The Shining 1940s Masquerade Party

     My favorite movie has been, since it was released as a miniseries when I was six, Stephen King's The Shining.  Yes, that's right, the 4 1/2 hour adaptation that basically only the Master of Horror himself and I think is superior to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film.  This is not to say that Kubrick's film is bad because it isn't; it's just an entirely different story.  It is to King's novel as a "based on a true story" horror movie is to the actual events that transpired.  At any rate, I love The Shining in its various incarnations: King's movie, King's novel, and, to a lesser extent, Kubrick's film, and I thought it would be neat to host a party themed around it.  I also love masquerades and have a fondness for Glenn Miller (due to my early experiences with The Shining, I imagine), so since there's that masked ball in The Shining, I decided to couple these ideas.
     Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing the details of how I made the various crafts for this party.  I rewatched both movies in preparation for this and you will find elements of each as well as the book throughout these posts, although there is a stronger preference for King's work in my crafts.  Think this theme is too creepy for a birthday party?  The Shining could also serve as a good theme for a Halloween soiree.  If you're more interested in the masquerade part, there'll be posts on that too.  But now, without further ado, we turn to my party.

     Here's the centerpiece I made for the party.  Brian helped me with the paper flowers (for a tutorial, see this post).  They're there because I thought that a floral centerpiece seemed fitting for a masquerade.  The "one day at a time" sign is a paper replica of the one Jack Torrance had on his desk in Stephen King's version of the movie.  Beside the vase is an invite, a replica of the one Jack finds in the hotel scrapbook, also in King's version of the movie.  The tablecloth Brian made from fabric we picked up from Joann.  I got it because it looked pretty and kind of fancy, not because it directly related to either movie.

     Here's the "art gallery" I created to take the place of the usual family portraits we have adorning our walls.  At the end of Stephen King's movie, Wendy talks about the art gallery she has opened.  I decided to use horror themed art because Kubrick's version of Wendy is a horror "addict"and because it seemed fitting.  Most of the pieces were ones either I or Brian had made in the past, but the second and third from right I made for the party.  In this pic you can also see the paper chandelier I made.  That one's based on the ones they have in Kubrick's movie.  We can't hang anything heavy from our ceiling, so basically if it can't be held up with plain old Scotch tape, it doesn't go up.  A paper chandelier was the perfect solution to this conundrum.

     If you've only seen Kubrick's movie, you won't understand the horror of this number, because in his film it's Room 237, the room in which the tub ghost resides.  Since the lady who scared the wits out of me as a child was tucked inside Room 217, that is the room number I chose for our bathroom.

     No matter which version of The Shining you're familiar with, I'm sure you'll recall the phrase "redrum."  Wendy learning the meaning of the phrase through seeing it reflected in the mirror was done in Kubrick's version of the film.  It may very well have also been in the book, although I can't remember for sure.

     There's Brian as Jack with his roque mallet.  The roque mallet is from the book.  In King's movie it's a Denver Croquet mallet and in Kubrick's movie Jack goes with an axe.  For the streamers, I used the same color scheme as the ones draped from the ceiling in the masquerade scene from King's movie.

     I wanted some classier looking tableware than the standard plastic white forks.  Believe it or not, the plastic cutlery and paper plates came from Dollar Tree.  The champagne flutes were from Party City.  They were a bit pricey, but they look nice.  We used diet ginger ale to imitate the look of champagne.

     Here we are, snacking on Brian's famous homemade pizza.

     For a party craft, we made paper masks.  It was actually pretty easy to facilitate and people seemed to have fun.  Even dad joined in.  Also, you can see my tissue paper pom poms in the background.  They felt like something you might see at a masquerade.

     Cake time!  You can't really see the decorations in this pic, but I'll have better pics in a subsequent post.