We plan to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.

December 15, 2008 7:01 PM

Throwing a Doctor Who Christmas special party! I'm in need of clever ideas.

Attending will be 7-10 twentysomethings, all geeky and fully versed in the new Who and Torchwood. Only one or two of us have seen older Who.

Ideas already:
Sonic Screwdrivers (Vodka, OJ and blue curacao)
A TARDIS cake (I'm not the baking type, but this should be fun and easy)
Who trivia and prizes (trivia questions welcome!)
And obviously, a viewing of the upcoming Christmas special and most likely an older Christmas special marathon to follow!

Caveat: We're in the US, so getting kids' themed Doctor Who party gear is sort of tough and expensive.

I'm looking for any fun or clever ideas to use for this likely drunken, squeeing get-together.

posted by sian to grab bag (22 comments total)

Gingercybermen. I've always wanted to make them.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:09 PM on December 15, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

A dish of jelly beans for jelly babies?
posted by ersatzkat at 7:11 PM on December 15, 2008

I imagine a Christmas tree could be made to resemble a Dalek.
posted by The World Famous at 7:12 PM on December 15, 2008

The door to the house must be decorated as the front door of the TARDIS. People will be surprised at how much bigger it is on the inside...
posted by kindall at 7:31 PM on December 15, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

Why not bake a cake?
posted by eleyna at 7:38 PM on December 15, 2008

My first thought was Dalek cake. Since you've got cake covered....
posted by Night_owl at 7:40 PM on December 15, 2008

Have everyone dress up as their favorite doctor and/or companion. Celery sticks in the labels, excessive mascara, scarves, simple things like that.

Find some creepy little angel statues, or use black paper to make shadows where there should be none.

Write the words 'bad wolf' all over, especially in sneaky places.

Banana daiquiris.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:43 PM on December 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wear a glove on your head and go around shouting NEEEEVVVVVAAAA......
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:56 PM on December 15, 2008

Trivia Questions (with answers!)

Name all the actors who have played canon doctors. (Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Baker, Davison, Baker, McCoy, McGann, Eccleston, Tennant.)

What does TARDIS stand for? (Time And Relative Dimension In Space)

How do you say "Bad Wolf" in Welsh? (Blaidd Drwg, pronounced 'blythe droog')

What is the name of the area Captain Jack is from? (Boeshane Peninsula)

(Ooo, this is fun!)
posted by kalimac at 7:58 PM on December 15, 2008

Have a Cloister Bell that is rung whenever anyone does anything funny, clever or dumb.
You could make a Dalek, or failing that, a Dalek pumpkin.
Make a homemade Tardis console as your centerpiece. If you have a round table, you are halfway there!
Stick a row of press-on lights on a wall, to look like the console room in the Tardis.
Finally, here are some instructions to make your own K9 ... :-)
posted by Susurration at 8:00 PM on December 15, 2008

Easy, Cheesy:

Refrigerator box TARDIS in a doorway, through which is another party room. (Bigger on the inside!) Get one of those recordable greeting cards, record the TARDIS sound, and affix card to the hinge of the police box. Keep the drinks and food separated by the TARDIS door to ensure traffic.

Replace all the writing you can see with "Bad Wolf"

Awesome High-Production Values (one or two recruits needed):

Super-scary visit from the "are you my mummy?" kid from Empty Child. Starts by calling folks on their cellphones. Then an iPod recording from the stereo maybe, black screen DVD recording with audio. Then appears at the door and tries touching people. Paper mache gasmask. Don't forget the wound on the hand!

Sally Sparrow talking to the TV. Use the real one from the DVD extras or create your own! Sally just needs a long colorful scarf and a camera.
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:05 PM on December 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

You can get real jelly babies in the U.S. - and they are delicious! Google for sources.
posted by moonmilk at 8:11 PM on December 15, 2008

Tardis up the bathroom door.
posted by rokusan at 8:35 PM on December 15, 2008

Have Sally Calypso keep the party up to date with the local traffic conditions. Give special prizes to those who carpooled with 3 or more in their car. Bonus points if they dress up as a cat.

Also, have some tea and little tea sandwiches/treats. Jackie Tyler always did want to have the Doctor over for a proper sitdown.
posted by spinifex23 at 9:04 PM on December 15, 2008

I imagine a Christmas tree could be made to resemble a Dalek.

No, the Christmas tree needs to spin. Violently.

If you haven't sent out invitations yet, I suggest that the invitees must bring a banana with them to the party. Always take a banana to a party.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:34 PM on December 15, 2008

Silly drunken party games could include an egg-in-spoon race ("Eggs-terminate!"), anagram challenges of full names (this idea based on DOCTORWHO/TORCHWOOD), pin the tail (hormone cloud/spores/etc) on the alien, Pulp Fiction-style Master-dance-off to that Scissor Sisters song as featured in "Last of the Time Lords" ...Torchwood-type naked hide and seek is optional.
posted by lhall at 11:10 PM on December 15, 2008

@nathan_teske with exploding ornaments of course! You can have a black and white loop of the woman in the television from the Idiot's Lantern. I've also been fond of the Dalek-fedora look.

Woe is me to have no friends who have even heard of the Doctor.
posted by palionex at 11:56 PM on December 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Holy cow, do I get freaked out just thinking about cowbellemoo's Empty Child idea.

You could play (in the background) the video recording from Blink - where The Doctor is holding half of a conversation across time. Here is is on youtube. Make Sally Sparrow's transcript and leave it nearby for more fun.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:37 AM on December 16, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I love the Empty Child idea (make it your cell phone ringtone and tell people to call you when they arrive so as to scare the people who are already there?) and the Blink video recordings. My suggestions:

--unroll your toilet paper and write "bad wolf" on it in various places, then carefully roll it back up
--carve some marshmallows into Adipose (the little fat babies from Partners in Crime)
--a banana themed drink
--if you can find those creepy Santa masks, you could hang those

Oh my gosh, I am deeply jealous of this party idea.
posted by marginaliana at 8:24 AM on December 16, 2008

Last year we made Dalek cupcakes. Take a regular cupcake, bake it tall, and add Dots/M&Ms and toothpicks where necessary. THEY HAVE IMAGINED THEIR DELICIOUSNESS!

I did this when we all got together for the season four finale:

It turned out extraordinarily well. (Requires lots of tape and unfettered access to the office Canon!)
posted by greenland at 8:37 AM on December 16, 2008

For the season three finale, my wife and I made a TARDIS cake using Jelly Babies in the batter. They crystallized in the cake and had a really cool effect.

Heh. I got help from Mefi finding Jelly Babies in the Twin Cities actually.
posted by adamwolf at 5:28 PM on December 16, 2008

Admittedly it'd be better for Halloween, but I feel as if 'first Dave' saying "Hey! Who turned out the lights?!" could make for a good time.

(from the library episodes, if you forget)
posted by Lemurrhea at 10:10 PM on December 16, 2008