Nobody Can Throw A Stranger Party Than Us

 

 

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YAY welcome to our first blog!!

We’re starting a blog because the world definitely needs another one! *nervous laughter*

We hope to do clever things here and share the fun with you along the way. 

Of course our blog launch had to be about Stranger Things 2, and of course, it had to be a party. That’s what we do over here, we make cute shirts and we party. I mean even 11 herself said how cute our shirts are. Check it here.

For the ultimate Stranger Things 2 viewing party we held it on the day of the release and had an optional ‘80s vintage theme. This party was pen to friends and fam of our team. If we should host future events for the public give us a shout in the comments. Keep reading for deetz!

 

 

 

We opted for Mini Burgers and fries for three reasons:

1. Eleven chows down on them in the first episode at Benny's Burgers.
2. Burgers and fries are a gift from the heavens and everyone agrees. #PeoplePleaser

(If you disagree with this statement you’re clearly lost and won’t like this blog very much.)

*cue montage of the millions of fry shirtswe’ve made over the years*

3. It’s relatively simple and affordable. We’re a small biz and I promise you no one here has time to make ~Hors d'œuvres~ ,  lookin’ at you Martha Stewart. (We’ll probably attempt fancy hor d’oeuvres next party tbh)

 

We also had a fun make-your-own waffle bar for obvious reasons, peep the pic! 

(Obvious reasons: Dessert, Eggos are Eleven’s fav and Barb deserved butter #JusticeforBarb)

For this photo we layed out Eggos-at the party we had pre-mixed waffle batter and a waffle iron with different toppings guests could mix in! This turned out to be a ton of fun and a popular choice. 

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Our drink needed to be spooky and tasty (and alcoholic haha). We took inspo from The Upside Down and this Pinterest post. We went extra and added dry ice to make the spooky fog effect. Which, BTW is apparently super easy to get and can be picked up at most super markets as well as Graeter's Ice Cream.

 EDIT: This drink recipe turned out super gross even though it was popular on the ~internet~. (Grandma, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet!!!!!!") It has a definite acquired taste vibe. The recipe called for Ouzo. If a recipe calls for this. Do. Not. Listen. No matter how pretty it looks. Run away from the Ouzo. 

For people who wanted a different option, we went with the iconic rum and Coke. We got the mini Coke cans which looked super vintagey and went with the theme. Eleven also crushes a can of coke with her mind in the first season.

 

 

For the viewing area we upped the ~ambiance~ and stayed on theme with these vintage christmas lights. You can find them at most stores these days!

They offered the perfect amount of light so we weren’t all in the pitch black together in an office. We used command hooks made specifically for hanging christmas lights and let me tell you, they are WORTH IT.

 

What’s a Stranger Things party without Joyce’s crazy living room alphabet wall?

We ended up using fabric as the wallpaper and painted on the letters with acrylic paint. We mapped them out with sheets of paper because we are not artists, and are real enough to know we would fuck it up if we didn’t.

(Side Bar: Most of us here at TATY are artists, but me and my digital assistant are not.)

To stay on the vintage theme we had Polaroid cameras out for guests to use as well as some Barb-esque glasses. Why use an iPhone when you can be vintage??

(True Life Episode: I’m too committed to my Instagram aesthetic.)

Our photo-booth was super close to our food bars so we had a really great chance to up the ~ambiance~ again. We put clear red cellophane over all of the lights and our soft box light to create a red glow throughout the room as if you were under a neon, Stranger Things light.  (This was a genius hack.)

(PSA: If there were better words than aesthetic and ambiance I would have used them by now, trust me.)  

This doubled as a dark room effect, and we hung up some of Johnathan’s creepy photos from the show where they first see the Demogorgon in the background.

 

 

Throughout our office we also hung up missing posters for Will and Barb which was a great* way (Read: Easy and cheap) to add an eerie touch and pull it all together.

We also included other signs throughout the office like “Benny’s Burgers”, and the boys’ “Castle Byers” signs.

The Upside Down entrance was the most work. Mostly because we have really high ceilings in the entrance of our office but also because it’s The Upside Down not a toddler's birthday party decor. We weren't backing down though. 

Shout out to fog machines for having a crazy cool effect with minimal work, 12/10 recommend.

We hung the typical spider webs and black gauze you buy at Halloween stores which worked out nicely since The Upside Down has that gooey stringy stuff, which I’m assuming is actually part of poor Barb’s rotting corpse and not spider webs.

To make the portal into The Upside Down I drew some veiny, tree-branchy esque graphics on large cardboard boxes, cut them out with a box cutter, then, spray painted them black.

I got a lot of blisters and honestly don’t want to linger on this topic. It was time consuming to say the least and I’m just going to move on with my life.

For the rest of the portal we hung more gauze and black plastic table cloths in front of the doorway. We had motion-sensor flashing lights with thunder sounds when people walked in so they would know shit was about to get strange.

Once it go dark the room took on the full Upisde Down feel. SpoOoOoOky!

Let me know if you think it was worth my blood, sweat, and tears in the comments!

What should we try next? Leave some comments and I’ll read them after I binge watch Stranger Things 2 a few times.

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