Costumes & Cocktails

Like I always say, the first and most important thing to check off a party planning list is INVITATIONS! Check, check, check! I fell in love with these invites from tinyprints.com....

The colors gave me inspiration for how I wanted to decorate....and I kind of just ran from there with various ideas which ended up turning into three big containers of stuff I'd bought. The crazy part is I had no idea if it would all end up fitting together. Many trips to Hobby Lobby and lots of planning had me stacking up supplies and goods in the garage for over a month. Ya see, this is the first Halloween party we've hosted and only the second Halloween party we've ever been to. Here's a look back at our first!  I've never been the type to decorate for Halloween specifically...we always just do some simple fall decorations. But this year I decided to spook the place up and ended up having a lot of fun with it! So why were we having this party in the first place? Well I'll give all the credit to my lovely husband who suggested we have a costume party. Within five minutes I had invitations picked out and had already set a date. I wasn't messing around...that's how excited I was about the idea! Next to cross off the list...COSTUMES!!

Greased Lightenin'

It didn't take long for me to decide on a get-up. Now Riley on the other hand was a little bit of a challenge. He was against the whole couple's costume thing once he found out what I'd picked out. That is until I showed him a video of the final scene from Grease....this is when his eyes lit up and I could just see him thinking "why have I never watched this movie before?!" Hook, line and sinker. I finally had myself a Danny Zuko! I have always loved the movie and watch the carnival scene over and over and sing along. For one night I could be Sandy...if only we could dance and sing on that funhouse then we'd be set for life! I waited patiently for our costumes to come in the mail and almost died of laughter when Riley finally got to try on his wig. Why are wigs so darn funny?!?!

The morning of the party I had some awesome help from Katie and Lacy setting up the room at the hotel. I'm really hoping that this will be our last party at the Hampton. Now we will finally have a home here to house our friends and family! 

The girls and I worked magic on the meeting room and soon it was transformed into a creepy spider-webbed party room. Complete with cockroaches, spiders and flies on the food counter and an old surgical tray covered in blood and human organs. Katie caution-taped the room up while Lacy created some super cute centerpieces out of the random container of decorative stuff I had collected. I forgot to mention another little helper that was with us…..

Riley soon came to pick her up for a nap and the girls left while I made a run to Walmart. The afternoon was full of preparing food, baking, running, watching football, costuming up and hauling the food and drinks to the hotel. I had to toss a run in the day somewhere....after all, I was about to be Olivia Newton John. Kind of imtimidating. The entire time I ran I was playing her song "Physical" in my head as motivation to keep going. Lol! Riley was on Hallie duty and made sure that the babysitter was picked up and ready for a night at our place with the babe. Dara and I hopped in Riley’s big rig looking like a couple of idiots in costume and headed to the party to set up. What would I do without my Dara to help me work at super lightening speed to get everything ready in time for the first guests to arrive.

I was so excited once it was finally PARTY TIME!! Our friends and family trickled in and wowed us with their costumes! Lots of laughs for sure!

Greg as Keith Stone

Lacy as Flashdance chick

Rachelle at the Hooters girl and Steven the redneck (check out the tat)

BJ & Kim as WWII officers

Melinda & Brock as Scarecrow and Dorothy

Matt & Heather as a couple of boobs

Larry the biker man

Bill & Kathryn as Sgt Fanning

Shelley as the pregnant, thirsty kitty cat

Dara as the Wet t-shirt Contest Winner

Katie the old lady and Luke the hunter

Bailey the inmate and Spencer the cop

It was scavenger hunt time!!! Teams of four set out with their list of clues and rules to get back first and win. Each group had to go to six locations and take a picture at each place. Riley and I waited behind and stayed entertained by the texts coming in from the scavengers making their way through town. Here are a few of the pics some of the teams sent back....

The winning team came running through the doors about twenty minutes later....the Hooters girl, redneck and WWII officers made for a quick team! Flashdance, Keith Stone, pregnant kitty cat and scray clown with monster feet took second place about ten minutes behind the winners. I think this is why the Sgt Fannings, the hunter and the old lady made it back last........

That old lady and her walker slowed things down a bit :)

I’m 99.9% sure that everyone had a great time and even better, almost all of the food was eaten which meant we didn’t have a lot to take back home! We have the best friends and family anybody could ever ask for…..

So happy that my dad was there!

Kathy was ready for an upgrade

"Hey, I bet they'd hire you too...."

"My knee highs are starting to bunch "

Disorderly conduct for sure

Luke's robbin' the cradle

My sister the inmate...so proud

A night to remember

Fun times!

I had many failed attempts to get Riley to do a Danny/Sandy dance or just a shortened rendition of "Summer Nights" with me. Instead I opted for a quick photo sesh with my slick-haired counterpart where we tried our best to channel our characters....

I think this is me asking him how to hold a cigarette

"Tell me bout it, stud"

Two things: Riley with a cigarette in his mouth is just plain wierd and Danny never used a cell phone

We got a lil too loud

Hell's angel..he may look tough but he's really a teddy bear

The blonde suits her well...and her friends make a great cupholder

Everyone stayed behind after the party ended to help tear down decorations and pack everything up. What took about four hours to set up took a quick fifteen minutes to take down, pack up and load in the car. Thank you so much party people!

UNTIL NEXT YEAR….I CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR COSTUMES & COCKTAILS 2012!!