Lucubration Station

So its party preparation time.
I'm one of these people who puts way too much effort into organising parties. I'd like to think it pays off but I probably put more effort in than necessary. I just really like throwing a good bash okay! The planning is half the fun.
lets look at a little retrospective, parties that stand out in my memory...

18th - Wear a tie

This was the big family type one, lost of rellies and friends of my parents as well as my own friends. Mum set up the wall of photos and did speeches and things. We hired a small hall/function room thing, Set up the sound system, brought and setup my PC for music and blew up a million balloons. Food, drinks and such were done by the venue. Most people found a random tie to wear, some where SPECTACULAR. One girl hand made hers, it was so great. Most people my age spent all their time outside smoking and no time inside partying. However, there was gratuitous nutbush action.

Children's Party - Dress as you did when you went to parties as a kid.

Hired a large hall, organised my friends band to play. Organised sound equipment for said band. Once again carted my PC in there and set it up as jukebox. I printed out a bunch of posters of barbie, ninja turtles and all the greatest cartoon heroes. Banners, balloons, party hats, party plates and all those garish things. Made fairy bread, butterfly cakes, mini sausage rolls and pies. This place had the smoking area more integrated more into the hall which was better. Quite the awesome gathering, I had an amazing time. The quality of costumes and the percentage of people who dressed up blew me away.

"B" Movie Party - Come as something from a B grade film

this one I really went all out. I stenciled a giant Dr. Frank-N-Furter on an old sheet and did a series of banners with famous B movie faces on. Like Frankenstein and Elvira. I copied up a pile of movie posters and stuck them up all over the place. I printed up a Ed Wood Quote and setup a marquee tent for smokers or people who wanted privacy. I also provided heaps of food, nibblies dips and so forth.




Barbie and Ken Cocktails - Come as a Barbie or a Ken of your own design

This one didn't turn out as well as Id hoped. Most of the organizing went into the cocktails side of things. Making sure everyone brought a bottle of something and that we would get a wide variety and be able to make many delicious combinations. I was having the thing in someone else's backyard so I had to cart over tables, chairs and eskys and put up a marquee. Not so much on the decorating side. Lots of hard work really. In the end various people didn't show who's alcohols we needed. So I ended up spending a lot of money I didn't have boosting the liquor reserves and not many got into the costume spirit, so those who did felt pretty silly. In the end we all got drunk and fell down so that all that matters really.

Masquarade - Masquerade ball, wear a mask
I spent weeks beforehand making masks. I knew people would turn out without so I decided to make spares so everyone would have one. It mostly worked. I was really happy with mine in the end. My friends Lord Byron played for us and we had some fire twirling and such. I made lots of food from scratch and decorated as much as I could. This was my favourite party Ive ever organised.

My next birthday party has a time travel theme and I'm really excited about it. I was originally thinking more a long a steampunk theme but not enough people seemed to know what I was talking about and the idea is perhaps too narrow. So now its time travel, I'm imagining people picking an era, or a character in particular to depict. I'm still going to head along the steampunk idea.
Which means I need to start finding bits and pieces that I can use to create the look. so far I have... a pair of gloves, maybe a pair of boots. So its going to take quite a bit of op-shop trawling which happens to be something I really enjoy. I've gone through three small stores already and found nothing that really leaps out at me except the gloves ($1 woop!) Ill keep you updated on my progress. As well as posting pictures I'm using as inspiration.

The other thing is decoration, I have to get this theme going in a more convincing way. Im imagining in my head Milliways - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
A place that can only be visited by time travel, except this is a party rather than a restaurant. So how exactly can I convey this?
Any idea send them my way.
I think Ill gather some old sheets and decorate them up, like I did at the B movie party, either with stencils or simply just spray painted. I could try and create a black hole/ dr who spiral effect?
Maybe some interesting lighting?