How to throw a Killer Oscar Party!!!

Anyone else really love the Oscars??? This is one of those award shows that I absolutely love to watch. I usually try and watch at least 2 or 3 of the nominated movies before awards night, but this year I have been so behind. I have a friend at school that tries to watch all the nominated movies before the Oscars, so she can cast her vote for best picture, best actress, best actor, best visual effects, etc. She was mentioning to me only a couple weeks ago that she had seen all of the movies except two and she was planning on checking those last two off her list within that same week. That is amazing to me! She is also in a movie watching face book group where they discuss the movies! So since I have been horrible at getting around to see all the nominated movies and I don’t want to be completely out of the loop, I’ve been asking friends, like her, about the movies they’ve seen and what they’ve thought of each film. I like to try and cast votes before Oscar night to see how close I get to predicting the winning actor/ actress or movie. Anyone else do this, or am I the only one?

But one of my favorite parts about the Academy Awards would have to be the red carpet- I mean c’mon I’m a girl- it’s what we think about! And if I was even more honest, I could watch the red carpet all night and be totally content. I like, probably every other girl in the world, have dreamed of walking the red carpet. And actually a couple years ago I heard of an Oscars viewing party here in Springfield and thought that dream would become a reality. The Oscar night was hosted at a really nice hotel in the area, there would be an elegant dinner and drinks provided, and of course a RED CARPET leading into the dinner space. Do I need to repeat myself… A RED CARPET… This was my chance to wear that beautiful dress I had been eyeing and finally walk the red carpet. But when I took a look at the website and saw the ticket prices, I knew it was a “no go.” The ticket prices ranged from $50-70, which really wasn’t too horrible of a cost considering that dinner and drinks were provided, and some of the proceeds would go to area non-profits. But for a young married couple, it was a little too pricey. Some year we will attend… it is on my list! While we weren’t able to go that year, it did give me the idea to throw an Oscar viewing party!!! So that’s exactly what Dave and I did!

OUR RED CARPET/ OSCARS PARTY

This was seriously one of the funnest parties Dave and I had ever thrown in our apartment. If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you’ll know I love to throw parties! We live in an apartment, so the space is pretty limited, which means I can’t go overboard with the invites, and I have to think about decorating for our space. I was so proud of how this party turned out and all the work we put into decorating and planning!

We sent out cute save the dates, put an event together on fb, and grabbed a couple items from the party city store to help decorate. I wanted to recreate the Old Hollywood look- classic, beautiful and elegant! We decorated primarily with gold and black accents, other than the red carpet, and I used some antique gold frames that belonged to my grandma and placed black and white photos of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Frank Sinatra.

I also used lots of small tea lights to decorate to make the space even more elegant because it’s all about the lighting, right?!! . To keep the party a little cheaper for us, we asked friends to bring 2 different appetizers to share.

My favorite decorated section of our apartment was our red carpet entry way! Seriously, it was incredible! We kept trying to figure out how to make the red carpet in the hallway look really amazing, and we finally came up with the idea to cover the hallway walls with white linen bed sheets. This was the perfect idea! We had the red carpet down, the hanging lights overhead, and the gold frayed curtain at the entry of the red carpet and now the white bed sheets to help bring it all together. I wanted the red carpet to be a photo op for each couple and for all of our friends to take fun pictures. I created a couple photo props for the evening, as well, so people could add those to their photos.

I also found a really cool print out on Pinterest to use for casting our votes and I even gave out prizes to the winning couple who got the most votes correct. It was so much fun to spend the evening with my best friends, eating amazing appetizers, watching my favorite award show, and getting to walk that Red Carpet right in our own home!

TIPS-
If you’re thinking about throwing an Oscars Viewing Party, you still have a week to prep and get everything ready.

Before the party
Look for items around your house that you can use to make the space really special.
Check out Party City for any fun items you can use for props, or to help decorate and don’t forget to check the Target “Trap bins” ( as I call them).
As far as meals go, keep it simple- have your friends or guests bring an appetizer to share, or bring the drinks, or you could even order something to be delivered.
Use Pinterest for cool hacks and more ideas and REMEMBER- this should be something fun… don’t stress!
Figure out what the dress will be for your party! Do you want it to be a black-tie event, or a more laid back event? Make sure your guests know what to expect.
Send out invites! These can be sent out through email, Facebook, or any other media outlets, but I personally think that paper invites are the cutest. If you’re not the most creative person, there are a ton of ideas on Pinterest and even some sites you can use to make your own. You could hand these out personally, or mail them if you have enough time.
On the invite make sure you address the dress code, what the guests should bring, if you want them to bring anything specific to the party, and of course, the essentials ( When, Where, Time,etc).
If doing a sit down dinner, give enough time for people to get to your place, relax and enjoy the dinner. You should allow at least an hour for people to eat and then transition to watching the Oscars.
Decide what kind of dish ware to use. Depending upon the number of guest, you may be able to use your own dishes for the food, but i suggest buying some disposable dish ware. I am not one that likes to clean a whole bunch of dishes, so I would think about your serving items wisely.
Prep throughout the week! Don’t wait till the day before or that same day to decorate or make sure you have all the items you’ll need- You will get really stressed!

During the Party

Enjoy the evening! You’ve worked hard to prepare and plan, now you get to enjoy!

n closing- YOU SHOULD THROW AN AMAZING OSCAR PARTY!!! What are you waiting for??? It is simple!