Nightmare Before Christmas Bash

A Nightmare Before Christmas themed party wouldn't be complete without candy, presents, and spiders.

*Sorry for the quality of the photos, this was before I got my DSLR*

It is a week before Halloween. Life has gotten in the way and now you have a party scheduled but no decorations and no idea what to do. As you scramble for something, anything to give your home a spooky feel, you turn to the internet. And hopefully you will find this post because I will tell you have to salvage your party. This applies also if you want a creative costume for a party that you were invited to that is not store bought.

During my fourth year in university, the Boy and I decided to go all out for our last Halloween celebration in Charlottesville. The following year we would be who knows where trying to get through his research period. The likelihood of a good Halloween celebration in the middle-of-nowhere-China/India was next to nil and so was the possibility of dressing up with friends (we actually ended up in Hong Kong and had the dubious pleasure of attending Halloween at Ocean Park, click to read my post on it). Since we are both avid Nightmare Before Christmas fans, that seemed to be the most interesting idea for a theme. However, we are both procrastinators and allowed school to get in the way. This put us in the situation that I described at the beginning of this post, however this post did not exist so I had no one to guide me. 

I graduated successfully, so I can be honest: we both dropped everything to do with classes and focused the entire week on this project. Papers, exercises, and reading all came to a standstill. While I was required to attend classes, I did the absolute minimal in order to make it through before returning to my actual priority. We decided to make everything from scratch (or as much as was practical) and what follows is a how-to guide to recreate what ended up being a very successful extravaganza.

What the apartment looked like for most of that week before Halloween...

Warning: this requires two people to manage if you don't want to go crazy.  

Also I want to preface this by saying that I had/have absolutely no skills with sewing.

You can do with a budget of about $100, less/more depending on the quality of materials you choose to buy.

Step 1: The Scene

The premise of Nightmare Before Christmas (for the two people that don't know) is a hostile Halloween take over of Christmas. In this Tim Burton world holidays are separated into distinct realms and each of these is pretty ignorant of the others. The king of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, is bored. He is tired of the same scares year after year. He ends up finding the door to Christmas Town and chaos ensues. 

We thought this would be a lot of fun because you get to decorate for two holidays, bringing a little brightness to one and darkness to the other. One of the most important parts of pulling off a rocking party is to have a great atmosphere and set of decorations. Here is what you will need:

1. Twinkle lights - get some white and orange twinkle lights and hang them around your apartment/house. Concentrate on the entrance area and where you think the most people will congregate (which always seems to be the kitchen...). 

Oogie Boogie glows in the soft lighting of the white twinkle lights.

Orange twinkle lights and cobwebs make for a spooky Halloween.

2. A small Christmas tree - I love Christmas and I had a year round three foot tall fiber optic Christmas tree. We put this on a table and put candy in addition to presents underneath. Choose any combination of candy that you want. If you have trick-or-treaters, it also makes for a handy place to grab a handful. 

The tinsel on the Christmas tree was created by shredding wrapping paper.

You can also use some empty granola boxes and wrap it in silver wrapping paper with black ribbon. Put these "presents" underneath the Christmas tree for show. 

Our empty decorative presents.

3. Webbing - Go to any store and buy some of that white stretchy gauze-like fake spider web stuff. Then divide it into maybe four or five piles. Take one pile and cover half of your Christmas tree.

Spooky tree that really embodies Nightmare Before Christmas.

Then use the remaining to cover lamps and the backs of chairs and in doorways. You can even use the twinkle lights to hang the stuff. 

Love the cobwebs!

4. Fake bugs - Buy some cheap plastic spiders and bugs and hide them around the apartment. Definitely put some in the candy pile underneath the Christmas tree.    

5. Stockings - We got some cheap Christmas stockings and then filled them with candy and spiders.

Haunted stockings filled with candy!

Step 2: Oogie

 This was one of the more difficult aspects of the party. We wanted to create our very own burlap Oogie Boogie. We went to Marshalls and bought some burlap fabric (if you happen to have a burlap sack lying around that works too). Our oogie was about 4 feet tall and about 2.5-3 feet wide (he was very squat). So buy enough fabric for that and then buy 2 feet by 2 feet of cloth  for his head. Then you need to get some cloth for both of his arms. Use thick black yarn to sew him together. You finally need black cloth for his mouth and his eyes. 

Cut his head into a triangle so that when you bring the sides together at the back, it makes a cone. His arms are also cones and they are sewn onto the top two corners. The body can remain a square but when you sew it together, create a little pocket on the bottom two tips so that they become his feet. After you have his basic shape, start stuffing with used newspaper or anything recyclable that you have lying around. In the movie he is made up of bugs so you definitely want to create a consistency that is both airy and solid. 

What Oogie started as...

Little handheld sewing machine did the trick for him. Crude but useful.

Fold the cloth in to create a nice line.

The outline of Oogie Boogie.

Partway through stuffing Oogie Boogie with newspaper.

Oogie has arms!

When sewing his face, cut two triangles for his eyes and an oval for his mouth. When you stuff his head, try to push in the mouth so it looks like he is about to say something insane. Finally sew his head on when you have completed everything else.

Sewing the back of Oogie's head. Don't worry, make the lines as messy as you want.

His face. Pull in the thread to help create the depressions.

The head of Oogie Boogie.

If you find your Oogie is too small to fit the space you intended, fill up a giant black bag (we used tarp) with recyclable material and sit him on top. The "trash" bag is supposed to represent Santa Claus (he gets kidnapped in a trash bag in the movie), so feel free to tie off the end and put a little label of "Santa Claus" to really give it a good presentation.

Christmas tree - check. Cobwebs - check. Presents - check. Santa Claus in a trash bag - check. 

In case there was any doubt...

Step 3: Costumes

Being frugal college students and grad students, we wanted to make our own costumes. We hit up Goodwill and got a cheap black suit that kind of fit him and we got me a nude slip. 

I actually printed out a picture of Sally (Jack Skellington's love interest) and took it to Marshalls and wrangled the helper-woman into getting fabric that matched her outfit. After that it was a matter of laying down the slip and fitting/cutting all the colored fabric so it matched.

I used a sewing machine. Since I didn't own one, we got a cheap one from Walmart with plans to return it after use. Well, it ended up breaking down. So we exchanged it for another one. That one didn't work, so we had to exchange it for a third machine. Finally in business, I set to the tedious task of getting all those scraps to match up. Make sure you don't sew through both layers of the slip. Also make sure that the slip material doesn't bunch because it will shrink and you might not be able to fit in... Makeup-wise, get some black face paint and paint sewing lines on your wrists, arms, legs, and maybe neck. Also do it on the outer corners of your lips.

The cursed sewing machine...

The nude slip and the various fabric strewn about.

Starting to piece it together.

Soft illuminated glow from the sewing machine.

Loved this setting for Sally's dress.

A completed dress for Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Sorry there are no shots of me in it!

For the suit we got some cheap white paint from Marshall's. First we used masking tape to create lines on the pants and the jacket before painting. You need to ensure that you have a lot of paint because we ended up running out and then had to make do with some shimmery silver stuff. Do not make our mistake. Another important thing to keep in mind is time. Do this ahead because it takes forever to dry! Do the same with his tie. Just buy a big styrofoam clown style tie and cut it so that there are three ends. Paint it in white stripes.

For Jack's makeup get some white face and go to town. Then rub in black in the sockets of your eyes and wear some black lipstick and trace skeletal lines at the corners of your mouth. Top off Jack's outfit with a Christmas hat and you're good to go! 

The tie painted black and white.

Jack Skellington's suit half-made!

This is when we ran out of paint...

Jack Skellington's pants.

Make up for Jack Skellington.

The full complete costume.

Step 4: Games - Bobbing and Pumpkins

 Every good Halloween party needs some games. We had bobbing for mini-bottles (just grab an assortment from your nearest ABC or alcohol store) and carving pumpkins. We also had a couple costume competitions (best singles and couples).

These two ladies didn't want to stick their faces into the water, so they used their hands.

She was a champ!

What the water looked like after we were done...

Pumpkins awaiting their carved fate.

Step 5: Presents/Prizes

In addition to the fake wrapped presents, we also included some real presents that served as prizes for the competitions we held. We bought some bottles of alcohol and candy and any little inexpensive trinkets and then wrapped them in the silver wrapping paper and the black ribbons. We even had a couple of presents that were wrapped in black paper with silver ribbons.

The prize/presents for our games.

Step 6: Haunted house entryway

If you have the time and the inclination, this is a must-do step. To really set the scene for your party, you need a spectacular entry way. The boy actually created a mini-haunted house by buying so wooden pillars and nailing them onto the fence of his patio. Then we wrapped black tarp around the sides and created a ceiling. I spray painted scenes from the movie that would glow in the dark. We also carved a pumpkin to look like the pumpkin shown at the beginning of the film. 

You can get poles like these from Home Depot or Lowe's.

Wrapping the tarp.

My attempt at creating scenes from Nightmare Before Christmas.

What it looked like from the outside. This attracted a lot of trick or treaters!

Pumpkin unlit.

Much creepier when lit.

Finally, our coup de grace was the Halloween town tree on the doorway. We bought some construction paper and created a tree with a pumpkin on it and the handle of the door right where it was in the movie. This was really easy to do and even if you don't have time to make the haunted house feel, then you can definitely do this. 

The face of Halloween Town.

Entryway to Halloween Town from Nightmare Before Christmas.

I hope this was helpful! Sorry if I can't be more exact but hopefully the pictures help. 

Happy Halloween and have a Merry Christmas ;)

Tears and Halloween at Ocean Park

*To see more pictures head over to: Unsettled TCK Gallery*

*Note: Most of the rides and attractions in Ocean Park during Halloween are Haunted Houses. Also performers will just wander up and randomly scare you. BE WARNED! I didn't know and I felt like I walked into a terrifying scare trap. Also, if you only want to read about Halloween at Ocean Park, skip down since it starts halfway down the page under the obvious heading "Halloween."*

*Also, if you can't be bothered to read everything: BUY THE MOST EXPENSIVE TICKET. You can either choose the Privilege Ticket or the Privilege Ticket Dinner Combo and both of these give you VIP access to bypass the lines. It gets really crowded and you will definitely get your money's worth. The Boy managed to go through every single haunted house (I opted out a couple of times) while most people without the VIP only get to see a couple.*

*This was written in October 2010 and published November 2010*

Personal Update 

So, it's been about a month and I've been remiss in my updating of this blog! So I'll be sure to do a good written update as well as a photo one.

In the last month, I have been to the Philippines and back, played zombie laser tag, and by far and away the greatest accomplishment: I've made four children cry (don't worry, karma got me back by making me cry at Ocean Park). I will take credit for two of the tear sessions but the other two were due to sheer grumpiness on their part (by the way, there were two girls and two boys who shed some of them tears)! It's good to know that I have the capacity to be strict, although I always feel terrible about it and end up undoing all my hard work by capitulating to the children.

My cherry was popped when I made a little boy cry because I changed his participation from a happy smiley to a frowny one. So much for that whole boys are tougher than girls bit! There was even a younger girl in the class who was sweet and kept saying, "don't cry, you're a big boy now." This is in retrospect quite humorous but at the time I felt like the devil.

Then a couple of weeks later this same little girl cried on me! I swear this wasn't from anything I was doing. I was merely showing her how to create spaces between words by measuring by her finger when all of a sudden she burst out yelling, "MAMA MAMA MAMA!" Then the waterworks began. I spent about twenty minutes with her on my lap reassuring her that I could be trusted and that I would never yell at her.

The third was a devil child who is very similar to the character Constance Contraire in the series The Mysterious Benedict Society. She likewise started to bawl upon a simple request to read a five word sentence.

The fourth I will take credit for. This actually really made me feel bad because he is a good kid but he became a bit of a bully. He wrote a story about another boy in class and how naughty and greedy that boy was. When I told him explicitly he couldn't, he changed the name by changing the first letter of the kid's first, middle, and last name.... Not the most crafty. I pulled him aside for a private chat and that started him going. I think it's all remedied now, I pulled the whole, "You are one of the leaders in class and leaders aren't bullies."

Hopefully that will be the last of that for awhile!

Halloween

*Keep in mind that there are different attractions every year, so check the official website to see what you can expect.*   

Ocean Park Hong Kong during Halloween

Halloween was a blast! Every year Ocean Park puts on a Halloween Bash, changing the theme to suit whatever new fad is going on. The year I went it was all about Chinese Hell and the darkest depths of the underworld. If you are looking for a real treat then head over to Ocean Park and I guarantee that it will be a night to remember.

I will preface this by saying that I absolutely hate haunted houses. I'm sorry but I derive no pleasure from having people jump out and yell loudly in my face. This will happen constantly during the evening. If this floats your boat, then have fun. If it doesn't, then there are some other attractions that you can occupy your time with. The saving grace of the night was a combination of The Dragon roller coaster, zombie laser tag, and the Boy winning a ton of stuffed animal prizes.

My consolation prizes at Ocean Park Halloween

Basically, Halloween at Ocean Park is like a scare-for-all. You're not even safe in the streets because performers will randomly wander up to the person in front of you, stare vacantly and eerily before leaping out at you. There are areas where the terrifying wanderers are not allowed to go and I looked forward to walking in them. If this sort of thing really bothers you, there is supposedly an amulet you can wear that tells people to leave you alone. I never found it, unfortunately. Also, places that might not seem like haunted houses really are. Make sure you look closely at the map that you will be provided. It tells you what type of attraction that you are heading into. At one point we thought an advertised vampire club was an actual club/bar but no, it just ended up being yet another haunted house.

Right before this picture was taken he freaked me out during Ocean Park Halloween

The outside of one of the Haunted Houses at Ocean Park

This was the outside of the first haunted house we went to. It was based off of a movie that I did not see because I was too scared

One of the highlights of my night was zombie laser tag. It was awesome because it distracted me from those who were trying to scare the living daylights out of me. I was so focused on getting points that the zombies only irritated me because they got in the way. I place my survival skills fairly high in a zombie apocalypse because my aim is pretty sharp. I even got the highest score in my group and I might have had more if not for a zombie that came up and started to tickle me by using his plastic knife to slice at my neck and back (yes, they actually touched you in these houses but it was usually limited to a light brush against the arm). Also, the zombies were more concerned with trying to fire at you than scare you, so it was a win-win for all.

Blurry outside shot of the laser tag arena in Ocean Park Halloween

I will say one thing in favor of the haunted houses: they are creative. Some of them are your run-of-the-mill creepy setting with creepy figures rocking insanely in the corner and lurking around you. Then there are others that really take the art of displaying a haunted house to the next level. When I went in October 2010 there was a really interesting ride where instead of walking through, you were sent through in a coffin on a conveyor belt. The scares came from the ceiling and from monsters on the side. It was simulating the stages of the afterlife if they go horribly wrong. Pretty creative. I had my eyes closed 99.9% of the time, so I can't really describe what was in there.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend taking the cable car at night. Ocean Park is divided into multiple levels that can be reached using a cable car. It is really beautiful and kind of eerie. And a good option if you need your heart to stop racing.

Cable cars in Ocean Park during Halloween

Beautiful, albeit blurry, view of the rest of Ocean Park from a moving cable car

There are also a ton of live performances that include singing, acting, and dance choreography. Honestly, the set for the choreographed dance club number was a bit better than the actual dancing but it was good to enjoy a drink and unwind from the scares.

To see more pictures head over to: Unsettled TCK Gallery

Impressive stage and slightly better than mediocre dancers at Ocean Park Halloween

One of the more impressive feats from dancers at Ocean Park Halloween

I opted for the dinner combo ticket and in terms of the food, it was not bad. Not the greatest of culinary fare in Hong Kong but definitely satisfying. We had to pick a dinner period to go to and we chose a later one. We figured we would get most of the rides out of the way rather than risking an upset stomach in our fear.

One of the dining halls at Ocean Park Halloween

Great menu presentation at Ocean Park Halloween

Finally all of the regular rides such as roller coasters and those ones that drop you from a tremendous height continue to run. They are also beautifully lit and the view from the Dragon roller coaster was quite spectacular. There are also the regular carnival games where you can win stuffed animals and prizes. However, even in these areas there are still pathways that are "haunted" and you will have to watch out for jumpy-outy-performers.

To see more pictures head over to: Unsettled TCK Gallery

View from the Dragon roller coaster at Ocean Park Halloween

If you were on the fence about whether or not to go, I really think you should give it a try. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, unless you live in Hong Kong in which case there is always next year.

To see more pictures head over to: Unsettled TCK Gallery