Recipe for a Great Party

My friend, Cindy, had her 40th birthday party this last weekend and I just have to say that this was a party done right. So read carefully, take away a few nuggets and you can make your next party, celebration, or whatever a big old success.

So let me tell you all the stuff I think they (whoever was the brains behind Cindy’s party planning) did so very right. First they had it a great location – at a ranch with shade trees, a stream, nice grassy area, and even a rope hanging from a huge tree. You know what they say, “Location. location, location!” I liked the feel and look of this one.

They had live music. What can I say, live music is just the best. It makes the atmosphere so easy, relaxed, festive. I just love to hear music playing and when it’s live at a party you can just sit back, chill and listen or you can have it as the background to conversations with other party goers.

They picked the perfect type of food, in my opinion – which happens to be that of a food-loving Taurus! And if there’s one thing we bulls know, it’s good food. Basically it started with chips and salsa or guacamole (and good guac too). Then it was time to grab your plate, a couple of corn tortillas (being warmed right there by the caterers) and load them up with whatever fillings you liked. They had all sorts of choices – even ones to suit my vegetarian taste buds. Excellent job!

They had buckets (literally) of things to drink. Everything from water, to soda, to beer and even giant pitchers of sangria and lemonade. Then they had these cool plastic cups. They were multi-colored and were shaped like deep wine glasses. The best part was that by the glasses they had a collection of different colors and styles of chenille wire so people could make some decoration to identify their cup. Some went simple and just twisted a colored pipe cleaner around the stem of their glass. Others got all creative, using many pipe cleaners, of many colors, and twisted them into little works of art.

Now here’s the real kicker – they thing that I thought made this one of the most creative parties I’ve ever been to. They had rented a photo booth and had it just out there in the lawn area right near the band and food. Outside the photo booth they had a collection of costume pieces – hats, feather boas, and glasses. People got to dress up as crazy as they wanted to, and step into the photo booth to capture the moment. Seconds later, out came a fun, silly black and white photo. They could take their photo home, but the grander plan was for them to take that photo to a nearby table and put in the photo album lying there – after they wrote a caption a thought, or gibberish brought on by enjoying a bit too much sangria.

What a simple, yet great idea! Just imagine all the fun your guests could have at your next birthday party, wedding, retirement party or whatever. Just supply a bunch of fun hats - cowboy hats, kings crowns, princess hats, pirate hats, newsboy hats, or an Aladdin hat. Provide some funky, crazy glasses with all sorts of color and theme choices. Finally add a bunch of wigs and feather boas and you’ll have people laughing, goofing off, and having a blast at your party. Who knows one of them may even make you famous by blogging about how amazing your party was.

We’ve got a Photo-Me booth right at the entrance to our store in Santa Barbara. People just love it. Sometimes it’s a couple on a date taking a set of mushy, lovey-dovey photos to remember their night by. Other times it’s a couple of friends making the goofiest facest they can come up with. Some people do it up big and come into the store, arm themselves with some great costume pieces and then hit the photo booth. No matter who it is or how big they go, there’s always laughing, giggling and a good time being had inside that booth. If you’re Santa Barbara, come on by the store on Helena and have some fun in our Photo-Me booth.

Viva La Fiesta!

Hola Amigos! Okay, that’s it for my lame Spanish, for the moment. But, be warned, since I am of Mexican descent, and since I am in the Fiesta mood, random Spanish phrases may be blurted out without warning (and possibly without making any sense).

Of course the reason for the foreign greeting is that it is just about Fiesta time here in something-fun-always-going-on-Santa-Barbara! From July 30 through August 3, we celebrate Old Spanish Days here. Olé!

Honestly though, most people aren’t really thinking too much about honoring and preserving our grand old heritage of the early ranchero days. What’s on their minds are all the fun and festivities going on. And we’ve got plenty going on! Here are my Top Five Fiesta Favorites:

1. Confetti Filled Eggs
2. Music
3. Food
4. Strolling Mariachi
5. People watching

Where in the world do they get those eggs? How long does it take them to stuff all those eggs with confetti? Is it their only job? Regardless of whether or not I ever find the answers to those three deeply disturbing questions, the fact is you just haven’t done Fiesta unless you’ve smashed a confetti egg (cascarone) on a friend’s unsuspecting head. So don’t miss out. Extra points if you do this to a total stranger.

During Fiesta, the nights are filled with music from local and not-so-local bands. It’s free, it’s loud, and it’s a great way to spend a summer night. It does get a bit crowded and some people’s dancing looks more like they are trying out their new mixed martial arts moves, but just go with it and be ready to put your hottest dance moves to work.

The food!! For some folks, this is IT. This is what Fiesta is all about. Tacos, tortas, tamales and churros . . . the smells alone are enough to have you drooling. So many food vendors (more than 40 in the Mercado), it’s just so hard to pick which one to visit. Lucky for us, Fiesta goes on for five days. We’ll have time to try out a bunch.

I love the strolling mariachis you see up and down State Street. They just wander about serenading people as they eat at the restaurants or they just stop on the street corner and play for whoever may pass by. I wish this part of fiesta lasted all year long.

The people-watching opportunities are vast, enumerable, and never ending. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but with all the events, parades, music and food, people are everywhere. And . . . well, let’s just say quite of few of them are going to drink and thereby making for even better people watching.

Here’s the way to enjoy Fiesta to it’s fullest - - get into the spirit. You just gotta dress up. The bare minimum is a nice big sombrero. Please don’t go any more basic than that. Plenty of people are arrested each year at Fiesta and the number one offense is “Failure to Dress for Fiesta.” Don’t let that be you. In fact don’t even take a chance, take your Fiesta look up a level by adding a serape or poncho and a nice mustache.

If you are hitting any of the musical events or parties on State Street, you should really do it up right and show up as a Sexy Senorita or as the most everyone’s favorite Spaniard Zorro.

Whichever way you choose to celebrate Fiesta, just get out there and do it. Andalé, muchacho! Visit our store on Helena St., get into your costume, and get into Old Spanish Days. Adios!

Batman vs Joker

This summer we have the ultimate rivalry in the movie that is being touted as the biggest and most amazing superhero movie ever. In the Dark Knight, we have Christian Bale, the best Batman ever, in the best version of Batman ever, with Heath Ledger, who I’m thinking is the best Joker ever (sorry Jack). That’s a whole lot of BESTS, so who could miss out on this movie? Not me. I was firmly planted in my seat today for all 2 plus hours of superheroic action.

I’m not an official movie reviewer. I don’t have a degree in movie-osity or anything lofty and impressive like that, but in my humble, movie-goer opinion, this movie was pretty great. I’ll leave all the observations of acting, script, and such to the professionals and wannabe professionals --- mostly. I have to say two things though. They kept the dialogue pretty realistic – she said with a sigh of relief. And Heath Ledger was amazing as Joker.

Now for the real stuff. The costumes were just plain fabuloso! Of course, I’m thinking that this may be the summer movie that inspires the most costumes come Halloween. And why not?

Batman’s costume is dark, and invincible-looking. It’s got all the right looks in all the right places. No nipples, thank god. When Bruce asks for improvements, they all make sense and make the costume look even better. And we get a Batman who can actually turn his head to look over his shoulder.

Being as cool as it is in the movie, making your own version of this bullet-proof-yet-flexible, functional-yet-sexy costume could be near impossible. Unless you are a millionaire, that is, with a whole division of your corporation devoted to making ultra-expensive gizmos. There are other options of course. You could order a bunch of pizza from Dominoes and assemble your own Dark Knight costume that way. Two draw backs come to mind for this alternative. After eating that much pizza, you won’t really have the superhero physique to go with the superhero costume. A big old gut hanging out the bottom of your torso unit may fail to inspire the necessary fear and awe that the Dark Knight should. Secondly, when you show up to your hip, cool, Halloween party stinking of pepperoni that’s been fermenting for months, it may hinder your plans to hook up with anyone (except someone with a serious case of the munchies after way too much partying).

Other alternative - you could buy a costume Batman Mask and then wear black tights, black shirt, black chest protector, black cape, Batman gloves, and the utility belt. You'll want to spend some time searching out the perfect black superhero boots, because black motorcycle boots just ain't gonna cut it. There are a few Dark Knight costumes out there for sale, but the only ones that look even slightly close, cost about $400. And I don’t know about you, but that is a pretty steep price for a Halloween costume. Or you could go for the retro Batman look and hope everyone appreciates your sense of nostalgia.

On the other hand, we have Joker. What a simple, yet perfect costume. And, even better, it’s one you could actually make for yourself. Just head on down to your local thrift store and to get all the clothing. Now, you may not find a long purple jacket, but if you happen to get that lucky, you should definitely make a scene and jump up and down. Otherwise, pick up any long jacket you can find and die the sucker purple. Can't find a long coat at the thrift store? You could buy a purple costume coat and make some small alterations.

Buy a green vest (or die one) and you are done with the two hardest parts. Now you just need a blue dress shirt with some sort of design or print – the one in the movie looks like it’s got a reptile or spider web sort of pattern on it. Joker’s tie looks pretty unremarkable – dark colored with some sort of gold designs. I think the regular length jacket is optional, since he's not wearing it all the time. So make your choice based on where you live and how cold it is in late October. Of course, you’d want to throw in these accessories: gloves, hanging keychain, and several joker cards.

You could then either go with a wig (It's hard to find a stringy hair wig, but you could give a long hippie wig a cut to get the same look) or do your own hair. If you do your own, use a bit of green hair spray (this isn't available in our online store, but we've got plenty in our retail store). Heath’s hair looks nice and grungy so don’t wash yours for few days before you costume up. But don’t overdo that aspect or the green coloring, or the outcome could be tragic. Then best thing about Joker’s look is the nasty makeup job. I love the way it’s all imperfect, with sweat lines and smudges. That is something I you don’t have to be a makeup artist to pull off. Three simple colors of make up; white, black and red, and you'll be looking like Batman's arch-enemy.

Now I’m betting we’re all going to see a lot of Jokers out there this Halloween. If you are having an ache to be the insane madman too, but don’t want to look like one of the many that are out there, I’ve got an idea for you. I love the scene in the movie, where Joker appears in Harvey Dent’s hospital room in a nurse’s outfit. Now that would be the way I would dress as the Joker for Halloween. Clown makeup done Joker-style, a white nurse's uniform, a red wig, all topped off with a monster handgun.

In the Halloween costume battle, I’d have to give this one to the Joker. Seems only fair, since the movie ended with that first battle going to the Bat.

The Man Burns in 43 Days!

It’s that time again! Time for the gathering of more than 48,000 in the dessert to form their own experimental community for one week of what some might call pure craziness. It’s Burning Man time, of course. Seven days of radical self-expression, seven days of self-reliance, seven days of art, costumes, music, themed camps and giving. And that is just barely scratching the surface of the Burning Man experience.

Whether you are a Burning Man newby or Burning Man regular, I offer some ideas for you to make the most out of your experience. It could well be the experience of a lifetime.

First and foremost you’ve just got to spend some time getting all edumacated about all things Burning Man. Go to their website. It’s fricken amazing. I was amazed all the tons and tons of info they have out there for you. Here’s a few things that struck me – it’s going to be hot so bring water. When they say self-reliance, they mean it. There's so many other important things to know about this whole self-reliance gig, beside just water. Go read the Survival Guide.

Read about the Theme Camps and make plans to join one. And joining one, means being ready to be an active part. I think going to Burning Man as just a spectator would be a colossal waste. If you are going to go, participate. Not just a little. Go all out. Burning Man is all about throwing off the inhibitions, the arbitrary rules we all live by in the “real world” where most of us spend our time being anything but our real selves.

Every year there’s a theme at Burning Man. This year’s is “American Dream.” It’s a great idea to have your costume, your art, or your themed camp show off this overall theme in some way. This could include celebrating America and the good it has done, the admirable traits it has, or its history. It could also be a time to dream about America – what your hopes are for this country, what new direction it might take, or your own personal American Dream. You could also work within this theme by showing what you think of the “American Dream” – where it has fallen short, what makes it all ridiculous, what is a mockery. Whatever direction you choose to go within this recommended theme, or doing whatever theme stokes your own personal flame, you’ve just gotta go big with it.

Body paints, make up, and costumes . . . whatever. And I mean WHATEVER. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you – and not even to you, when it comes down to it. Body paint and liquid latex always seems to find their way into the mix. (While these aren't available in our online store, we do have them at our retail store in Santa Barbara. So swing on by.)

In case you didn’t know this, Burning Man is held in the desert. And this makes total sense when you think about it. Would you want at giant party, with over 48,000 folks attending, going on for a week in your neighborhood? Uh, no!

So to the desert we go! And, well, how can I say this gently? It’s fricken hot in the desert at night and a tad chilly in the evenings. With that big secret out in the open, it seems obvious that you might want to choose your costumes accordingly. So body paint and liquid latex are big, since it allows you to go naked without being totally naked.

Crazy, wild sunglasses or goggles, wigs and hats are a must, no matter what your costume. Just find a way to squeeze them in and you’ll be glad you did.

Just 43 days until the big man burns. Make your plans now and GO BIG!

Iron Man and Indy

Summer movies always give us great ideas for awesome Halloween costumes. And this year we’ve had quite a few movies that had some fun costumes. Now, don’t go all Movie Critic on me. Don’t get all bogged down on how good the acting was, or whether or not it was a brilliant script, or if a movie will get nominated for an Oscar.

So not the point.

Just think about the outfits, the look, the costumes. There were some fun ones weren’t there?? Oh yeah. And there are more movies to come. So over the next few blogs let’s talk about which movie costumes would make fun Halloween costumes.

Let’s start with two movies. One that, if you want to dress up as for Halloween, you should so make for yourself and one that you probably shouldn’t.

Everyone’s favorite archaeologist made his return to the big screen this year, and Professor Jones was looking pretty good after being gone for years. The classic Indiana Jones look was all there. What a fun and simple costume. You can make this one yourself. Just hop on down to your local thrift store and you’ll be able to find the khaki shirt and pants. You’ll want to start now looking for a leather or faux leather jacket. Throw on some hiking or work boots and you are almost there. A brown fedora is a must for this look, so you can head down to any good hat store and get yourself a real one or you can pick up a costume fedora for much cheaper. All you need to finish up the look is a bullwhip – which I suppose you could make on your own. I think I’d save myself hours of learning leather craft and just buy one.

Then we had Iron Man hit the big screen. Finally a movie that wasn’t a sequel or a remake. Nice. And some out there are saying this is possibly one of the very best superhero movies ever made. Whatever you may have thought of the movie, Robert Downey Jr., or how true it was to the comic book, you have to admit, the outfit was pretty stinking cool.

I’ve read about a few people who have tried to come up with their own homemade version. Well there was one guy, who spent months and thousands of dollars coming up with his own custom made Iron Man costume. How many of you really have those resources? I saw some other ideas that even the creators admitted looked just plain hokey - layered t-shirts and face paint. So, for this costume I have to vote for buying the pre-made type. It’s got the classic comic book look, a really cool helmet and muscles, and would be great fun for anyone who’s got superhero longings or ambitions.

Once you’ve got the costume on just remember to walk tall and strong – shoulders back, head held high. You’re an invincible superhero now!