When I decided to give in to everyone else’s insistence and read this crazy wildstorm called The Hunger Games, I knew I would be totally in love with the entire series/franchise forever. I became like a peddler, out handing my copies of the series around, asking all of my friends, “Have you read it yet? Come on, read it, you know you want to” and finally, all of my friends succumbed to my peer pressure and ended up just like me – in love with Katniss Everdeen, district 12, and the downfall of the Capitol.
I was the only one of my group of friends who had read the book in time to catch the movie in theatre. One day, at Aquafit class, my friend Jenn said, “We should all watch the movie together. I know, we should have a Hunger Games viewing party!”
Now she was talking my language. (Just to clarify, my language would be anything involving a party, and definitely anything involving the Hunger Games.)
That was about two months ago, and I have been planning little details ever since. And I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out. My friends were amazed, which is always my goal, and one friend said “I will seriously be talking about this party on my death bed.” Yes, my friends do like to overdramatize, but it was a pretty awesome time.
Wanna see how it all turned out? Here you go! (Please keep in mind that it was evening in my basement – natural light was hard to come by, and even my basement doesn’t have a lot of light. The pics are slightly underexposed, but I think they turned out well enough to enjoy!)
This one is very dark, just to show you the mood/ambience of the place. Don’t you love that little campfire? I borrowed it from our youth pastor at church after they used it for VBS.
I turned the lights on to take a few shots, but they are still a little underexposed. Here’s a picture of the overall tablescape.
I made the banner for the front myself, using the GIMP program.
I didn’t want to go to literal with the food – sure we could have ate squirrel or lamb stew or goat and apple tarts, but (a) I didn’t want to, and (b) I wanted to be more creative then that. So our menu?
– Caesar Flickerman salad cups (mini casear salads served in a cheese cup, so the whole thing was edible)
– Basil, bacon, and goat cheese log (made with goat cheese from Prim’s goat, Lady) served with “Peeta bread”
– Haymitch’s drunken shrimp (marinated in a rum mixture then wrapped with proscuitto and grilled)
-Nightlock Pavlova Parfaits (pavlova, whipped cream, and “nightlock” berries)
– District 12’s Coal Truffles (oreo and cream cheese mixed together, then dipped in chocolate and sprinkles)
For beverages, I created a Sleep Syrup – which was really just blackberry/raspberry sparkling lemonade. I also created matching water bottle labels and napkin rings, that said “Happy Hunger Games”. I kept the patterns the same throughout the whole set up (red stripes and golden yellow chevron). I also created the yellow chevron menu cards to complete the set.
I framed some art for the backdrop. The middle print was one that I created myself, and it is part of the propaganda speech in the video from the Capitol on Reaping Day. The other two I downloaded from Risa Rodil, a graphic artist who has created tons of Hunger Games artwork.
For the rest of the backdrop, I made these fire poms and hung them from the ceiling. I also hung parachutes, which were filled with a bottle of sleep syrup and a bun from District 11. I printed some more Capitol propaganda and framed them, and placed them alongside an apple with an arrow through it. I used a lot of mason jars because they seemed to fit the idea of District 12 in my head. I’m sure they reused as much as they could and couldn’t afford fancy glasses. I filled the mason jars half way with sand, then placed small triangles of red, orange, and yellow tissue paper on top of the sand to look like flames. (It was actually the pieces cut off the fire pom tips.) Then I placed the arrows (dowels with feathers glued on) into the mason jars. Finally, I wrapped some twine around the jars.
The small frames held quotes from the book, and there were little tags with character names on it. My friends matched the quote to the character who said it – they did pretty good too, 5/7 on the first try.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for my Hunger Games party… but also check out these links with other projects I did to prepare for the party:
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| The Hunger Games Wreath that I hung on my front door for the party. |
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| The t-shirt that I wore at the party, created with freezer paper and bleach. |
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| The Hunger Games trivia game that we played at the party. |
Jocelyn says
This is seriously the coolest party!!! So many fun details…I love the parachutes the best:-) Now you have me wanting to read the books again:-)
Katherine A. says
Cre … a … tive!
Jill @ Create.Craft.Love. says
OMG – you are amazing! This looks like it was a blast! I would be talking about it til the day I died too! Great job my friend – you outdid yourself!
Stefani Long says
Oh man I LOVE it!!! You did an awesome job. Would have loved to go to your party 🙂
Lindsay says
Hey!!
Thanks for visiting my blog! We live really close together! I go up to Petawawa all the time for business! I live near Shawville. I REALLY wish I had “met” you before now because I am a HUGE hunger games fan and might have had to crash your party! ha ha!!
xo
Angie@Echoes of Laughter says
Hi Sarah! Love your party…you put so much thought & effort into all the details…it’s fabulous! I resisted the hype and never did read the books, but I loved the movie! {I am currently resisting the Fifty Shades hype!)
Angie xo
Alexandra @ In Designer Jeans says
This is amazing!! I especially love the T-Shirts!!
Kara @ Petals to Picots says
So much fun and such creative ideas!
Jessica Lucas says
I’m impressed. I like the menu the best, honestly. It’s all so well thought out. Nice party!
Angela says
You are a creative genius, it all looks amazing! And I *want* that Tshirt.
Nicole says
Amazing party! I love the parachutes!
Saumya says
amazing is an understatement…so so …love the creations
http://scrapyouridea.blogspot.in/
Hani Shabbir says
I could have never thought of a hunger game party with so many fun details.. Thanks for linking up at friday fun party.. 🙂
Have a nice weekend!
Heidi Fowler says
So fun! Thanks for sharing this week at One Creative Weekend! Have a great weekend!
Barbara Hiatt says
You.are.amazing!!! !!!AMAZING!!! You have completely outdone yourself my friend!! I am in love with the parachutes! You paid so much attention to detail, love it!!!! O.k I gotta start reading! 🙂
Rebecca @ Herons Crafts says
This is FABULOUS! I love the Hunger Games books and the movie was one of my favourite book to movie adaptations EVER! I am from the UK so the movie won’t be released here until tomorrow! I will be making a Hunger Games inspired bark though (posting tomorrow at Heronscrafts.blogspot.com if you want to check it out!) I adore the artwork you made out of the speech from reaping day – just looking at it takes my straight to that part of the movie! Thanks for sharing, I am your newest follower! Have a great Sunday! Rebecca x
Shooting Stars Mag says
I love your ideas! I did a whole Hunger Games party this past May and i was obsessed with checking out other HG parties to see if I could get any fun ideas. It was great coming up with most of it myself though. I’m now obsessed with planning parties.
If you want to check mine out, go here: http://www.allgrownupparties.blogspot.com
Love your decorations!! And that fire that lights up the middle sign is GENIUS.
-Lauren
Paula says
Best party ever!! The wreath is my favorite!! 🙂 We’d love for you to link this up at our party!! http://housewivesofriverton.blogspot.com/2012/08/riverton-housewives-round-up-30.html
Angie Church says
love it your set up is amazing come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
Melissa says
This is awesome! I wish I could have gone. Thanks for linking up to The Pinterest Project!!!
http://adayinthelifeofamomandawife.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-pinterest-project-linky-party-6.html
Emily says
This is amazing! And I am totally jealous that I wasn’t invited. I wish I had more friends that were into the hunger games so i could recreate it.
Amanda Jones says
What an amazing party! Thank you for linking up to my pin it party! I pinned this!
Nicole says
Very cool! I’m sure it was a great time.
Sarah E. says
This is so so so so so awesome! I read the Hunger Games (the first book) way way back in the day. I think it had just come out and Stephanie Meyer highly recommended it. And that was back when Twilight was super huge and I had just gotten back into reading. It seriously blew me out of the water and has me reading everything dystopian! If you liked THG, check out Divergent, Matched, Delirium, and The Maze Runner!! They are all great books too 🙂
But seriously…I cannot get over your party. I will be talking about it until my death bed – lol!
Thank you so much for linking up to TPP! Hope to see you again this week.
Me says
What an amazing party! 🙂 I saw you on I heart Naptime & had to come checkout your Hunger Games ideas! I definitely want to make one of those shirts!!! Thank you for sharing your creativeness!