lights on!
Why am I showing you a gray shower curtain? Hint: our normal curtain isn't gray. Doesn't it make you wonder - what's on the other side?

I'm running half a day behind...tomorrow morning, I'll be finishing up the basement as much as possible. Tomorrow afternoon, time to assemble party bags and start prepping the contests. More photos tomorrow...

Party Week: Monday Decorating

2009-10-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

It's party week at Chez DeBree, and time to get serious with finishing up the decorations and other preparations. Today was the day to finish up all major decorating on the main floor, and while I didn't get everything I wanted to done, I got quite a bit done. A couple of scenes have to wait until Saturday to put up, and I scrapped one other decor project (no, I'm not telling what) due to time constraints. Here's some of what I did today:

I set up the corpse buffet under our new giant bat. I love that guy! His eyes flash red...scary!
The skeletal centerpiece, ready to serve.
The windows have eyes! Or one window, anyway.
And some creepy faces around (and in!) the fireplace.
Tomorrow I'm finishing up the basement decor - photos tomorrow night!

Two Weeks to Party Time!

2009-10-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

Everyone should have received their invitation by now, so here's what they ended up looking like. Turned out very well, I think, but I forgot to add that costumes, as always *are* required. Oh well...we'll have plenty of costumes for anyone who "forgets".

We're at crunch time now - and thank goodness we have a three-day weekend to get some things done. Here's what we worked on today:
Brent downloaded some old medical certificates and documents that we replaced the pirate pictures from last year with.
Then I got the Dept. 56 village set up in the living room: Next, a bloody border and some dangling skeletons:
And finally the Lemax village in the basement:
Doesn't sound like much, but we did some cleaning & reorganizing as well. Tomorrow, I think we'll be able to get pediatrics/therapy/surgery mostly done, and some work done on a few more rooms as well.

Still haven't found my Halloween clock though. *sigh* I hope it turns up soon!

Fence Panels & Clay Toes

2009-09-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

We made good progress last weekend, assembling all the new fence panels for the graveyard this year. Each panel is comprised of two wood furring strips and nine pieces of PVC.
Much measuring, drilling, screwing and innuendo ensued...
And voila! 31 fence panels, ready to be spray painted black this weekend!
I finally finished the clay toes this weekend too - 25 little toes made of modeling clay, with a ring through each heal.

They were baked for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, and Brent painted the toes black for a final touch. Now they're all ready to go!
Wait a second...what are these toes for? Anyone care to take a guess?

Photos of some of our new props coming soon, and I need to finish the invitations to be sent out on Saturday!

Progress on the Fence

2009-09-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we made good strides with our new graveyard fence. We started out by cutting all the PVC pipe into three and four foot sections. Then Brent set up a "painting table" out of sawhorses & plywood, and started spraying. It takes a lot of black spray paint to cover white pipe!

Then we cut the furring strips into six foot lengths, and traced nine holes on each. There's Brent, hard at work...
The drill press made drilling the holes go at a fairly fast clip, once we figured out that we needed a sharper bit. Still, it was a lot of holes, so we didn't finish up until late in the evening. Voila - the first small pile of rails drilled and ready for paint. This pile was much larger by the time we got finished.
We did a lot of shopping last weekend too, which I forgot to get photos of, and bought some clay for toes. I'll post pics of those this weekend. We got some new Scene Setters for the operating room (surgery), and a plasma ball (remember those?). We also got some cool salt & pepper shakers, and a nicely spooky napkin holder. We found the shot syringes too, nice not to have to pay shipping for those! I need to mix up some jello shots, and make sure they'll work okay with those.

More to come soon...time is flying right by, and the party is just 5 weeks away! Yikes!

New Graveyard Fencing

2009-09-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last year on Halloween night, we had problems with parents stepping over our low fence - followed closely by their kids. Because we have all kinds of electrical cords, etc snaked through the lawn decorations, we prefer that kids especially stay out of the graveyard proper, just to keep anyone from tripping & hurting themselves. So we decided it was time for a "proper" graveyard fence.

We got the instructions online (see the HauntProject.com link to the right), and Brent decided to build a panel just to see how it would look, how hard it would be, etc. Turns out it was pretty darn easy, as you can see above. These 6ft panels just stake into the yard with rebar, and are made of 1/2 inch PVC pipe and 2 inch furring strips. Obviously we need finials to put on top of the posts...we're still looking for something suitably haunting.

We need 32 panels to do both halves of our graveyard, so today we bought 90 PVC pipes and 60 furring strips, 2 more boxes of nails and another box of black spray paint. Once all the panels are finished, we'll add some moss & creepy cloth to finish off the look. Can't wait to see what it looks like all put together!

This weekend we also bought bloody tablecloths, and cheap MP3 players with cheap speakers for sound effects around the house. Can't believe we didn't think of it before, but it's the perfect solution for getting specific sound effects to match individual "scenes".

Now if we could just pin down the invitation format...

Don't Forget! Magnets Done.

2009-08-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

I finally got our Save the Date magnets done! And I have to say, I think they turned out quite well. We decided to send these out this year in advance of our actual invitations, to both let people know what the theme was early, and to get the date on people's calendars so they could rearrange schedules, find babysitters, etc.

This was one of the easiest things to do for the party. I just made up business cards in publisher with themed images and printed them out on business card stock (perforated, of course). Then I removed the needles from syringes I'd cleaned, and wrapped red thread around the plunger before putting it back in. I stuck the thread on a business card magnet, then the card over the thread. The most time-consuming part of the whole project was getting the business cards lined up well on the magnets!
As you can see, there's no address or name - just a return address on the envelope, and the "Details coming soon" in the corner. Our blog address too, of course - which is new for this year.

We're mailing these out tonight - I hope our guests are as excited as we are for this year's party...

Box of Goodies & Fence Building

2009-07-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

Less than 100 days to Halloween, and we're revving up for this year's party & yard haunt! With any luck, I'll be posting weekly updates now through the "big day".Yesterday we got our second order of Halloween goodies, as you can see from the photo above. I just love the new "evil pumpkin", and we're already "testing" one of the props in a jar of water there. Some cabinet covers for the kitchen, body bags for treats, and some craft items for our main activity this year. All very exciting! Good thing I cleaned off the kitchen table last week, eh?

Last week, we headed to the local hardware store, and got all the materials to build a couple of new fence panels for our yard haunt. We're using plans we found on HauntProject.com (linked to the right) - if you're looking for new projects, go check it out! We're putting two panels together, and if it works well, we'll be making enough to do the whole front yard. I think it's going to look really cool, and be much more sturdy that last year's cobbled-together barrier. I'll post pictures of our first efforts as soon as we get a panel finished.

This coming week, aside from working on the fence, my main goal is to get our "save-the-date" magnets done and ready to mail out next Saturday. I have magnets leftover from a previous marketing venture, so it's just a matter of printing out cards, sticking them to the magnets, and mailing them off. Gotta find some hospital-themed clip art though...which is sometimes harder than one might think.

Better get to work!

A Little Behind Schedule...

2009-05-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

I know. How could we possibly be behind schedule already?

Every year, we say we're going to order things early. Plan things early. Make things early. And we always end up running late. So far, this year isn't much different (though we did order some early props, and have been saving up containers and used (washed!) syringes for various things.

At the moment though, there are two things we need to get going on:

1. A story for our Haunted Hospital mystery, and the poor souls who died there.

2. Save the Date cards. Magnets, maybe? It seems like every year, we have several people who can't remember the date of the party (different people, so I don't think they're just avoiding us). This year, we're planning to send out little items (magnets for the fridge, I think) to remind people when the party will be, and what the theme is, so everyone can clear their schedule and get costumes planned in plenty of time. I think we'll send them out in late July/early August.

We've got tentative ideas for both, but of course, I can't share the details just yet, or it would spoil the surprise! Stay tuned...

Boot Hill/Graveyard Dip Idea

2009-05-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Brent came up with this the other night for a Halloween finger food. I think it’s a great idea – we’re going to try it for our snack table in the basement (ahem…the lab) this year.

The important part is the grave markers, of course. And unfortunately, I haven’t seen any tombstone or cross-shaped chips in the grocery store. So we have to make them. The idea is to buy thin corn tortillas, and cut out grave marker shapes (crosses, tombstones, etc). Then we’ll fry or bake them under a weight (think pie plate with stones or a cast-iron bacon press – anything to hold them flat). Voila – creepy chips!

Then just put your favorite nacho or bean dip ingredients into a suitable container, and top with the grave marker chips. I think either a rectangle cake pan, or a round mound of bean dip with toppings (for a “hill) would be great for this application.

Obviously we’ll have to test this out first – photos to come after the test run. Anyone else try something similar?

Halloween Bites

2009-04-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, one of our dogs had two teeth removed. They’d gotten infected, and when the vet tech asked if I wanted to keep them, I almost let him throw them out. Obviously, I came to my senses in time, and grabbed the nifty test tube he’d put them in, remembering that our theme is centered around all things medical this year!

So now we have these nicely grotesque infected teeth to add to our prop collection. The tech suggested that maybe we’d need to clean them up before use…but I’m not so sure…

Scaryview Sanitarium 2009: IV's

2009-03-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of our first props for this year's party! Always handy to have IV's on hand...

Currently on the planning table: A Corpse Buffet

Treasure Island: Party Time!

2009-03-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Finally – party time! Our main activity, of course, was a treasure hunt. We hid the treasure pictured above inside of a large ottoman down in the basement TV room, and created 5 sets of 20 riddled clues that were scattered throughout the house. After the guests arrived, we divided them up into teams of at least 4, but no more than 6, and gave each team their own pirate flag, a notebook & pen for clues, and a beginning clue. The hunt was on, with Brent and I each on a different floor to help teams out when needed.
Costumes are required for our parties – and provided for those who don’t wear one. I think we only had a couple people show up without, and they were quickly assigned eye patches and bandanas.

The flashlight is for finding clues - we hid them inside and outside for more room to play.

Treasure found! The "all girls" team won...is that surprising?
After the treasure hunt, pool and good times with friends. Our Pirate Captain host for the evening:
And yours truly, looking like a rather ragged pirate under our island-deco arch:
Everyone voted on the theme for our 2009 party, and when I tallied the votes at the end of the evening, the winner was a landslide: Haunted Hospital. Quick, someone call a doctor!

Treasure Island: Yard Display

2009-03-11T10:15:00.001-07:00

Our yard display was much improved in 2008, with the addition of a fence (for crowd control), foam tombstones, two spotlights and flying ghosts above the cemetery. Our “fence” was made of garden stakes screwed together and pounded into the ground, then connected with creepy cloth stapled to the “posts”. Small foam skulls served as finials, with larger skulls at the entrance. It was cheap and easy – we got all the creepy cloth at the dollar store, but not really all that sturdy when the wind started blowing. Another problem we had was that the fence just wasn’t high enough – it kept kids from stepping over, but not parents…and I’d really prefer that people don’t walk through the graves due to the cords and such that are needed for the lighting and effects. We’re planning a “fencing upgrade” in 2009 that I think will really add to the atmosphere of the display as well as keeping people from wandering through the cords.When we first decided to set up a yard cemetery for Halloween, rather than spending money on tombstones, I came up with the idea for these white markers you see here. They are simply wire hangers, stretched out then bent in half, with white garbage bags stapled around the wire. We made a tombstone for each invited party guest, without names, but just a short quip that would be a clue as to who was buried there (with the date of our party, of course). They’re rough around the edges, but I’m not quite ready to retire them just yet. You can also see one of our flying ghosts in the picture there – we had two on cables running over the graveyard. $10 each at Walmart…not a bad investment. They make spooky wailing noises that are somewhat cheesy, but fun at the same time. And of course the very cool wooden tombstones that Brent made a few years ago...we're still working on a better method of keeping them upright.
The “foam” side of our graveyard was new this year, and turned out far better than I thought it would. The spotlights really made the difference – after reading a lot on the Halloween forum, we bought a few cheap floodlight fixtures at Lowes, and some outdoor spots in blue and red. Aside from the problematic garage floodlights across the street from the neighbor’s house, we have no streetlights, so once the neighbor’s light was off, the yard looked really dark and creepy. Our next goal is to get fog pumping through the graveyard…We had a bubble fogger near the front steps that was the hit of our display – and this year, I’m trying to decide how to integrate it *into* a scene, rather than just have it as a stand-alone prop. It was under our big picture window, where you can see our pirate flag, though it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped this year, but still brought an element of our party theme to the outdoor display.
And of course the basket by our front door – rather funeral-esque this year. I was pleased with how it turned out – very dark and foreboding.Next post – party pics!

Treasure Island: Décor

2009-03-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun with the décor for our pirate party. I can’t decide whether the “No Quarter” hall of heads or the “Spider Stairway” was my favorite, but by far, the favorite “prop” of the evening for our guests was the “Bathtub Burial” scene (above). No, the bathtub isn't filled with dirt - it's amazing what you can do with foam board & plastic bags!
The "No Quarter" area - this was completely dark (no lamp light behind as in the photo), blocked off from the adjoining rooms with black tablecloths and our burgundy curtains. When the curtains were opened for people to enter, it set off a string of strobe lights with eerie music and laughter - the strobe lights illuminating the heads just enough to be super-freaky!Our "Spider Stairwell" - all the webs were lit by a blacklight in the stairwell...very cool effect. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of it all glowing, but you can get the idea:
What would a pirate ship be without a captain? You may have seen this photo in your local paper - I was interviewed last year for an article on Halloween theme parties. Fun!More to come...

Treasure Island: Menu & Tables

2009-03-10T15:45:00.001-07:00

A taste of the Caribbean was our goal for the pirate party, and we scoured the ‘net and books for recipes that would do the trick. We did pretty well, I think, aside from a few power problems with slow cookers & a warming tray that evening. What’s a party without any hitches though, right? We decorated the dining room “island style”, complete with palm trees & bright island colors, as you can see above. This picture was taken “the morning after” – as you can see, our inflatable palm tree couldn’t quite handle the excitement.

Our menu consisted of Salmagundi, a traditional pirate stew (minus the rat and pigeon meat), Jamaican Jerk pulled pork & rolls, Hula (pineapple glazed) meatballs, a tropical fruit plate, hot wings, and 2 tropical desserts (cake and cheesecake – both were delish!). The snack table downstairs was piled with chips and brownies – not traditional fare by any means, but enjoyed nonetheless.Upstairs on the non-alcoholic beverage bar, my skull punch bowl was the centerpiece as usual, with hot cider, water and pop nearby in a palm tree cooler (no picture, unfortunately). This is also where the drawing was to vote for our 2009 theme.
Downstairs at the “wicked” bar the Red Rum Punch was a huge hit, and gone before the night was over. Our rough-n-tumble bartender watched over the mixers with some help from our evil laughing pirate in the corner.

2008 – Treasure Island Pirate Invitations

2009-03-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

How do you invite a bunch of pirates to a party? With a message in a bottle, of course! Last summer, I ordered a kit that contained parchment paper, ribbon, sand, tiny shells, swords, and of course, plastic bottles with cork stoppers. We printed out labels and sent them “afloat” through the USPS around October 1st. I think they were perfect to set the tone for our party.

The text on the scrolls read:

**************************
Get Shipwrecked
on
Treasure Island

at the DeBree’s 5th Annual Halloween Bash!

Ahoy, Mateys!

Put on your best (or worst) pirate garb, and sail over to our haunted island on Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 7:00pm for food, fun, and buried treasure. Follow the enclosed map to find our island – “X” marks the spot!

Pirates only – all others will be captured and forced to walk the plank! Ship assignments will begin at 8:00pm, the treasure hunt starts immediately after. Beware the spirits and monsters…

Follow the Pirate’s Code of Honor – call (number) or email (email) to either reserve your spot on a ship, or to admit that you’re too scared of Jolly Ol’ Roger to go after the booty for yourself. If we don’t hear from you, you’ll be hearing from Blackbeard’s Ghost…

Costumes will be provided for those who “forget” them, as well as a hearty dinner and drinks to ward off that nasty scurvy!

Scare you there…if you dare!

Guests under 21 will be consigned to Davy Jones’ Locker.
*********************

We included a map on the back to our house, printed over a Caribbean map. Fun to make, fun to send, and everyone seemed to get a kick out of them!

2007 Photos - Academy of the Undead Awards

2009-03-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I don't have too many pictures from our "Academy of the Undead" Awards party, though I might be able to get some from a couple participants later. For now, this is what I have. As you can see, we hung metallic door curtains *everywhere* to add to the feel of the evening, and the Cemetery arch made a great photo backdrop.
Two curtains between our living room & dining room:
The "bar" downstairs...it gets better every year:
Our Lemax SpookyTown Village:

The TV Room downstairs:
Our "pool room" mascot:

Welcome!

2009-03-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

This blog will serve as the digital "scrapbook" for our annual Halloween party & yard display. Pictures, plans, props, and food - all will be included for posterity. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and prepare to enjoy the scarier side of life with us!