Hollywood Party -11yr- Film Reels Decorations

My son's 11th birthday in a Hollywood Theme  My son wanted to do something different for his 11th birthday and so we decided to go with a Hollywood theme.  The event was being hosted at our house.  My husband's sister helped me a lot in terms of props.

For invitations: my sister-in-law was able to get me small film reel cans (empty) and a blank film roll (the ones used for movies) so I typed out all the details and cut them into strips and glued on a length of film. Details were as follows: "Now Playing: Join us for a night of Glitter, Glamour and Glitz as we celebrate Andre's birthday; Date: December 13, 2003 at 8:00 p.m. and included our home address; dress code: for a night of glamour and glitz" and we ended the invitation by saying "See you on the red carpet". I cut the film to the length that I wanted and put it in the film can along with star confetti, half of the "Admit One" coupon and a candle in the middle.  On the cover of the film can was a picutre of my son and we then tied it with ribbon and handed it to our guests (got rave comments on the inventive way for the invitation, etc, etc).

Decorations: My sister-in-law got me empty film reels and we used them as follows: we took five reels and tied them to a pole that would stand upright and we intertwined lights and film; with another reel, we glued it to a big star and glued tiny stars at different positions and once again twined film through it, with a balance small film can, my husband made a clapboard of bristol board with all the details. 

My husband made various other decorations such as: a life size oscar that was placed as you entered the house, signs (Beverly Hills, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Drive) and we placed at different spots in the house, he also made a camera which he mounted on a camera stand and on two other camera stands, we placed a video camera and a camera, he also made a bid popcorn bag and we popped real corn on that day and placed it in the bag and served the guests. Made two signs out of styrofoam and cut out the alphabets and glued them to the styroform and put lights around them and glued glitter. One signed said "Hollywood" which was tied to the stair railing so you can see it when you enter and at the side of it we placed a table top fountain with greenery cascading down, on the other it said "Welcome to Andre's Birthday", this was placed on our door.

In the foyer on two walls, I made stars and typed out something about each guest, one wall was for the adults and the other for the kids, the guests thought it was a great idea. Along the pathway leading to the house, I made ice lanterns and put candles in and lit it so there would be light as they walked up to the door, once they walked in, we made a red carpet walkway with rope lights on either side. In the area where the dancing would take place, we strung strings of light from the four corners and brought it to the centre and covered it with organaza and the seating area, once again we placed lights and covered it with a big scarf (used on my window). The kitchen was used for serving drinks and having the buffet.  I put black tableskirts with gold tablecloths and strung lights on the edge of the table and hung gold metallic curtain on top of the lights.

Snacks and Food: I borrowed champagne glasses from my sister-in-laws and friend and we bought sparkling wine, I also asked for silver trays. Before we opened the bar to the guests, we had a round of snacks and champagne. We served a platter of shrimp and mussels with a seafood sauce, also had crackers and my husband made a shrimp dip and put a little on each cracker and topped it with a seafood item (like shrimp, squid, etc) we also served some crackers with an egg dip and another dip, My friend made a snack which was made of mortadella ham, chedder chese,pineapple and olive on a toothpick.

For dinner, I used my real crokcery and cutlery and had served the food in chafing dishes and we served Wild rice, Tongue roast, Roast chicken, Chilli beef, Beef Stroganoff, spare ribs, seafood mold, mixed bean salad and a chicken noodle salad. Dessert was placed on a separate table and I placed mirrors on the table and placed the desserts at various heights. I made a chcolate devils cake placed on a cake stand, rum balls, mousse, fudge brownies, nanimo bars, Strawberry/blackberry icecream served on a cake stand, had bowls filled with peanut cups, chocolate covered almonds, mint chocolate.

Favours: for the kids, I bought small gift bags (different colour for the girls and boys) and my husband made clapboards that we stuck on the gift bags, I placed slinkes, fibre optic wands, candies and some other stuff, on the gift tag, wrote each child's name. For the parents (each family) I bought a nice shaped frame which had some feathers on the top of the frame and a pearl stuck on it, I typed up a small thank you note and stuck it at the back. 

Games: My friends organized a couple of games: namely, a celebrity trivia, putting a celebrity name on the back of a person and he/she has to go around asking questions and then guessing who the celebrity is and also had teams doing a skit from some movies. Besides games, we had dancing.

Cake: we made a square cake and made black and white strips and on the top of the cake, we made like curls turning outside so the white was under and the black was showing, in the centre, put edible confetti and then stuck a couple of sticks which had stars on them. My friend raised a toast to my son My son wore a three piece outfit with a tie and my other son wore a tie as well, I wore a long evening dress and most of the guests came dressed up (they did take the trouble).  My friends all said it was a great party and wonderful decorations and that it was better than any of the previous ones I did (organized a hawaian one year and and a rock and roll for my husband 50th and a space party for my older son when he turned 11).