happy halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I love this holiday so much! Friday we threw our annual Halloween bash. Here are some photos.

Some notes:

• The “photo booth” idea was snagged off some other blogs. Basically I painted a sheet of MDF with some oil-based paint (one coat did it) and went to town with a Sharpie Magnum (my new favorite product). I was inspired by the “Frames” wallpaper that was so popular in blogland a couple years ago. I spray-painted a big black poster frame I already had with some yellow spraypaint made for plastic. Love that stuff!! Took about 4 coats to cover the black entirely and it still isn’t perfect but it does the job in some kitschy photos! We set up a digital camera on a tri-pod across the room. Was a hit!
• My “raven” costume was very DIY. I had the dress from a costume a few years back. I glue feathers to the inside of the mask and made a beak with craft foam and super-glued it to the front. I cut fingers off some gloves and safety-pinned some feather trim around the edges. A feather boa and some feathers stuck in my hair and the look was complete!

• Food was a cinch. We made up some queso a’la Chili’s with some Velveeta and canned chili, set out a big bowl of tortilla chips, and lots of little bowls with all the fixins: jalepenos, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, olives, etc. I also made up a vegan “cheese” for the vegans in the crowd. Mixed up a few cocktails in pitchers and gave them festive names {Hauntini, {Pumpkin Piss- ha!, Witches Brew}. We taped the cocktail names to the pitchers.

Did not exactly stay within my $100 budget, but this was certainly a budget-friendly party with lots of quirky extras. Hope everyone had/has a fantastic Halloween weekend!

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halloween week

It’s Halloween week – party is Friday! Everything’s getting the Halloween treatment. Sneak peeks ahoy.

Garland:

Raven costume:

What’s everyone got planned?

chair makeover and a bit o’ Halloween treatment

Another quick before-and-after post, AKA the miracle of paint. I scored this chair from a junk shop. It says $15 on it, but I only paid $5. Niiiiice. I was going to fill in the flower design with some wood filler, but I decided to leave it for now.

I removed the screws holding on the cushion and gave it a wipe down with a wet rag and two coats of spray paint {Rustoleum Gloss Black}. After vacuuming and applying several liberal applications of Lysol, I covered the existing cushion with some fabric I already had leftover from something else.

Here it is in my entry way, which has been swanked up for Halloween with some raven silhouettes I printed onto regular old paper {to temporarily replace what was already in those IKEA frames}. Remember I said I was doing Halloween on the cheap this year? See, I said that. Today. This little Halloween nook cost me $5 and a bit of spray paint. {It needs a pumpkin sitting on the floor, no? Oh well, this ain’t no Pottery Barn catalog.}

This is a great example of how some ugly surface features don’t really matter; just find things with a shape you like, and cover it with paint {kinda like my awesome hall table}! I also remodeled some lamps this weekend, but I really hate the shades, so once I find the right ones I’ll be posting on that!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and it milking the last few hours! I’ll be catching up on wardrobe posts tomorrow, and sharing the rest of the Halloween decor I’ve been working on later in the week!

{budget} glam halloween decor

I loooooove Halloween. Even with the 90+ weather goin’ on, it’s officially October, therefore officially Halloween planning time! I wasn’t going to throw a party this year because I am pinching pennies for our winter vacation, but the thought of not having one was making me sad. Plus I am getting prodded by a few friends about it. Doitdoitdoit. So, I’m doing it. {I’m a sucker}.

This year, though, it’s going to be on a shoe string. Last year ran me $400+, so this year I’m going to try to do it on $100. That includes food, beverages, decor, prizes, invites and costumes. I’m scouting the web for ideas on cheap but awesome party decor, making lists of necessities and recruiting some help from my friends on food and such. Thought I would share some of the things that have my wheels turning today:

Just a little spray paint and some stuff from nature would run only a couple dollars {Silver pumpkins, black branches}:

Printing your own makes for a cheap but totally festive party {cost of paper and ink}. Drink labels, framed letters/silhouettes, table cloth from Pottery Barn {good inspiration!}

Make your own cake stand out of hat boxes {definitely on the to-do list! Tabletops look better with stands!}, tin cans covered with scrapbook paper is super budget friendly!

Anyone already scheming their Halloween festivities? Any fun ideas to share?

Zombie Bash recap {in pictures}

Thanks to everyone who came!

Best costume prizes went to Becca {Sally} and Jim. Congrats!!!

But no one disappointed. Check out the rest of the sexy people:

And a few other snaps worth posting…

Kid’s wretching Jack-o-Lantern & Morgan’s pumpkin cooler.

Food spread & body parts:

Cowboy lap dance action:

Creepy-perfect Halloween moon:

Halloween costume recap

I want to post about the Halloween party in some detail, but for now, here are a couple costume shots.

For work, my team dressed in 80s-style garb. My inspiration was Cindy Lauper-esque. Dustin channeled Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Deanna was a Glam rocker. Teresa did a wicked goth-punk look. Rowr. I don’t know what the Jazz-hands are for. I was mixing up decades maybe.

For the Zombie-bash, I WAS going to go for something Zombie-like. I came up with pin-up girl Zombie because I wanted to wear my bridesmaid dress from Heather’s wedding again! But the makeup didn’t work out so I went for plain-ol’ pin-up girl.

I watched YouTube tutorials on how to do my retro hair. Wish I had a better picture, because it was bad ass, if I do say so myself.

Jonathan made a great Tommy Lee. Love the tattoo sleeves!!

More to come on the party. 🙂 Everyone had GREAT costumes and it was soooo much fun!!!

zombie bash fabulous prizes

I promised a costume contest with “fabulous prizes” at this year’s Halloween party. Here they are, those of you who are vying for the coveted title of Zombie Queen and Zombie King.

Best costume, female: Your glam prize bucket, you gorgeous ghoul, includes: a bottle of dangerously cheap white zinfandel, two goblets, a copy of the horror movie staple  “Dawn of the Dead,” a bleeding skull candle, and a pink glittery skull key chain.

Wait? What’s that label say? MUUUAHHHHHAHAHAHA

Best costume, male: Your fabulous prize, your clever devil, includes Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale, two skull beer mugs, horror classic “Night of the Living Dead” and a bitchin skull lighter.

Best of luck!

macabre.

Today I went to the dollar store and bought these baby dolls. To rip the heads and limbs off of them.* Because Zombie-themed Halloween parties are awesome.**

*Halloween-time is the only time it’s ok to have a blog post that can be found by the Google search phrase “dismembered baby.”

**More on the party later. 🙂