Halloween Party Invitation Reveal: DIY Creepy!

“Darrlings, welcome to my Laboratory. Are you thirsty?”

Well, it’s official. My Halloween Party invites have been put in the mail, so now they’re ready to be revealed to all of you!

In case you haven’t heard, I have this insane giddy-like love affair with Halloween. Some day I’ll tell you how it started, but for now I’ll simply admit that we’ve been throwing Halloween parties since my youngest son was 8 months old. Yes, I actually have a picture of Michael in his little Winnie the Pooh costume sitting on my hip at our first Halloween party, all those years ago. And now here he is, sixteen years old! 

Photo: weheartit.com

Once upon a Time…

Those were the preschool years when I would fill empty oatmeal containers with dried beans, seal them tightly and decorate them. Then, Patrick, Michael and their little friends, would carry them (making lots of loud noise) while they walked down the street as part of their neighborhood costume “parade.” When they got older, I would spend my October weekends painting both the inside and outside of eight or nine refrigerator boxes with Wal-Mart's cheap black paint. Afterwards, Jim would tie the boxes together to create a haunted maze in our darkened garage. Oh my goodness. All the boys especially loved that tradition. Yes, we’ve had many years of wonderful kid parties but once the boys became old enough, the kid parties gave way to the good ol’ big- people celebrations.

Of course, this year is no exception. And as usual, I had a spooktacular time making my invitations.

Inspiration:

This year, I decided to go with a Halloween Cocktail Party theme, but without the restrained, mature ambiance that ‘cocktail party’ connotes. Ah, how distressing that would be. No, I still expect to have the scary sounds of funk and 80s tunes blaring in the shadows, along with those gruesome displays of dancing in the haunted ballroom, however, I needed an infusion of blood inspiration for this year’s party invites. So why not call it a … Cocktail-Party?

How to:

Once I decided on a vial of blood as the centerpiece of my Cocktail- themed invitation, I had to decide on a safe and durable container for mailing. I looked online for actual glass vials but I needed a LOT of them, and they were too expensive. Additionally, I was concerned about mailing costs and breakage. Can you imagine the wide-eyed horror on the face of the postal worker who spots the bloody looking stuff leaking over his piles of white, pristine envelopes?  I finally found the cheapest, and most realistic option on the wedding aisle of Michael’s Crafts Store. Anybody recognize these?

I emptied the bubble soap out of the bottles, clipped the bubble wand off the cap, rinsed them out well, and left them to dry overnight. Meanwhile I sprayed the caps with black spray paint.

I printed out the words, Blood type: tasty  Lab supplier: Transylvania onto Avery Labels-5160 and aged the labels with Distress Ink. Then I centered the labels on each bottle taking care to cover the company’s tiny “eye irritant warning” on the front.

Using a bowl, I mixed up Karo corn syrup and red food coloring using water as a thinner. I added lots of food coloring for a deep red effect. Then I poured into each bottle; half full. Once I put the black cap on, I decided to add a little 3-D effect with a drip of “blood” I made with red Scribbles paint.

I printed the word “Thirsty?” on the computer, cut and used Mod Podge to stick them on to tags. Then I dipped all the tags into coffee, removed and dried them quickly with my blow dryer. Be careful to remove these out of the liquid quickly or the string comes off.

Once dried, they look stiff and old. I tied the tag onto each bottle, and placed the vials of “blood” into small Kraft boxes lined with black cardstock and moss.

I printed out the words, “A Party to Die for…” on Avery Nametags, and distressed and cut the nametags to fit on front of a miniature black card. The black card was simply a piece of cardstock cut and folded to fit into each box. The inside read, “Ve vant your Body at …The Harris’s Halloween Cocktail Party,” with party details.

The black invitation titled, A Party to Die for… went inside the box with the blood vial.This is what each invite looked like.

And this is a photo of my Lab specimens… They all look so yummy, don’t you think?

 

Now, the fun part. What are we REALLY going to drink? These are a few Halloween cocktail possibilities from the Hostess with the Mostess blog. Have you visited this party blog yet? You really should, there are some wonderfully, creative ideas for your next planned event.

Photo: Hostess with the Mostess; the screwed up shooter and black widow cocktail.

In the meantime, check back here and join me as I plan my spooky decorations and share some Halloween party ideas. And for more Halloween invitation ideas you can click HERE.

Thanks for visiting darrlings!

 

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