This year I am having a spooooooooky halloween party for some of my old college friends. Now you merkins mayn’t realise this, but on this side of the pond halloween ain’t that big a deal. On the other hand, the twin infallable oracles of cinema and TV have taught me that in the States halloween is celebrated with all the zeal and zest of any other big festive occassion. And mass media would never lie to me, would it? No, that’s what I thought.
So I’m in the market for suggestions. So far I have costumes and a few bits of house decoration. And I’m going to make jack o’lanterns. We’ll do apple-bobbing. Beyond that my knowledge of this event begins to run a bit dry. Has anyone ever come up with something really good? In particular, a practical joke that would scare my friends silly would be one hell of a boon.
I’ll try to give you some suggestions tonight (assuming I have any that others haven’t come up with in the meantime!) but just for reference: would you like this to be a Creepy Halloween Party or a Silly Kitschy Halloween Party? There are elements of both to the holiday, and personally, I’m better at the Silly Kitschy kind.
Themes are good. I wouldn’t try to cast a wide theme that everyone must abide by, but try to encourage groups of people to come up with their own. Some tried and true that I’ve seen:
The Village People: Cowboy, construction worker, cop, biker, indian (Meh.)
The various incarnations of Madonna: Material Girl Madonna, Evita Madonna, pregnant Madonna, pointy boobed Madonna, Marilyn Monroe Madonna, cowboy Madonna, etc. (big hit)
Forest: Everyone ties some sort of shrubbery to themselves. Individually, you look like a fool. As a group, it’s hiliarious. May upset Parks and Recreation.
Boy Scout Troop: I’m not sure if there’s a Brit equivalent. Everyone wears a Boy Scout uniform, one person dresses as the den mother (preferably in drag).
CHiPs: Ponch and Jon of the California Highway Patrol.
Alex et al. from Clockwork Orange
Siegfried and Roy: Tiger not included
Amy and Steve Irwin: The Crocodile Hunter and his wife - bring an inflatable alligator to ocassionally wrestle