Great ideas for hosting the perfect Oscar Party
February 16, 2005
Lifestyle guru Libby Langdon offers tips for at-home soirees
NEW YORK (February 16, 2005) The suspense is building as America awaits the glamour, glitz and
fashionable celebrities who’ll stroll the red carpet Feb. 27th at Hollywood’s
Kodak Theatre during the 2005 Academy Awards ceremony.
Millions of movie fans
around the world will gather in front their televisions to witness the entertainment
community’s biggest night and maybe, with some encouragement
from lifestyle guru Libby Langdon, host a memorable, fun bash for family and
friends.
“The Academy Awards can serve as the perfect excuse to get together with good
friends in the dead of winter and have some fun,” said Langdon, a former film
and TV actress herself (www.libbylangdon.com) and host of FOX TV’s “Design Invasion.”
“
If you don’t enjoy movies think of it as watching a three-hour long fashion
show; you’re bound to have a blast looking at the beautiful clothes and also
bashing the blunders,” Langdon said. “Your celebration can be as easy or as elaborate
as you’d like,” she said.
Below are Libby’s fun ideas for hosting the perfect
Oscar Night party.
The Envelope, Please: Invitations
Print
Invitations
on
heavy gold Mylar cardstock, give them a double fold and seal them with a large
gold
sticker
and
write on the outside of the
invite “And the winner is…”
Go to your local movie
theater and ask for “short
ends” of film (little
pieces they cut off when they load the reel onto the projector) or get some camera
Picture film and write the party details on the film with a gold metallic pen,
send in a padded mailer labeled, “And the award goes to…”
Best Original Screenplay: Party Themes
Host a “Red Carpet” Party everything
should be red; red flowers,
red cocktails, red tablecloth & napkins; red candles, red invitations, even ask
guests to wear something red!
Match your theme to a Best Picture
nominated film;
For a “Sideways” party
have a wine tasting and pair with hip food; For a “Million Dollar Baby” Party
serve Beer and burgers; For an “Aviator” party serve martinis, caviar and Foie
Gras
Throw a vintage Academy Award
party, choose a favorite year of past Oscar nominees and invite guests to come
dressed as one
of them, tailor the food
and drinks to reflect that time period
Have an Oscar Pajama Party it’s
about as casual as you can get, order in takeout food or serve comfort food and
lots of champagne…this is probably
what all the non-nominees will be doing!
Host a black and white Oscar
Party have everyone dress in black and
white, decorate in black and white, even dress as a star from the days of black
and white films
Throw a Black Tie Oscar bash
- Set out fresh flowers in all one color (all Red or all white), lots of candles
and set out buckets
of champagne (or
the less expensive Prosecco) this will instantly give you guests the feeling
of an extravagant Hollywood party.
Best Production Design: Décor and Ambiance
Go to your local video
store and ask for any old movie posters, (they usually throw them away) and hang
them all over your house
Rent a TV projector (about $100
a day, but worth it!) that plugs into your cable box or VCR and project the Oscars
on a blank
wall; you can really
make it feel like a theater by hanging some curtains on either side of the image.
Set out lots of candles so you don’t diffuse the image.
Have great movie music
playing the background for arrivals, take pictures of guests when the arrive
with a flash to give the real feeling of paparazzi,
you can even set out a long piece of red felt to act as a red carpet (just make
sure you stake it into the ground on either side so the “stars” don’t trip)
Go
to Oscar.com, they have printable ballots; give each guest a ballot to fill out
when they arrive. It’s fun to see which guest has the most correct
award choices, (if everyone can stay up that late)!
Make your bathroom
look like a make-up trailer from a film set, set out make-up, small pictures
attached to the mirror of movie stars, sunglasses,
hats, a screenplay, a stool or chair and any other fun accessories you have…who
knows what your guests will do with them!
Get a movie magazine or vintage
film
book and fill all your picture
frames temporarily with photographs of Movie stars
Write the name of each acting
nominee on a small metal rimmed tag and tie it with a ribbon (of course matching
your theme) to wine glass stems, each
guest will be a star for the evening
Write favorite movie quotes
on cocktail
napkins with gold metallic
pens
Laminate small Newspaper ads
for the current nominated films, cut them into 4 x 4 squares and use them as
coasters (you can also use
magazine photographs
of favorite film actors)
Make sure you have plenty of
seating, or at least floor
cushions and
pillows
Catering/”Craft Service”: Fun Food & Cool Cocktails
Serve
everything Buffet style; items that can easily be eaten away from a table, make
dishes that can be prepared ahead of time so you’re not in
the kitchen missing the entrances on the red carpet
Tailor cocktails
to nominated films; (The “Million Dollar Baby” Bloody
Mary, The “Ray “ Rum Punch, The “Aviator” Cosmopolitan and the “Sideways” wine
selection)
For Dessert set out Twizzlers,
Milk Duds, Good & Plentys
and Rasinets.
Let guests help themselves to the “concession stand”
Create a food menu around
a favorite movie, display a printed menu on the buffet letting guests know what
film inspired each dish:
a)“Doctor Zhivago” Caviar, Bellini’s, Chicken Kiev, New potatoes with sour
cream, green beans almandine, champagne
b)”Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” Mint Juleps,
Biscuits, oven fried chicken, cheesy mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and chocolate
cake
c)“The Godfather” Mozzarella
and tomato salad, olive bruschetta, Osso bucco, broccoli rabe, polenta and cheesecake,
cannollis, Red Wine
d) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Sake, Japanese beer,
spicy summer rolls, Shrimp fried rice, Chili/ scallion Spareribs, sesame noodles
and vanilla bean
ice cream with fortune cookies
e) “ Spanglish” Shrimp Quesadillas, black bean
salsa, guacamole, chips, Chili rubbed pork tenderloin, corn and tomato salad,
tortillas White wine Sangria and
pomegranate margaritas
Props: Goody Gift bags
Treat your guests to the
best part of any awards night…THE GIFT BAG! You can
be as elaborate or as simple as you’d like! Some of the items you can include
are:
Individual bags of microwave
popcorn,
a gift certificate
at your local movie theater or video store
a small packet of Kleenex
sunglasses
cocktail napkins
split of champagne
small bag of homemade cookies
in the shape of stars
sample sizes of perfume or lotions
(available
free at dept
stores)
small picture frame or mini
photo album
Homemade
CD of favorite movie music
disposable camera, take pictures
at the party,
develop
them and give
them to
friends or host as thank you
Postcards of Los Angeles and
Hollywood
Boxes of
movie theater candy Milk Duds, Twizzlers, Good & Plentys
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