LET’S DO THE TIME WARP! LET’S GO BACK AND REVISIT THE PARTIES OF THE NOT SO LONG AGO.
IN THE BEGINNING…
For years I wanted to have a Halloween party and celebrate my favorite holiday with as many friends as possible. I’ve always loved being a host and sharing some good times with friends. What better way than with a Halloween party. I moved into my current house in 2009 and been here ever since. It was built in 1924 and has the rustic and charm of every old house. What perfect setting for a Halloween party.
In my circle of friends we started this tradition of moving houses every year for Halloween. Well in 2013, it was finally my time to shine. This was it! Now what?! Ok, first pick a date. So I finally decided the last Saturday of October would be the date. Now it came time to invite people.
So I am a very EXTRA person who also happens to be a graphic designer and marketer. What a better time to test my skills than with a Halloween party. So on a whim I came up with Boos and Booze. I know I’m not the only person out there who uses this and I a sure as hell didn’t invent this name. It just happened to work. So I whipped up a VERY quick graphic. It was ok.
Now I had to invite people. So I got on Facebook and created an event. Because I am an actor in the community, (Read the full About Me section here for that history) I knew a lot of fun outgoing people who love a good party. So I invited 80 people. Boom. Date secured. Invite sent. Next? Decorations and that whole booze thing. Hmmmm…
I had a few tubs of Halloween decorations but it wan’t much. I needed more. I wasn’t a fan of cheap decorations that added nothing. I wanted more intense decorations. Well fate was on my side. My friend Adam called me. He had been running a Haunted House for a teen program for years. They decided to no longer do it since he was leaving. He said they are going to throw away all these decorations away unless I wanted them. JACKPOT!
I raced over and looked at the inventory. THIS IS WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR! It took a few trips, but I got everything back home and started placing things. It’s coming together! While in the midst of decorating, I realized we’ll need food and drinks.
The first year I encouraged BYOB and if anyone wanted to bring something to eat they could. I never wanted to make it mandatory. Just in case I bought some food and dessert and a few cases of beer and the regular house liquors. Nothing extreme.
Let’s recap. Date and invite ✅ decorations ✅ food and drink ✅. Costume? Oh right! That thing. I always forget about the costume every year since I’m always thinking of so many other things. So I decided on Lieutenant Jim Dangle from Reno 911.
October 26 came and it was party day. I didn’t know what to expect, or how many people would show up. So 8pm came and a few walked in. Not bad…then a few more. Well Not every party can be huge or a success. Then 9pm and all of sudden. DOZENS of people walk in. I was overjoyed. My first Halloween party had 46 people at it. Not too bad. They had a great time. I underestimated food and beverage. The party finally calmed down around 1am. The house was a mess, quiet, and I was tired. But I had this smile on my face. I WAS HOOKED.
Messages the next morning from people talking about it being the party of the year and they were already excited about it happening next year. Next year? I didn’t think about that. Well, friends gladly decided that I was now the host of every Halloween party moving forward.
Every year it’s gotten to be bigger with more people. As of 2019, Boos and Booze was entertaining almost 100 people at MY HOUSE. Phew. May need a new venue soon.
2014, 2015, and 2016 soon came and there aren’t as many pictures from those years but I can guarantee they were just as fun. Boos and Booze 5, 6 and 7 were nothing short of brilliant.
CLICK the graphics below to hear about those individual parties. PARTY ON!
