It is almost embarrassing how late this post is but I suppose it is better late than never, right? Now that I’m finally writing this I’m starting to realize why. It was such an awesome party, I want to write something that does it justice.
If you live in the St. Louis area you have undoubtedly heard of this Halloween party. Ok, so it’s possible that I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it does capture the gist of it: kick ass party. Huge. Tons of fun. If you missed it, that is too bad, but the good news is there will be another one next year.
Halloween Hero
Halloween was a special time for almost all of us when we were kids. We got to dress up as our favorite hero and pretend to have superpowers for a night. Somewhere there was a princess waiting to be rescued by her knight. Superman was flying around the neighborhood faster than a bullet, swooping down on every doorstep, to fill his bag with candy. It was the night we got to go out into the world and show off the (current) hero that was hiding inside of us — or if you were unfortunate enough to have been dressed by your parents, you ultimately got to show off your parents’ other self — to family, friends, and neighbors. Not only did we get to go out and show off, we got rewarded for it. Your experiences may have been slightly different, but I would imagine most kids have very fond memories of that day (unless your parents did indeed dress you, and were particularly cruel with costumes).
Sadly, as people grow up many leave the fun of Halloween behind, and some even scoff at the idea of dressing up in a costume. Personally, I think the scoffing is just their insecurity talking and that is a damn shame because Halloween, as an event, only gets better with age. Fortunately for me there are many people out there who still enjoy Halloween thoroughly and I seem to be meeting more and more of them all the time. In the end though, my girlfriend Laura takes the (chocolate) cake as the Halloween Hero, for being so relentless at making every Halloween better than the last.
Victorian Steampunk Masquerade Ball
First, this is not your mom’s “throw a white sheet over your head and pretend to be a ghost for a night” party. Laura, Rachel, Deech (a co-host) and I started working a few months before the party on props and decorations for the party.
As you can see in the picture above we were partying like it was 1899. Quite a few people from the Saint Louis Costume Makers Guild were in attendance and most of the costumes were amazing. Of course, not all of the costumes were Victorian or steampunk — that wasn’t a requirement. Masks, however, were.
All floors were open for the party, from the basement to the upstairs bedroom, and most were decorated in some way shape or form. Some of the decorations were quite elaborate, like the pipe organ and the old school telephone (pictured on the right). Laura built the pipe organ using a really old plastic keyboard and a variety of other materials. Lots of cutting, masking and painting and gluing later the fully functional pipe organ was finished. The telephone — unfortunately not functional — was built using pieces of an old trashed rotary phone, wood, and metal ornaments. Both were a huge hit. On the kitchen counter, we had a rather unusual punch fountain built by Deech for this party. Before we move to the rest of the house, the amazing gargoyles need to be mentioned. Most people couldn’t believe that Laura had built them essentially from scratch using aluminum foil to form the shapes and papier-mâché to cover them with a skin which, when painted, looked remarkably like stone. They also had red glowing eyes through two LEDs that were inserted and wired into their heads during production. Before the party started we placed the four gargoyles on the four posts of the front staircase. I thought the effect was fantastic.
Moving on to the rest of the house. In the upstairs bedroom we placed my little masterpiece, which was a fully functional gramophone unit that was also a huge hit (people were dancing until about 4 a.m. to some records I got from the 99-cent bin at Vintage Vinyl). Laura and I built a large canopy to cover the bed with the intent to make it part of the theme and overall atmosphere. I was hoping the bed would provide more intimate space for people to sit on, similar to the way a couch in the living room would. To discourage anyone from actually getting into the bed, two lovable corpses were placed there and did the trick. There were of course other, less elaborate decorations through the house, such as old faded photographs in vintage frames, articles from 1800’s magazines on the cabinets in the kitchen and Christmas lights to provide a good level of moody lighting — yes I know, not exactly Victorian, but lanterns and candles didn’t appeal to us due to certain safety concerns. Dracula’s coffin from last year’s party — another one of Laura’s remarkable creations — served as a very stylish cooling chest for all types of beverages. The basement became a dimly lit dungeon featuring many of Deech’s props and monsters.
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A lot of hard work, but ultimately it all paid off. Best estimate is that around a hundred people showed up to enjoy the festivities. We were all uncertain, though a little curious, to see how well that many people would fit into the house. To our surprise, it never really got too packed, and the entire house, including the back porch and backyard got fully utilized.
The most amazing thing about this party was the level of interaction between … well … everyone. For most of the night, everyone wore masks, which I believe created a much looser atmosphere and put the focus on communication rather than just than sex appeal, which often governs the dynamics of interaction at a party. Yes, I do realize how pretentious that previous sentence sounds, but I just can’t think of a better way of putting it.
Stephen and Stacey, pictured just above, won the contest as a couple. Previously, I incorrectly stated that Stephen won, which would only be half-true. Stephen’s flamethrower man costume was pretty sweet, and Stacey as his “smoke & mirrors” completed the effect. It’s too bad I didn’t get more pictures of them both, particularly the big rusted canister he was wearing on his back. I’m not sure where it came from, but it was a steampumk classic. Combined, the two of them most definitely deserved the first prize. The fact that his home-made flamethrower was actually working was super cool to some and a little scary to others. Since the night ended without any propane explosions, I’d say it was a success.
Here you can watch a video of Stephen and his flamethrower helping blow up some pumpkins in the back yard. I’m sorry about the quality but it’s the best my phone can do at night. Should be enjoyable nonetheless.
For a full gallery of pictures from the party, you can go here. I picked and pulled what I felt were the best pics from my set and all the ones I received from other people at the party.
Thank you all who came to have a fantastic time with us, and see you next year.
