Oscar Party, Hollywood’s Biggest Night & You!

The key to throwing a memorable OSCAR PARTY is inspiring your guests to stay focused and interested in an award show that can span over three hours – aye! Never fear, it can be done and here are a few simple TIPS to help get your guests as invested and EXCITED in hearing “and the winner is” as a best actor/ess.

The first place to start is with you, the HOST. To ensure your party’s success you must be REALISTIC about how much time, energy and resources you have to work with. After you assess what you are truly are up to vs. all the great ideas in your head, you can now determine your GUEST LIST. My advice, limit your list to folks who genuinely have a LOVE or interest in movies and Hollywood’s biggest night of the year – this will help keep the fun PARTY SPIRIT and energy flowing throughout the evening. As always keep your MENU simple, tasty and abundant. Make as much as you ahead of time. Slow cookers are perfect for this kind of occasion as are skewers. One of my favorites is a lamb stew (the longer it cooks the better – perfect for a three hour show ) with either creamy polenta or rustic cornbread cakes. Toss up a simple mixed green salad and you’re good to go.

For a little added FUN - bake some cupcakes for dessert and hide a movie token in one of them. Right before they announce Best Picture, hand out the cupcakes. Whoever gets the cupcake with the token gets to split the winner’s pot! (See #10 below) That will keep your guests ENGAGED and having tons of fun till the end…and guess what? YOU will too!!

Now for some of my favorite OSCAR PARTY TIPS!

1. SEND - out Oscar themed evite or mail mini Oscars (make it easy and shop Oriental Trading Co party supplies: http://bit.ly/zIZ4mQ) with an envelope with the saying “and the winner is” printed on front. Inside is the guests name on the front and on back are the party details.

2. REQUEST – everyone to see at least the films nominated for Best Picture – that way the party starts way BEFORE your guests arrive and creates a sense of anticipation.

3. CREATE – a signature cocktails named after the Best Picture nominated films…”The Artist,” “The Help,” “Midnight in Paris.” How funny is that, “Hi, welcome, would you like to sip on “The Help?”

4. GO – to your local fabric store and get ready to roll out the red carpet along with gold ropes leading to the party room! For fun you can run the carpet right to the drive or curb!

5. Have a friend POSE as a photographer and snap photos of everyone’s arrival.

6. Keep party FOCUSED in the room where you’ll be VIEWING the Oscars – that way guests stay interested in what’s going on and don’t get distracted by side conversations and food in the other room.

7. PRESENT - your food & drinks on a self serve buffet or serving trays.

8. MAKE - a giant batch of stove top pop corn and sprinkle with season salt, Provencal herbs or truffle salt for a “I can’t stop eating it!” movie style night!

9. DOWNLOAD ballots – www.oscar.com have them printed and rolled in a scroll with pens, as each guests arrive they must fill out there ballot before they enter the party room.

10. Have everyone make a generous DONATION into a pot to go to the winner with the most wins on their ballot – the more ENTICING the pot, the more interested the players!

11. Create COMFORTABLE seating with extra pillows, floor pillows and chairs for your guests – making it easy for them to sit back and relax and want to stay to the end.

12. KEEP – nibbles and drinks CLOSE by so guests don’t miss out on a classic Oscar moment.

13. LIGHTING – dim the lights so the TV screen becomes the main attraction.

14. Most IMPORTANTLY - leave time to take care of yourself…take a shower, turn on the music, BREATHE and focus on being present. Because once your guests arrive it’s time for YOU to let-go, have FUN and BE the Life of the Party!