Easy Bake Coven
August 9, 2012 8:06 AM   Subscribe

After seeking Metafilter’s help for my Sock Puppet Party, Grilled Cheese Party, Blanket Fort Party, Cupcake Candyland Party, and John Waters Party, I need your assistance planning Easy Bake Coven, a party that combines delicious baked goods with the occult. Picture the teenage witches from The Craft organizing a cookie exchange.

I am planning a party where everyone comes dressed like spooky goth 15 year olds and brings desserts. The general theme is “witchy occult.”

I’m pretty decent at decorating on the cheap, at least for parties. Going to mainly light my place with religious candles (veladoras) that have been defaced with red paint marker. Gonna hit up the local bontanicas for weird statues and prayer cards. What are some good symbols besides the ubiquitous pentagram and eye of horus to strew around? I’m definitely planning on writing BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY on the bathroom mirror in fake blood.

I want to make pulled goat tacos-I mean, goat sacrifice tacos. Where can I buy goat on the northwest side of Chicago? (I live in Avondale, I bike everywhere, I’m guessing this will involve a dip into Humboldt Park). What cut should I get?

I’m thinking I’ll make vegan cupcakes with pentagrams drawn on them, and maybe some cookies, and encourage my guests to bring the rest. What are some suggestions for sweets of darkness?

What sort of music should I be playing? We basically have to listen to Witchhouse, right? I’m not an obsessive mixtape compiler, so any links to sufficiently creepy downloads would be much appreciated.

What movies should be on in the background? I’m leaning toward Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky…

Any creepy drink suggestions? My social group pretty much runs on craft beer, whiskey and pabst, and it’s not like I can afford to stock the party with Dark Lord, but I’m willing to get a little creative.

How do I get my guests to participate in dressing up and bringing snacks? How do I avoid “schlocky Halloween party” and invoke “really creepy Satanic ritual”?
posted by Juliet Banana to Food & Drink (35 answers total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
I’m not an obsessive mixtape compiler, so any links to sufficiently creepy downloads would be much appreciated.

I got exactly one other person really into Third Eye Foundation's Corpses as Bedmates. He has confirmed my experience with the song in that every time we turn it on at a party, someone is immediately creeped out and spooked and demands it be turned off. Not in a "hey can you switch the music" sort of way but in a "turn that off immediately" sort of way. So I think it is the perfect song.

As far as witch house, White Ring's Black Earth That Made Me ("IxC999") EP and Salem's Yes I Smoke Crack ("Redlights") and Water ("Whenusleep") EPs would be perfect. Salem's full-length King Night might be a bit too hip-hoppy for this sort of thing but, hey, give it a shot. You can also check out †‡† (pronounced "ritualz") and oOoOO (pronounced "oh") but I'm not terribly fond of either of them.
posted by griphus at 8:16 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Tarot cards may provide inspiration for symbols (cups, wands, swords, pentacles) or decorations.

Oh, and what about absinthe?
posted by Durin's Bane at 8:16 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Consider a focus on '80s-90s gothic' and less 'appropriating religions'?
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 8:16 AM on August 9, 2012 [6 favorites]


Also, Holy Mountain, in my opinion, is a little psychedelic for this. Is Suspiria overkill?
posted by griphus at 8:19 AM on August 9, 2012


Memail me a reminder and I will dig out a couple of cookbooks that have whimsical "Day Of The Dead" themed cookies; one takes the Linzer cookie idea, where it's a sandwich cookie with a pattern cut into the top cookie, and has you make a skull shaped thing; the other is a sort of combination mernigue and biscotti meant to look like bones.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:20 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Things like the Glowing Hand of Doom punch have always been a hit at Halloween parties I've attended.
posted by xingcat at 8:22 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


You can buy goat in any neighborhood that has a decent concentration of people with Caribbean backgrounds. Go into a butcher and say HI I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE GOAT TACOS and they will tell you what the best cuts are for your needs, because butchers are rad like that.
posted by elizardbits at 8:23 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


And as for drinks - a bar I used to go to had these funky glasses they got for one Halloween that had the kind of glow-stick technology in the glass casing itself. The bartender would whomp the plastic glass on the table to activate the glowstick aspect. Serving ANYTHING in that would still make it all weird and cool.

I think this was the idea.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:24 AM on August 9, 2012


Santa Sangre is another good Jodorowsky. What about The Craft?

Devil's Food Cake. Black Forest Cake.

Voodoo dolls? Containers of "graveyard dirt"?

Bloody Mary's for drinks.
posted by dysh at 8:24 AM on August 9, 2012


You can buy goat in any neighborhood that has a decent concentration of people with Caribbean backgrounds. Go into a butcher and say HI I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE GOAT TACOS and they will tell you what the best cuts are for your needs, because butchers are rad like that

You can also buy goat, raw or cooked, in Mexican neighborhoods. If you want to save time, ordering in some birria or barbacoa de chivo would be very pleasant.
posted by Forktine at 8:30 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


The Craft has a soundtrack, and it is shockingly good. Not a stinker on there.
posted by juniperesque at 8:32 AM on August 9, 2012


dysh beat me to it, but I think you're practically REQUIRED to have Bloody Marys at this party!

As for decorations, perhaps you can get inspiration, if not actual decor, from wwworientaltrading.com --- LOTS of nicely schlocky Halloween stuff there, from decorative items to candies.
posted by easily confused at 8:34 AM on August 9, 2012


Is there some place you can get sanguinaccio? It's chococolate pudding made with pig's blood.
posted by subtle-t at 8:34 AM on August 9, 2012


Also, you need to watch The House of the Devil.
posted by subtle-t at 8:36 AM on August 9, 2012


I live in Little Village and have a car. I don't know the best goat-getting places, but I'm sure they exist somewhere very near me. If you want to pick a day to bike down and shop, I can haul you, a goat, and your teensy bike back up north.
posted by phunniemee at 8:36 AM on August 9, 2012 [3 favorites]


I was going to suggest Purple Death because it has the perfect gothy vibe and also because, when mixed with raspberry cordial, is exactly the kind of sugary/nasty thing 15 year old girls drink (speaking from experience). But it appears to be an actual NZ made thing so probably not able to be bought over there.

So instead I'm going to suggest some kind of vodka jelly shooters. I'm imagining either mushed up raspberries to look like blood clots or red syrup not fully mixed in to give bloody swirls.

And also chocolate cupcakes with some kind of sweet red syrup inside (maybe cherry or raspberry flavoured and thickened a bit) so that they bleed when you bite into them. Maybe make your cookies in the shape of a severed finger?

I think you need barcodes to attach to everyone's necks as they arrive, possibly along with a big 666 per person.
posted by shelleycat at 8:59 AM on August 9, 2012


Response by poster: Consider a focus on '80s-90s gothic' and less 'appropriating religions'?

I apologize if I've actually offended anyone, but I do not wish to take it in this direction.
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:07 AM on August 9, 2012


You could play Rosemary's Baby in the background.

To get guests to follow along with the dress code, I'd include some kind of wording in the invite implying something about sacrificing those who arrive in bee costumes and the like, and/or those who forget the pot luck aspect. Or you could have gobs of white face makeup and black lipstick to gothify anyone who's not gothy enough upon arrival. Guests who don't bring a dessert treat could be made to stand in the corner for a length of time...bonus creepy decor!

Something that has always been a hit at theme parties I've attended has been a "photo corner"...a corner decorated in theme with some props laying about for people to snap quick goofy pics. Going along with your theme, maybe there is some creepy kind of effect you could employ that would only be visible on film? You could set this up in a closet or hang up some dark sheets to block light, with a digital camera mounted at head height with a flash. Put a glow in the dark sticker on the shutter button so whoever knows where to press, and have something really fucked up and creepy going on in the background that they won't be able to see, but will show in the pic with the added bonus of their faces being all bright and blown out from the flash/darkness combination. I'll google around and see if I can find or come up with anything else, like how to achieve or recreate spectres or ghostly mists on film.

I absolutely love it when you post party planning questions!
posted by Gonestarfishing at 9:12 AM on August 9, 2012


You definitely need pictures of this guy somewhere.

And play Helter Skelter.
posted by shelleycat at 9:45 AM on August 9, 2012


The go-to record from when I was a kid: Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House
posted by chazlarson at 9:45 AM on August 9, 2012


The Wicker Man (1973 version, not the terrible remake) might be a bit obscure, but certainly qualifies as 'witchy occult.'
posted by googly at 9:56 AM on August 9, 2012


Black Magic Cake (or cupcakes). With glow-in-the-dark frosting, natch.
posted by kayram at 10:00 AM on August 9, 2012


Demdike Stare's Triptych album is awesomely creepy atmospheric music, and their videos are gloriously weird and thematically appropriate

seconding Suspira for other movies to show!
posted by par court at 10:56 AM on August 9, 2012


also even if you don't want to watch Suspiria, Goblin's soundtrack for it is awesomely over-the-top!

my year was totally made when the Russian synchronized swim team did their routine to it at the olympics the other day
posted by par court at 11:03 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Surprised this has gotten this far without any mention of Kenneth Anger's films.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
(1954, recut as "Sacred Mushroom Edition" in 1966)

Scorpio Rising (1963)

Invocation Of My Demon Brother (1969)

Lucifer Rising (1970-1980)

I would also recommend serving something red (cherries, strawberries, pomegranate) in a circle and pentagram made from powdered sugar, or maybe do it as a centerpiece with something nonedible but more gruesome.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:29 AM on August 9, 2012


If you're looking for something sweet and relatively healthy, you can take a page out of Witches of Eastwick and have everyone eat cherries and spit the stones into one big bowl as a kind of "ritual."
posted by jph at 11:46 AM on August 9, 2012


Buy spools of burgundy and black (and maybe dark evergreen) velvet ribbon, and packages of peel&stick velcro dots, and make chokers for your guests, in case they aren't quite appropriately attired.
posted by Mizu at 12:42 PM on August 9, 2012


On the movie front, assuming this isn't a party for kids, how about Vampiros Lesbos?
posted by Forktine at 12:44 PM on August 9, 2012


On the getting guests to dress up correctly -- perhaps you can give them some detailed costume guidance to help them figure out what to do? "Get black X and X from the thrift store, put on eyeliner like X youtube video shows, paint your fingernails black, get black boots from a thrift shop, or get cheap chucks and marker them all black."
posted by garlic at 1:23 PM on August 9, 2012


o'death is creepy gothic Americana, and skeltonbreath's music makes me feel as if something is chasing me (spotify links)
posted by runningwithscissors at 3:16 PM on August 9, 2012


You could dress up bottles of PBR to be a little more Dark Lord-y by giving them a wax dip; I think using red (maybe throw in a few black crayons) would work, maybe making cheap beer look like it's trying to be SUPER SERIOUS, GUYS (not unlike how I think of 15-yr-old witches trying to present themselves).

Also, the smell of clove cigarettes makes me think of teen goth culture. If you have a smokers' porch, maybe have a pack or two of Djarums there to spare for the people who start to bum cigs when they're tipsy, generous hostess that you are.
posted by neda at 8:47 PM on August 9, 2012


Glow jars for lighting. Jello shots, made with tonic water, for black light goodness. Star cookie cutters - make pentacle cookies, or cut out bread stars for bruschetta and other hors d'oevre. I've seen star-shaped tart tins, and you could make adorable pentacle quiches. You should have a Ouija board, and as much homage to the moon as possible.
posted by theora55 at 10:19 PM on August 9, 2012


Yay for your question. Googling grilled cheese ideas, lead me to your grilled cheese party question and that's how I found askmetafilter.
Red cream filled devil's food cupcakes!
posted by jennstra at 10:32 PM on August 9, 2012


Juliet Banana, I want to come to one of your parties!!

You'll need to dress as the High Priestess.

The title of High Priest and Priestess are seductive,
conjuring up exotic images of yourself in embroidered robes, a
silver crescent (or horned helm) on your brow, adoring
celebrants hanging on every word which drops from your lips...

Reality check. The robes will be stained with wine and candle
wax soon enough, and not every word you speak is worth
remembering.


Here's an idea for makeup. Don't forget the orb and crescent headdress.

Here's a website that talks about beauty (and other) spells. Print 'em out on little slips of paper, and have people form little groups and chant them. Hair spells would be particularly good.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:38 AM on August 10, 2012


Some friends of mine had a goth party recently; we did makeovers in the bathroom for guests who were insufficiently gothy. We also had a TV playing "The Crow" and, when the was over, the "Lie to Me" episode of Buffy. Speaking of that epsiode, play Rasputina.

Maybe have an arts-and-crafts corner? Make wreaths/crowns of red roses, have a bunch of cheap thrift-store silver jewelry to take apart and reassemble, and be well-stocked with black nail polish.
posted by nonasuch at 2:19 PM on August 10, 2012


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