A Conspiracy Theory-Themed (Housewarming) Party

June 9, 2008 2:11 PM

We have decided to host a conspiracy-themed party in order to celebrate our new home, and we need more drink/food/activity/decoration ideas!

Hello all,

We have decided to host a conspiracy-themed party in order to celebrate our new home, as there is a vast pool of ideas to choose from for food items and party activities (not to mention costumes).

We have a few plans already (some feasible and some not-so-much -- but don't hold back!), and we need to come up with more food/drink/activity ideas! We are planning to start this gathering during the day, and utilize our pool and hot tub to maximum conspiratorial effect.

Here are a few ideas we have been throwing around:
-Custom-made tinfoil hats given out at the door to each party-goer
-All-Seeing-Eye pinata (filled with Agent Orange dust)
-Bermuda triangle floating platform for our swimming pool (as a floating conveyance for drinks)
-Carnival-style life-size image with face cut-outs of conspiracy figures hanging out; probably tea-party style (thinking JFK, some aliens, etc.)
-Large syringes filled with brightly-colored alcoholic shots
-Big Brother-style "suggestion" box with form
-Decor: images from conspiracies, hopefully including real conspiracy theory blog excerpts
-Backwards/subliminal message music (to be decided or created)
-Conspiracy videos (to be decided)
-Cupcakes with soldiers around a downed UFO cake

All drink/food/activity/decoration ideas are welcome! Pun-inspired items are definitely encouraged. Thanks.

posted by S_Alzis to food & drink (32 comments total)

Chemtrail-spraying planes attached to ceiling fans.
posted by mkb at 2:15 PM on June 9, 2008

Eat and drink food there? No way. Everyone brings their own safe food. Pot luck it. But in individual portions that have tamper wrapping on it. And then nobody eats any one else's food. Just their own.

Or not the last part, up to you.
posted by spec80 at 2:17 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

grape kool-aid
posted by idiotfactory at 2:18 PM on June 9, 2008

WTC7 Collapsing Cake.
posted by unixrat at 2:20 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

You should have some sort of meat like soy hot dogs or tofu burgers and not tell anyone it's vegetarian.

"Hello, My Name is" Nametags but already filled out with "Alias."
posted by Ugh at 2:22 PM on June 9, 2008 [3 favorites]

-Carnival-style life-size image with face cut-outs of conspiracy figures hanging out; probably tea-party style (thinking JFK, some aliens, etc.)

If you are going to have aliens then you must also have Elvis.
posted by meeshell at 2:22 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Conspiracy videos (to be decided)

If you can track this down it's the best thing ever. (My VHS copy was under the title "Captain Kirks Alien Mysteries", so I suspect it's got multiple versions and identities)
posted by Artw at 2:32 PM on June 9, 2008

You should have some sort of meat like soy hot dogs or tofu burgers and not tell anyone it's vegetarian.

Serve it as Soylent Green.
posted by iviken at 2:34 PM on June 9, 2008

sunflower seeds
posted by jammy at 2:36 PM on June 9, 2008

Illuminati is a card game that would fit right in, depending on the crowd.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:40 PM on June 9, 2008 [3 favorites]

Or more realistic for most parties, Mafia/Werewolf the party game of paranoia.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:42 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

A very heavily redacted menu. For example, you list some food:

1. Chicken Parmesan - breaded chicken over spaghetti in a light tomato sauce. But then with a heavy black magic marker you blacken out all but "Chicken XXXXXXXXXXXX over spaghetti in XXXXXXXXX sauce."

Actually, it would be funny if you redacted all printed subject matter, wine bottle labels, the ingredients on soda cans (only leave 'water' visible), etc.

Mow a crop circle into the grass.

I really like the pinata idea.
posted by Pastabagel at 2:45 PM on June 9, 2008 [6 favorites]

Could you set up a photo area with a background that looks like the surface of the moon? Maybe put together a cardboard-and-tin-foil moon rover if you've got some extra time. Let people take pictures of themselves in front of it.
posted by vytae at 2:51 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Now that I think about it, you should have a cake with a section of the center removed exposing the word "CLASSIFIED" on the serving dish below. If you serve pizza, randomly remove a slice or two and just write "CLASSIFIED" on the cardboard in the empty space where the slice was.

When you greet people at the door, the first thing you should say is "Did anyone follow you here/Did anyone see you coming?/Who else knows your here?" When they leave, look them straight in the eye and say "You were never here" before slamming the door in their face.

Label the pool or hot tub "Groom Lake" (the name of the real dry lake bed in Area 51). The dog or cat should get a collar with a tag "HYBRID".

Check Above Top Secret for more ideas.
posted by Pastabagel at 2:54 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Have someone take pictures of the party-goers, but purposely make them all blurry, under-exposed, or poorly framed so that none of the individuals are identifiable. Mix in some blank ones with "Photo Not Available" and "Missing Image" written on them.

Have someone pass out a long and complicated manifesto explaining how the party was thought up, what it's trying to cover up, how the Illuminati are involved, etc. Send someone else to collect and destroy all copies a few minutes later.

Add many references to a number, such as 37, all over the place. If anyone asks you if there is any significance to that number, act surprised and be evasive about it.

Lock or otherwise secure a door to a closet or unused room. Put up a large sign that says "Level 5 Clearance Only" or other some-such warning.

And of course, afterwards, deny that the party ever happened.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:55 PM on June 9, 2008

Make a red velvet cake that looks like an alien. Voila, alien autopsy.
posted by 23skidoo at 3:12 PM on June 9, 2008

A few well places FNORD stickers wouldn't go amiss.
posted by Artw at 3:18 PM on June 9, 2008

I would set up a small American Flag and plug in an electric fan right next to it.

Make sure you don't cut the cake with Occam's razor!
posted by yeti at 3:19 PM on June 9, 2008

Replace all the trash receptacles with shredders. Or, if you don't want to ruin a shredder with chicken bones and cake frosting, take some plastic trash cans with the hinged lids and drill holes in the lid (at the edge) and can. Attach a padlock so the lid can't be removed but the flap still opens, then stencil "SECURE RECEPTACLE: FOR INCINERATION ONLY" on the side.
posted by five toed sloth at 3:42 PM on June 9, 2008 [2 favorites]

It seems like one room of your house needs to be blocked off as Area 51.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:50 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Alien autopsy pana cotta! Alien autopsy cocktail! Some really cool spaceship cakes.
posted by Evangeline at 4:32 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Someone dressed as Frank Chu.

Also, party "security" in dark shades and earpieces. Possibly arresting party-goers at random.

I love the crop circle mowed in the lawn idea, if you have a lawn.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:33 PM on June 9, 2008

A fake body in a suit floating face down in the pool would be pretty creepy.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:37 PM on June 9, 2008

Check out from the library The Big Book of Conspiracies. It's a one-comic-page-per-conspiracy anthology of conspiracies and it's a fun read, and would be a treasure trove of material and ideas for you.
posted by WCityMike at 4:52 PM on June 9, 2008

Carry around a tray of drinks and offer people multiple shooters?
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:16 PM on June 9, 2008 [3 favorites]

That's really pretty funny.
posted by Evangeline at 5:24 PM on June 9, 2008

It would get annoying to overdo it, but you could bring in a real life conspiracy with some Numbers Stations recordings courtesy of The Conet Project. Download link in the article.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:28 PM on June 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

You have to have some fnord, but I'd suggest trying to slip it in subtly in text printed for other reasons. If you haven't done invitations yet, just casually stick it in between fnord a few words in the text there.

I really like Pastabagel's idea of taking all the labels (on beer or soda bottles, for example) and censoring parts of them with big black bars.

If you can find a one-way mirror, hang it up over a nook somewhere and put a red LED that turns on at random times for a few seconds behind it.

Find things that looks like hidden cameras and hide them all over the place: in vents, above the front door on the inside (so people won't see it when they first enter, but will when they turn around), etc. Depending on your friends' senses of humor, you could put one (I recommend an obviously fake one, maybe made out of cardboard) over the toilet pointing to around waist height (this way it's very obvious to guys standing up to take a leak, but not so creepy to women sitting down*).

You could have a contest to see who can find all the hidden cameras (i.e. blinking red lights) in the house.

Have TVs and monitors in the house set up to randomly turn on and display some sort of big brother message.

This is a great idea for a party, and there are lots of good suggestions here.

Oh, and one last activity suggestion:

Two Minutes' Hate!


* The only difference between men and women I'm implying here is that it's more likely that women will encounter (or have already encountered) such a thing in reality and thus some might not find it as funny.
posted by ErWenn at 5:35 PM on June 9, 2008

How about a red stapler (Office Space)?
posted by misha at 6:31 PM on June 9, 2008

Maybe have a cake shaped like a grassy knoll?
posted by Verdandi at 7:58 PM on June 9, 2008

UPC codes stuck to everything?
posted by pmurray63 at 9:39 PM on June 9, 2008

As for party activities, I think of the advice in "The Prestige", namely to live the act. Which means, in your case, creating a genuine, super-secret conspiracy against some or most of your guests, and committing to it...for as long as you can. Only a few people should be in the know.

How about something along the lines of a 1984-esque disappearance and cover-up? It's a classic, classy mindfuck: the "they-never-existed" plot. Conspire with someone popular--let's call her Rachel. At the party, get Rachel to mingle for enough time that most people know she's there. At a certain point, she makes haste (and, e.g., holes up in some closet with a bottle of tequila.) Soon after her exit, one of your other conspirators--a plant we'll call Ross--asks when Rachel is going to show up. If all goes according to plan, the dupes will inform Ross that Rachel is already here, and, furthermore, that Ross saw Rachel himself. After all, they say, we were all just chatting with her--Ross included. But Ross, acting bewildered but certain, denies seeing her. And then your next plant, Joey, sidles up: "Well, I wasn't standing with you guys, but I didn't see Rachel either..."

The next layer is for you to actually be in cahoots with the person who most vehemently insists to Ross & Joey that they MUST have seen Rachel. This defender of the faith--call her Monica--is also a plant. Monica, of course, is the next to disappear, at which point a different plant, Chandler, professes not to have seen them around. (It will blow the gig completely if Ross claims not to have just been arguing with Monica. So this time Ross will insist that Monica is here.)

It takes dedication and five people with acting chops to pull this off, but the results can be just gorgeous. I am a big fan of the party double-cross.
posted by Beardman at 10:35 PM on June 9, 2008