Do you think Hannibal ever slobs out in sweats?
October 25, 2013 8:30 AM Subscribe
My Halloween party is tomorrow. Yay! My workload is much heavier than anticipated. Boo!
I need all your suggestions for fast, impactful, and easy costume and party favor ideas. Details below the fold.
So, I was planning to do a nice Hannibal spread and have my friends over for lunch tomorrow. Alas, I've been overtaken by events and have outsourced the food preparation. The food is not a problem. The venue is also not a problem. So there's that.
The costume would have been easy, because I already bear a rather satisfying ballpark resemblance to Hannibal's latest incarnation. Gastronomically, though, I've had to outsource the food and it's just not suitable. Also, a number of my guests are vegetarian and/or halal and/or kosher eaters, so anyone suggesting pork as an excellent substitute which tastes just like human... not funny. Though it otherwise could have been.
So, given that a Hannibal costume is out, I am faced with pulling together a cool-weather costume that is fast, impactful, and easy to slap together in limited time. I've decided that my clothes are going to be clothes rather than a costume per se (though many would say that I blur that line in everyday life). The solution, then, is a makeup trick.
I've already done Neil Gaiman's Death, so that one's out for this year. I am really turned off by zombies, or anything SFX that suggests the gruesome. No wounds, no zipper faces thanks. I'd rather express unearthly mysterious powers, you know, that sort of thing. Also, this is an afternoon and not an evening party.
So, part 1. of my question is, what are the most beautiful and otherworldly makeup tutorials that you know of, that I can slap on relatively quickly?
And part 2. is, how can I give out party favors that I can get supplies for at the corner store at the last minute but which strongly suggest mysterious powers? Preferably without the misuse of religious or occult imagery, the implicature should be in the items themselves, rather than in any symbols used to decorate them. I'm thinking little bundles of strange tea, artfully wrapped, for example.
So, I was planning to do a nice Hannibal spread and have my friends over for lunch tomorrow. Alas, I've been overtaken by events and have outsourced the food preparation. The food is not a problem. The venue is also not a problem. So there's that.
The costume would have been easy, because I already bear a rather satisfying ballpark resemblance to Hannibal's latest incarnation. Gastronomically, though, I've had to outsource the food and it's just not suitable. Also, a number of my guests are vegetarian and/or halal and/or kosher eaters, so anyone suggesting pork as an excellent substitute which tastes just like human... not funny. Though it otherwise could have been.
So, given that a Hannibal costume is out, I am faced with pulling together a cool-weather costume that is fast, impactful, and easy to slap together in limited time. I've decided that my clothes are going to be clothes rather than a costume per se (though many would say that I blur that line in everyday life). The solution, then, is a makeup trick.
I've already done Neil Gaiman's Death, so that one's out for this year. I am really turned off by zombies, or anything SFX that suggests the gruesome. No wounds, no zipper faces thanks. I'd rather express unearthly mysterious powers, you know, that sort of thing. Also, this is an afternoon and not an evening party.
So, part 1. of my question is, what are the most beautiful and otherworldly makeup tutorials that you know of, that I can slap on relatively quickly?
And part 2. is, how can I give out party favors that I can get supplies for at the corner store at the last minute but which strongly suggest mysterious powers? Preferably without the misuse of religious or occult imagery, the implicature should be in the items themselves, rather than in any symbols used to decorate them. I'm thinking little bundles of strange tea, artfully wrapped, for example.
Best answer: ( also, not sure how well stocked the Halloween shops ( is that just a US thing? Pop up shops devoted to just Halloween stuff?) are but I saw a number of peoe at SDCC with just cheap plastic deer horns on, which fit into the show and where otherwise totally innocuous and fun looking.)
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 AM on October 25, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 AM on October 25, 2013
Cabin in the Woods doll mask people! Easy to do.
Black clothes and a white mask from craft store, maybe with lips done in black.
posted by misha at 9:17 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Black clothes and a white mask from craft store, maybe with lips done in black.
posted by misha at 9:17 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Sticks of unusual incense, the more pungent and mixed the better, wrapped in sinister looking black bows?
posted by The Whelk at 9:19 AM on October 25, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 9:19 AM on October 25, 2013
Best answer: Is there a craft store or a supply store or otherwise a source of a small glass or plastic bottles available to you? Cause you could make small bottles of tea infused vodka which takes no effort and tastes totally strange ( I like to use a really smokey tea, or something disgustingly floral, no one knows what to expect. That listed 18 hour seeping time is ..ambitious, I've seen good results in like four hours. Last time I used a six pack of those Victorian Lemonade bottles I saw in the UK cause they where hand-sized and the labels came off easy. Pour the lemonade out into another container ( why not make a cocktail with it? Lemonade and ginger with a cinnamon stick!) Then infuse the vodka with the tea ( crush the tea if you want it to infuse faster) in another container, get a funnel/strainer and pour the infused vodka into the empty lemonade bottles. Tie with now or tag. Or just place a teaspoon of tea into each bottle and fill with vodka. Messier looking, but hey, it's Halloween, you can say it fits. )
posted by The Whelk at 10:06 AM on October 25, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 10:06 AM on October 25, 2013
My first thought was leather gloves and a cigar, but then I realized you meant another Hannibal.
posted by three blind mice at 11:53 AM on October 25, 2013
posted by three blind mice at 11:53 AM on October 25, 2013
Response by poster: Decided to go as Abigail Hobbs. I will need to touch up my roots, so it's not as little work as it seems. But it does have the element of surprise. It's the last thing anyone will be expecting of me.
I would go as a colour, and in fact I have the ideal (blue) dress, but it's buried under a ton of other stuff and needs ironing. I don't rate my chances of unearthing it in time. Otherwise I would have gone for that choice.
I have a reasonable hope of one of the nearby corner shops having incense in stock. If I can get hold of some sticks, I could even hopefully tie them together Blair Witch-style. I'll let you know what I come up with.
posted by tel3path at 2:44 PM on October 25, 2013
I would go as a colour, and in fact I have the ideal (blue) dress, but it's buried under a ton of other stuff and needs ironing. I don't rate my chances of unearthing it in time. Otherwise I would have gone for that choice.
I have a reasonable hope of one of the nearby corner shops having incense in stock. If I can get hold of some sticks, I could even hopefully tie them together Blair Witch-style. I'll let you know what I come up with.
posted by tel3path at 2:44 PM on October 25, 2013
Which Abigail Hobbs? The one from Hannibal, or the witch?
posted by misha at 10:59 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by misha at 10:59 PM on October 25, 2013
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One time a friend paniced and just went as a color. That's it, the embodiment of blue, it really stunning with all the various shades of blue in the outfit and makeup, down to two different blue shoes and all.
posted by The Whelk at 8:54 AM on October 25, 2013