50 Days to Go - New Stuff and Party Prep

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!

Two Weeks to Party Time!

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

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!

Don't Forget! Magnets Done.

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...

A Little Behind Schedule...

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...

2008 – Treasure Island Pirate Invitations

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!