Masquerade Party -7yr- A limbo challenge

For my daughter's 7th birthday, I chose to do a Masquerade Ball. 

INVITATIONS: I chose some craft paper and folded it in half.  I then tore the edges to give it more of an aged appearance.  Next I drew a masquerade mask onto the front and filled it in with fine glitter and feathers.  I glued ribbons to the side of the mask and let them hang down the sides.  Across the top of the card it read, Bal Masque".  On the inside of the card it read Come All. 

You are cordially invited to a Masquerade Ball.  Come dressed in your best attire as we celebrate Delaney's birthday."  I then took a 5x7 coin envelope and tore it half (width-wise).  I discarded the bracket side and slid the card in the opening of the other half.  I frayed the torn side and embossed the torn edge with a copper color.  I puched a hole on the torn edged side and tied a ribbon for an enclosure.  I embossed the name of the person on the front of the envelope and sprinkled some fine glitter on the front. 

DECORATIONS: For the dining area I covered all the walls with aluminum foil. (Yes aluminum foil - I wanted everything to glisten and I thought it would be pretty as it gave a slight reflection of lights.) I strung purple and white Christmas lights up on the crown molding.  I bought several faux flickering candles (the candles that are made of wax but use a battery for a light that flickers like a real candle).  I placed the faux candles all over the house.  The table was covered with bright pink paper and all the tableware was in black and silver.

I copied the sheet music of Phantom of the opera and Masquerade onto some craft paper and tore the edges.  I wrapped the silverware up in this paper and tied a black ribbon around to secure it all together.  Every place setting had a silver globet filled with candy.  I also tied tulle around all the chairs and secured with pink silver and black ribbon.  I had a huge boquet of black roses in a clear vase with clear stones on the bottom.  I spray painted little pumpkins silver and spread them around the table as well. 

Behind the table I place a big witches pot as the center piece with dry ice.  By the front door I placed a fog machine.  I wanted the whole party to have a low lying fog.  In the entry hall I had silver pumpkins and tree branches spray painted white in clear glass vases.  I hung clear glass ornament balls from the ceiling.  I attached curved white branches to the wall to make a sort of tunnel as you walk underneath them to the dance floor. 

The dance floor was my living room.  I closed this area off with dark black fabric which I got for a good deal at a discount fabric store.  In this room I had black lights and a strobe light.  I had black and pink streamers covering up the ceiling and I also placed fabric over the windows.  

THE PARTY:  As each guest arrived the door opened up and a low lying fog creeped outside and around the house.  Each guest first rec'd masquerade maskboa mardi gras beads and a little black bag trimmed with fur that I found at the dollar store.  As we waited on all the guests to arrive we spent our time in the black room and danced to a collection of songs that I had made. (Cha Cha Slide ghostbusters I want Candy Thriller Monster Mash Phantom of the OPera Masquerade etc)  We did several types of dances that involved us all dancing together. We also played Limbo. 

Next we went outside where we had a nice display of fireworks and s'mores.  To get more involved with the activity I also gave each guest sparklers.  It was a lot of fun but I was very cautious so no one got hurt.  I couldn't have done this without the help of a couple of parents. 

Next we went inside to eat.  In the pot with dry ice I made root beer.  The kids loved this because it was smoky and bubbly.  They all had little pizza bagels mini corndogs fruit fruit dip and chips.  I made a cool cake that I saw online.  I cut the top layer lop sided to give it a funky sort of look and applied a mask with feathers onto the front of the cake.  It was really neat.  Next we went outside to break open the pinata which everyone used their black bags they rec'd to stuff with candy."