Party ideas: how to organize a vampire party

Vampires have fascinated men throughout history. Early Vampire stories date back to ancient history, for example, we can find references to vampire stories in Greek mythology where blood became an elixir for eternal youth. In recent years, thanks to TV series and films we have seen a rise in the fascination for everything vampire. TV series like True Blood and Buffy the Vampire opened the way for vampires to become part of the new generation’s imagination. Vampires became fashionable and trendy. More interestingly, films like Interview with the Vampire and twilight have made of these creatures objects of desire, creatures that attract our attention with their beauty and finesse. Long gone are the days when vampires where depicted as Nosferatu nowadays vampires are extremely pretty, glamorous and sexy.

Having a Vampire party is now not reserved only for Halloween nights. Vampire parties are more and more common among people who enjoy gothic fashion, film lovers and those attracted by the fascinating side of Vampires.

However, as a variation to an ordinary Halloween party I suggest you try a Vampire party. The theme is less gory than simply Halloween and overall the ambiance is more chic and glamorous.

First of all decide what kind of party you want. Will it be a Halloween party where you aim to scare “trick or treaters” or will you be having a vampire do outside Halloween so you can indulge yourself with a costumed party with a gothic twist so your friends can dress up as their favourite vampire characters?

Once you have decided on your style of party you can start organizing it.

Parties should be fun from their organization to the minute your last guest leaves. If you are not going to have fun, there is no point in organizing a party. Organization is the key to success, the earlier you start, the earlier you can discover any weak points.

The basic points to organize a party are:

• Guests
• Budget
• Place
• Decorations
• Food and Drinks
• Entertainment

• Make a guest list. Include all your fun friends and avoid those who are too serious, those who drink themselves to a pitiable state and those who do not like to dress up.
• Send the invitations, do not forget to ask your guests to respond whether they are coming or not.

• Establish how much money you can spend.
• Buy everything that you can buy in advance, according to your budget, and order those things that need to be delivered at a later date.

The place:

• If the party is going to be in your house, decide what areas are you going to use. Will your guests be able to go out to the garden? In that case you will need to think about outdoor illumination. Make sure everything is working (toilets, sinks, central heating or air conditioning).
• If you have a small place, you might need to open up new areas, like a small terrace or your kitchen to provide more space for your guests.

• To recreate a gothic ambiance the cheapest and easiest way is using candles for lighting. The diffuse light of candles also helps to hide any flaws on your decor. Invest in some good quality gothic candle holders, you will be able to use them many times year after year for recreating gothic home décor or for your Halloween parties. I especially like wall mounted candle holders as they are less dangerous when you have lots of people around, being less likely to tip over and cause an accident. Candle lanterns are also a good idea as they protect your guests from the direct flame of candles.

• To complete your decor without spending too much money, you can put posters over existing pictures on your walls. You can buy some gothic décor posters at very low prices and if you are careful you will be able to use them several times.

According to most accounts of Vampires, you might be aware that they do not eat, so strictly speaking you can get away with not providing food!

However, if you do not want to keep to tradition, you can have some finger food on a table for those hungry vampires that need more than blood to survive the night.

Drinks for a vampire party are very easy to make. Concentrate on having only a few drinks rather than trying to cater for everyone’s taste. My favourite drinks for a vampire party are all red:

• Red wine: for a bigger impact pour it on decanters rather than keeping it in bottles.
• Sangria: if you prefer to serve a punch I would suggest you make sangria for your guests.
• Monaco: This is a mixture of beer and a touch of grenadine or strawberry syrup; it is very popular during the summer in France. It gives beer a reddish colour.
• Strawberry and Raspberry juices for non-alcohol drinkers

• Hire a good DJ or compile some music and play it yourself. For a vampire party the ideal background music to start with is of course gothic music. Later on, you can play some other music. My favourite here is from Marilyn Manson.

• Play some Vampire games. What about having an area for playing a vampire video game?

• If you have a friend who likes to take photographs, ask him to take a picture of your guests when they come in. Photos will look great if taken with a vampire background or if you can afford it, next to a full size vampire prop.

Dressing up as a vampire can be as easy or complicated as you want to make it. You can buy ready made costumes from specialized sites, for example you can Shop for Halloween Costumes at FlirtCatalog.com! or you can create your own costume if you have the time and imagination.

Ready made costumes offer a variety of styles, from the very sassy vampire Queens to gothic and period costumes. Lately I have even seen Twilight’s Edward Cullen’s wigs for those who prefer the less gory vampires. The chances are that even if you make a Vampire party where all your guests will be dressed as vampires, you will not find two people wearing the same outfit.

This year I’ll be wearing a long vampire dress, a voluptuous gothic style vampire queen in stretch lace and velvet. Because of the nature of the dress (you can have no doubt I am a vampire) I will not bother wearing vampire fangs or special vampire contact lenses.

Vampire costumes are not complete without good vampire make-up. As with your costume, you can choose to be as simple or complex as you are prepared to go. Modern vampires (like the ones in Twilight) do not necessarily have fangs, so if you get inspiration from them you don’t need to wear vampire fangs. However, there are a few “must-haves” for successful vampire make-up:

• Complexion: remember that vampires are dead creatures; even if they are of an amazing beauty their complexion is always pale.
• Eyes: vampires have special eyes. In the case of Twilight vampires, their eye colour varies from red to topaz depending on how hungry they are. If you are a Twilight fan, you will remember that Edward Cullen’s eyes were green as a human and then turned to red after he was transformed into a vampire. If you are used to wearing contact lenses, you might want to try some Vampire lenses, their effect is so dramatic that you will not need much else to recreate a vampire look.
• Women vampires are always pictured as well made up with red luscious lips.

Whatever you decide to do and whatever you decide to wear remember that the main point to having a party is to Have Fun, enjoy yourself!