My sister is the consummate themed party planner in my family. No one will forget her Star Trek party at which costumed guests "beamed into the party" via circles on the floor and a light up panel on the wall of her entry room manned by my nephew who stood at a control panel in his "Red Shirt" costume. This year, I think I can rival her party planning skills this Halloween with a True Blood party of my own. INVITATIONS: For the perfect invitations to your True Blood Themed Halloween party, TrueBloodWiki.hbo.com has invitations made for fans and endorsed by HBO. Simply download the .pdf files to your computer and print them in color, and you'll be sure to impress your guests. DECORATING: Rob Kalesse at Spark suggests that you "Change all the lightbulbs in your house to lower wattage, or even darker colors like purples, reds and black lights. Remember, vampires don't appreciate the light." Candles will give the ambiance similar to Bill Compton's house (which is what I'm planning to go for), and decorating in reds and blacks with low wattage white Christmas lights will give the feel of Fangtasia. COSTUMES: Last year, my dogs went as Princess Leia and Darth Vader, but I'm definitely ready to retire the Star Wars idea in favor of making them shapeshifters. Spark jokes that I should "Name them all Sam." I plan to make it more authentic by dressing one of my dogs in a Merlotte's Bar and Grill T-Shirt and the other in a Fangtasia Shapeshifter Dog Bandana. Spark recommends getting "some of those "Hi, My Name Is" stickies, and ask your guests to write whether or not they're human, vampire, telepath or shape-shifter under their name,"though I am all about costumes myself." If you're stuck for costume ideas, you can check out TruebloodWiki.hbo.com for Costume ideas for all your favorite characters and then go to the www.hbo.com/trueblood and click the shop tab to buy all the stuff you'll need, like a Merlotte's T-shirt and waitress apron or a Fangtasia pint glass. FOOD AND BEVERAGES: Angel Vee at Associated Content has some great ideas for True Blood Vampire food, including recipes for Vampire Red Velvet Cake, Vampire Cherry Goulash, and Black Popcorn Balls. Also, remember the specials at Merlottes include: Lafayette's AIDS burgers, Hoyt's favorite Chicken Fried Steak (like a chicken and a steak had a delicious crispy baby), Terry's Jailhouse Chili, and fries with ranch. And check out our What's Cookin' archives for more delicious recipes from Lafayette (a.k.a. Arlene Culpepper). Be sure to have some Tru Blood beverages on hand as well, whether you plan to use them for mixed drinks or for drinking straight from the bottle (I wouldn't recommend microwaving the stuff, though, however authentic it might seem, since it's not likely most guests actually will like it at 98.3 degrees). For drink recipes, check out True Blood Wiki's Merlotte's Bar Book. ENTERTAINMENT: Music is such a huge part of the show. I've downloaded all of the True Blood soundtrack songs from iTunes and created a playlist just for the party,throwing in some of the KDED songs mentioned in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels as well. Spark recommends putting your "TV on mute and set up the DVD player with Season 1 playing so your guests can relive their favorite moments from the show" and since I still have the Season 2 episodes stored on my DVR, I can show them as well, though you'll want to make sure that if you're following this suggestion, your guest list is adults only. And just to go that one step further, I'm even setting up tables in one room for a Yahtzee tournament. Of course, we play to five million. People might end up at my house for a while. I swear, I don't cheat, however. What would be the point? With all these ideas, my party should be epic. What's my costume? Sookie, of course. Maybe even with some fangs. SOURCE: Spark, TrueBloodWiki.hbo.com, Fangtasiaspreadhirt.com, and AssociatedContent.com (Photo credit: HBO Inc.) http://truebloodnet.com http://truebloodnet.com/community http://truebloodnet.com/forums
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