Ultimate Twilight Party Guide

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** 2009 TWILIGHT SAGA PARTY GUIDE**

Here is the 2008 Twilight Party Guide:

So you want to celebrate withTwilight? A birthday, a girls weekend, the DVD release … whatever the occassion, Novel Novice Twilight is here to help you throw the best Twilight-themed party ever! That’s right — ever. So get ready to channel your inner-Alice … here is NNT’s Ultimate Twilight Party Guide:

Decorations

Start with the essential red, black & white theme from the covers of the Twilight books and go from there. Your decorations can be simple and elegant, elaborate, whimsical, campy, etc. Anything you imagine! For our party, we wanted something Alice Cullen would approve of.

We started by creating a centerpiece inspired by all four book covers: a vase filled with red and clear glass beads holds wax tulips painted to match those found on the New Moon cover and stemmed wax apples (Twilight), then we wrapped a red ribbon around the neck of the vase (Eclipse) and placed the vase on top of a chess board with red and white chess pieces (Breaking Dawn). We had trouble finding a red and white chess set for an affordable price, so we bought a black and white set and used fusible spray paint on the black pieces. We also used extra red ribbon and wound it through the candelabra over the table.

We also printed full-size copies of each book cover and hung them on the wall as decorations, along with prints and posters from the Twilight movie. We found posters for $5-10 online and at Michael’s craft stores. We printed promotional photos on glossy paper for extra “artwork.”

For added fun, we created family portraits of ourselves with the Cullens. Using photoshop — we combined images of the birthday girl and our family with publicity photos/movie stills from Twilight — to create a custom Cullen portrait gallery.

If you can afford it, a cardboard cutout of your favorite Twilight character would not only add instant atmosphere to any party — but it provides countless hours of fun for you and your friends to pose for photos. A bowl of Red Delicious apples can also add to the decor, as well as providing more photo opportunities — you and your friends can mimic the “hands holding the apple” from the original cover of the Twilight book.

We also took our cues from the books’ red, black and white color scheme — putting clusters of balloons in these colors around the room. We found confetti in red, black and white for tabletops. And we filled vases with fresh red and white roses. You could also use streamers and other party decorations in red, black and white. We even filled a candy dish with red, black and white M&Ms.

Atmosphere

For atmosphere, we turned to the extensive playlists for each book featured on Stephenie Meyer’s website. You can either play the music directly off of her website, or download the songs yourself and create a playlist on your computer or MP3 player, or create mix CDs. For party favors, I made a CD of my favorite tracks and created a custom cover & CD label. The movie soundtrack and score are also great choices for music.

Lighting is also key to creating atmosphere — once again, we took our cues from Alice and used plenty of candles — both tealights, and assorted red candles. You could also use white twinkle lights for added drama.

Menu

Shouldn’t this be obvious? The best main course for any Twilight party is, of course, mushroom ravioli. We purchased frozen mushroom ravioli and served it with a marinara sauce — but you can get creative with other sauce options. We served ours with garlic bread (since Twilight vampires aren’t averse to garlic) and a Pacific Northwest salad, using ingredients from the region where Twilight takes place. We called our dining table “La Bella Italia Restaurant” and printed menus on nice paper — one for each place setting.

Our party was for a birthday, so dessert was the cake. But not just any cake — our cake was dazzling. We baked a chocolate cake and used pure white frosting, then covered it in shimmering, edible luster dust — so it sparkled just like Edward’s skin. We also used red and white rose buds as decoration and black glittering candles. (Get more Twilight cake ideas here.)

We also served some snacks and drinks before dinner. Since everyone at our party was 21+, we chose some nice red wine (there is even a Vampire wine that comes out around Halloween) and a red-colored cocktail. Our concoction was made using strawberry puree, margarita mix, lime juice, tequila and triple sec — mixed and served over ice. You could also create a virgin cocktail by substituting sparkling water or 7up for the tequila and triple sec. We were going for something that looked a little “bloody,” it being a vampire party and all.

For the table setting, we went back to our red, black and white theme — using a red table cloth, black napkins and white china.

Dress Code

Not every party needs a dress code — but if you choose to do so, a Twilight party has some options. We started by taking our cues, once again, from the books’ red, black and white color scheme — asking guests to come dressed in these colors. You can also invite guests to wear their favorite Twilight t-shirts. Or you could make it a costumed event — and invite your guests to come dressed as their favorite character from the books. (For ideas on Twilight costumes, click here.)

Entertainment & Activities

After March 21st, you can use the Twilight DVD as entertainment for your party. But since the movie had just hit theaters when we threw our party, we found another way to put Edward Cullen up on the TV screen. We created a DVD photo slideshow using pictures from the movie. It played on a continuous loop and provided constant entertainment for our guests. You could also create a YouTube playlist of your favorite Twilight videos and hook that up to your TV screen.

A Twilight board game will also soon be available, for your entertainment purposes.

For other party activities, you could also create a Twilight trivia game using various Twilight quizes from the Internet — including these we created right here at NNT.

You could also create your own version of a “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game — using a poster-sized version of the Twilight book cover. Then, ask guests to “pin the apple” on the book cover after blind-folding them and spinning them around several times.

What other Twilight games and activities can you think of? Share your ideas in the comments!

The Alice Touch

Alice Cullen would always go that extra step to make a party even more fantastic. Taking our cues from Alice, we found a few small ways to give our party some extra special touches:

* My mom (handy with a wood-burning kit) created our very own Cullen crest. She used a wood plaque, and recreated the same crest used in the movie by copying the artwork.

* Think of clever ways to incorporate moments from the books into your party. Since this was a birthday party, we were worried about Jasper having trouble with paper cuts — so we provided guests with band aids and a sign asking them to cover any open wounds.

* Treat the guest of honor like Bella herself. We used photoshop to give our guest of honor (in this case, the birthday girl) a place of honor beside Edward Cullen.

* Birthday banners with dazzle — we created custom Twilight birthday banners using a computer print program.

We also created a Twilight garland by stringing printed photos from the movie onto a red ribbon and hanging it over the window. To give them a finished look — I printed the photos onto glossy paper and trimmed them using decorative, scrapbooking scissors. I punched a hole in each photo to loop them onto the ribbon.

* Wrap with care — use black, red and white gift wrap to give your gifts a special, Twilight touch. And if you need ideas for Twilight-themed gifts, check out NNT’s Twilight Shopping Guide.

* Remember, fresh flowers in vases add instant class to any gathering. Look for blooms in red & white shades for that extra Twilight touch.

Have you celebrated recently with a Twilight party? Share your tips & ideas with us in the comments!