PARTIES WITH OSCAR

If Art Boy and I were still throwing lavish Oscar parties, think of the fun we could have this year!  The nominated films are so atmospherically rich, there are plenty of "theme" elements to throw into the party planning.



How about bowls of black and white jelly beans to honor The Artist,  or wind-up clockwork Hugo-style table decorations (they must have some at the dollar store). Guests can come dressed in Hawaiian shirts, a la The Descendants, or '60s bouffant-chic for The Help, or even WWI-era Army fatigues in homage to War Horse.


Or invite everyone to come as their favorite Midnight In Paris '20s-era artiste; just imagine a roomful of wannabe Hemingways, Steins, flappers and Dalis, swilling champagne and exchanging bon mots!


Not that an Oscar party has to have a theme, much less a dress code. We always used to invite guests to either dress up in their Red Carpet finest, or wear jammies that would stay comfy during the endurance test of the broadcast. (Jammies were by far the most popular!)

But we did have fun working thematic elements into our invitations each year, based on the top nominated films.

That's our first invitation up top; Oscar Classic.


In time, we got more elaborate: the light blue one is an homage to Schindler's List, in 1994.

 The hot pink one is our tribute to the gender-bending The Crying Game in 1993.






In 1999, when it was a showdown between Shakespeare In Love and Saving Private Ryan, we distilled the contest to an essential Love vs War image.

And, hey, look at this lilac invite, a pre-Hugo homage to George Melies' A Trip To the Moon! Ah, we were so ahead of our time! This one isn't thematically connected to any of the year's nominees; it's based on the vintage horror horror movie posters Art Boy collects. (Notice the ploy of sensational mini-images on the side to let eager viewers know what thrills await them!)


But these are just some of our goofy ideas. With nine Best Picture nominees to choose from, let your own inner party-planner run riot!