Have Yourself a Happy, Haunted Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you! Without a doubt it is one of my favorite times of the year. Even though I scare easily, I love the spooky Halloween parties. There is something about seeing all the jack-o-lanterns, witches, wizards, vampires, scary monsters and hearing stories of "things that go bump in the night" that I find so much fun. This year I decided to dress as a vampire, and put together a fun costume. I even had fake blood dripping out of the corners of my mouth...blech!

 

To me, the best Halloween parties are when guests really get into it and go all out with fun costumes. Depending on your creativity, time and budget, you can create a world of the unknown and unexpected for guests. I love all the hype and theatrics of great Halloween decorations. Check out these great pictures...I hope you have a good-n-spooky Halloween too!

Zombie guarding a coffin...

Skeleton still getting an IV drip

Spooky Ghost warning guests

"A Spooktacular evening"

My nieces had a dinner of Mummy, goblin eyeballs and witch's hair

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The Palm Springs Monster Mash, Part Two

Today is the second post of photos from my "Palm Springs Monster Mash" Halloween Party this past Saturday. As I mentioned yesterday, I had to take these photos during the day because my camera does not take good photos at night. So none of these look quite as scary as they did at night with the spooky red lights we had all over the place. We went all- out with decorations, some of which we made, and others we bought. This Zombie head on a spear (photo at left) was motion-activated and would shriek a variety of crazy sayings to unsuspecting guests.

Above: We made this flying ghost, which was hanging over the bar on the back patio. (Even our bartender was spooked by this ghost). Above right: various props from around the house, skulls, jars full of blood & eyeballs, and big black hairy spiders.

Above: Hanging Bats and caged Zombies hung overhead by the pool.

Above: Scary Zombie heads hung from the rafters, while strings of huge hairy black spiders slithered down strings, hitting guests in the face while making their way outside by the pool patio.

Above left: Skeleton silhouettes hung inside these glass French doors on the east end of the patio & above right: The outdoor fireplace was a favorite spot for our guests to hang out and admire the spooky atmosphere.

Above: Meet Esmerelda, our Gypsy Fortune Teller, whose head was inside a glass globe located in the Library waiting for guests to stop by for her words of advice. Her head moved and her eyes lit up as she dispensed her cryptic messages.

Above: I bought these signs, which were fun: Griselda's Nail Salon, which reads: "Today's Special: Bunion polishing and broomstick wax. Free Cellulite stretching with every mole massage", and 'Witch Beatrice's Bone Meal Bakery, Try Our Famous Earwax and Booger Cakes, and for the kids: Soiled Spider Swirls".

I did nearly all of the cooking and baking for the party, with a large buffet spread which included: Pork Tenderloin with Plum Sauce, Beef Tenderloin, Pasta with Vodka Sauce with Crimini Mushrooms & Turkey, Scallops with Champagne sauce, Veal & Pork Meatballs, Five varieties of sauteed Chicken Herb Sausages, Two varieties of Quiches, and over 10 different hors d'œuvres , which were passed on trays throughout the evening by our servers. One of my favorites were bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with almonds. Since they were grown locally, the dates were a big hit with the guests.

The dessert table included homemade brownies, bat-shaped sugar cookies with green frosting, dark chocolate bunt cakes with Ledson Chocolate Merlot Wine Sauce, and of course an endless supply of Fannie May chocolates!
-Rick Rockhill

The Palm Springs Monster Mash Party, Part One

This past Saturday evening was our annual Halloween Party. This is a fairly big event for us, one which requires months of advance planning. For example, in past years, guests receive several "teaser" mailings late summer with hints of the theme. One year we mailed each guest a box of props, with a mysterious poem with clues to the theme. Another year we actually wrote and printed several "magazines" with bogus articles, photos and fake advertisements, all to support that year's Halloween party theme. This year's theme was "The Palm Springs Monster Mash". The image (above left) was used for our "save the date" mailing. We wanted to create a "sense of arrival" and excitement for our guests before they actually entered the house, so we transformed the front gate, courtyard, grounds and inside of the house into a scary crypt. It's difficult to capture the look and feel, because my camera doesn't take good photos at night, so most of these photos were taken in daylight.

Above: These skulls were lined up along the wall in front of the courtyard and glowed dimly at night, providing a scary approach to the front driveway.

Above left: A Zombie stands behind a scary post with directional hanging signs that read: "Go Back", "Last Chance", and "Crypt", which pointed to the courtyard & Above right: The faux stone archway into the courtyard, with a skull at the top of the arch. This set the tone for what way beyond the gates...

Above: The graveyard, just beyond the front gate was filled with scary old tombstones.

These next photos just don't translate in broad daylight, but here goes...

Once guests passed the graveyard, they had to make their way into the crypt, which was a specially built "room" before the front doors to the house. Once inside the crypt, it was completely dark, with strobe lights flashing, thunderbolts, and an eery glow of red lights.

Above left: This stone bench had various faux human bones scattered on it, with a 6' tall candelabra, with several scary candles burning, dripping red blood. Above right: This Zombie was in another corner, with his sickle in hand, as strobe lights flashed in the darkness, giving guests just enough of view to be frightened.

Above: These photos really don't look great in the bright flash, but in the dark, it was pretty scary. Lots of things hanging down that guests had to pass through to enter the house. The only light was from a red light bulb, and the flashing strobe, to provide a sense of lightening.

Above: These two panels we positioned on either side of the front doors, which guests had to pass through. They were 12 feet tall, with faux human bones set in what looked like blood and guts dripping down the walls. It was truly a scary, gory sight. (We made these, along with all of the decorations)

Above left: The front foyer had lots of cobwebs, spiders and skulls greeting guests. Above right: what would a Halloween party be without trick or treat gift bags?

Above: The Great Room provided guests safe passage to the party area. We decorated with less scary things, just lots of cobwebs, spiders, bats, skulls, and pumkins. The ceiling was covered with black balloons, as well as bunches of balloons on all of the "bellybar" tables to provide a festive atmosphere.

Above: Outside by the back pool was this scary Skull Water Fountain, which we built ourselves. It stood over 6 feet high, and rested in the pool. Water cascaded down from the top Skull, and from the six smaller Skulls below. The water flowed out of the mouths of the Skulls and back down into the pool.

Above: Finally, some photos I took at night that actually show the full effect! We used red lights in the pool and hot tub to create an effect that the pool was filled with blood. The other landscape lights were also red, giving the entire back property an eery glow. Just beyond the hot tub we had one of several TVs with a continuos feed of videos we made with clips from horror films.

Stop back again tomorrow for Part 2, when I share more photos of the super scary decorations, props and lots more!

-Rick Rockhill