This post is a continuation of ‘A Grimm Evening’Halloween Theme, Part 1. In this post you’ll find more details on some of the fun fairy tale elements pictured in the first post and how to reproduce them yourself.
1) The invitations for this party are shown in the first image in this series. A few details: a) a medium gray card is backed and matted by an A7 darkish primary blue card (the finished piece is 5 1/2″x 8 1/2″); b) the gray card is printed with the party details in black in a couple of spooky fonts; c) creepy ‘Black Forest’ silhouette tree branches are cut from black card stock and wrap around the assembled card (remember those freaky apple trees in the Wizard of Oz?…Nightmare City!); d) black A9 envelopes have white ink pen for the addresses, and e) a 3D blood drop ‘seals’ each envelope.
2) Display other fairy tale or ‘Black Forest’-themed objects on your food table. On Miss Party’s buffet table: a centerpiece of black, glittered wire trees in varying sizes; a large display piece showcasing one perfectly poisoned candied apple “Reserved” for Snow White; black ravens; black lanterns, and black and white serving pieces.
3) You can really have some fairy tale fun and impact with suggestive tent cards, framed signs and thematic foods and beverages on your food table. There are dozens of possibilities to either make something prepared by, or in some way involving, a specific character(s). (For example, the framed “Hansel and Gretel Soup” sign pictured above implies the children are ingredients in the soup.) For all of the pictured signs, Miss Party chose a font reminiscent of the “Black Forest” from DaFont called “Darkwood”. Review the story details in some of your favorite fairy tales and really get your imagination and creative juices flowing!
4) If you own one of the cake plates shown under the Snow White’s candied apple (the plate has small slotted holes for ribbon to be threaded through), do something fun like what is shown resembling the evil Queen’s ruffled skirt. Cut 8-9 inch x 3-4 inch strips of your chosen fabric and thread each strip in one hole and then out the next hole over so that both ends are on the outside of the cake plate. Skip one hole and then start your next strip, continue all the way around. If you own the next graduated size of cake plate also, you could give it the same treatment and stack them as shown. (Small glue dots help secure one cake plate on top of the other.)
5) Line miniature handled chip-wood baskets with mini-print fabric squares coordinated to your party colors (as you’ll see above, Miss Party used a mini black and white checkered fabric). Fill each basket with a ‘goodie’ or two, make a tray full and prepare a “Little Red Riding Hood” tent card.
6) The witchy-poo table legs on the buffet table were perfectly adorable and whimsical, just the thing for a fairy tale theme! Purchase one pair of striped thigh-high tights at a party store in the costume section (if you want to do all 4 legs, purchase 2 pairs of tights). Slide one leg of the tights onto one of your table legs. Then slip a stiff wire or condensed wire coat hanger with the hook turned inward, down into the ‘foot’ area. It works great to give the toe area a ‘witchy-poo’ curl. Lastly, use some loose fiberfill to put “a little meat” on your witch’s leg and foot. Adjust everything until it’s just right. Repeat for the other leg.
7) Make a sign for each of your fairy tale scenes so guests are clear about which story is depicted. For this party theme it’s particularly necessary to place signs and tent cards throughout the party space referencing the various ‘good’ and ‘evil’ characters from Grimm’s fairy tales as it’s been a long time since guests have heard these stories and may need to be reminded of them in order to ‘get’ the scenes.
8) Make directional signs to Black Forest locations such as ‘The Black Forest’, ‘The Witch’s cottage’, ‘Big, Bad Wolf’s lair’, etc. They help emphasize the supposed location of your party in the Black Forest. Miss Party’s signs are made from old, scrap wood and painted in black acrylic paint.
9) The party favors shown were assembled starting with Martha Stewart Halloween favor kits. The black silhouetted, cobwebs on the card stock bases were perfect for the Burton-esque styling of this party. Miss Party chose not to use the enclosed closure twine and instead went with a variety of three types of closures –curled white pipe cleaners, harlequinn grosgrain ribbon ties or wired, black bat garland. Each bag is filled with a variety of Halloween candies.
