# This year's party.....



## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

This year we are hosting out 15th annual party (every year since '91 with the exceptions of 2004 the year we moved to a new house...). I go WAY nuts with Halloween (anyone else?? ;-). Last year was the biggest and the best with about 55 guests.

At little before 10p last year, I reached into my shirt pocket, took out a wireless X10 remote, pressed one button, and th entire house blacked out. Completely (yeah, I'm an engineer) BLACK. We had handed out glow sticks to people when they arrived. I started a complex SFX tack on a 2500 watt commercial sound system that was all hidden under old tarps and cloths, and not used until that time. Most guest frantically started looking for and shaking their glow sticks. A couple peals of thunder hit and twin 750 watt strobes lit up the room from the second floor loft (plus on airport runway Diversitronics strobe on the roof out back, 1800 watts, lit up the WHOLE back yard). Then darkness, more SFX voices, thunder hit, lightening and BAM! Dance music. My nephew upstairs dumped 50 lbs of pelletized dry ice in a heated trash can and the fog was ducted down onto the guests below...

So, anyway....I am really into Disney class "event" related parties.

This year we are expecting maybe a few more than last, and I have similar plan...

This year I am doing the blackout, but prior to that, guests will be cordoned off from the family room, and once the house goes black, the 150 LED candles in there will make the room glow, we will open the doors and hopefully they will be inclined to go in there and see the new decorations. Not sure how/if I will use the dry ice, I wast thinking of just doing l light fog machine treatment to create a haze.


I thought I would ask if people have tips for managing the whole party. Last year I had the help of my sister and my nephew, this year they won't be there. Just me and my wife. We are hiring a couple high school girls to heat up and serve food, but will dismiss them just before the blackout.

Any tips for managing all that you have to do? Last year we even had a "dress rehearsal " the night before, as people had to be in certain places and do certain things when house went black. I realize most people probably don't go to these lengths, but I am wondering how I will be able to do everything. One thing I am doing is using a jukebox app on my PC to play mp3s. Last year it seemed all I did was shuffle CDs trying to be the ultimate DJ. I downloaded MediaMonkey and it has a feature where you can put it in a password protected jukebox mode and people can choose songs, put them in the active playlist, but not change volume, skip/reorder songs, etc.


TIA


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## jesstyler (Sep 26, 2007)

Ok, I have no idea how to help, but MAN! I want to come to YOUR party!!  

Have fun, it's sounds amazing!


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

OH!! I remember your posts about your party last year! That rocks!

Another seasoned host.  This year will be our 12th. My hubby has also spent the previous years trying to be the ultimate DJ & because of it has missed most of the night. He plans on playing more mixed cd's & just letting them roll.

The only suggestion I can make is keep the food simple. We only serve items that can sit out unattended for a long period of time. We also don't play any games. It works for us. People keep coming back 

Hey Jess - You feel like crashin a party with me?!?!


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## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

My sister shot a video of last years event, I still need to figure out to convert it to an editable format so I can post it. Is was way cool.

Good point about the food. The heated food will be prepared by the hired help and served, so it will not sit. I think the only other hot food is swedish meatbals that are left in crockpots.

Jackielantern, have your husband get MediaMonkey. You can download a free version, or the full version is only like $24.95 or so. Load up all your mp3 (rip CDs), invite guests to drop off/send their faves ahead of time, put them all in a big directory and when your guest say "do you have ..." or "can you play" just point them to the computer...

last year I 1) spent way too much time in the bedroom shuffling CDs and 2) drank too much spiked Vodka drink out of my bottle (I was a homeless guy). I don't remember the last 2 hours of the party!!!

Not this year....


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## jesstyler (Sep 26, 2007)

Heck yeah Jackie! I"m in!  Esp. after hearing about those sweedish meatballs! mmm.... Do you have a recipe you can post? We're doing sweet & sour meatballs at our party this year.


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## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

we learned our leason about playing dj also you don't get to enjoy the party.This makes our second(consecutive) halloween party in a long time.We had them before so probaly around 6 or so.But we host around two partys a year along with the once a month friends and family "get together".We do our own music and have also done music for our friends reception.We have also been offered jobs so we must do something right.
I download and mix the cd's to play in a paticliar order normally like this
slow-rock(ac/dc)-hip hop-90's-country-disco-80's -group dance.repeat until cd is full this offers a huge variety.I play halloween type music before hand for around a hour.

Your set up sounds awesome.Just have a blast and your guest will to.

Hey jesstyler how about sharing that sweet and sour recipe.


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## jesstyler (Sep 26, 2007)

OMG, it's SOOO easy ... Here ya go ...

Sweet & Sour meatballs

1 bag precooked meatballs (I buy the huge bag of frozen meatballs from sam's club)
40 oz grape jelly
3 jars Heintz Chili Sauce

Add all to crockpot & simmer. 

You can even use with sausage too if you want. 



Jess


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

Yeah I remember you from last year too. I was wondering if you ever posted that video you promised but after reading further now I know you didnt.

What's the prob with the video? Don't you have a video editing program? I have ulead and just feed the raw video into my computer and then capture and then edit and then save.

MsM


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## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

My sister did a "documentary" type video, of all the prep planning, interviewing the kids and all. Its a bit over 600M, and I wouldn't want to post it all here. But I'll find an .mpg editor and cut it down and post. Anyone know of a freeware one I can get??

Microsoft movie maker won't open it...


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## ylbissop (Sep 6, 2007)

theres a list of editors here

for a pc user I'd reccomend TMPGEnc


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Jess,
I serve swedish meatballs as well. Here's my recipe:

16 oz sour cream
2 pg. Schilling Auj Juis season packets
2 cups water
5 lb precooked meatballs (i get them at Sam's Club)


Optional: mushrooms & flour to thicken sauce


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## jesstyler (Sep 26, 2007)

Thanks Jackie! I'll have to keep that for another party 

Jess


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Your welcome


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## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

Ok boys and girls, if you can swallow a 16+Mb mp4, here ya go.... (thanks ylbissop for the tip on TMPGEnc, I downloaded it, pretty slick...)

Some notes on what you see and hear in the video:

The camera is placed on a stair railing in our family room, which has a 22ft high vaulted ceiling.

The dry ice boom is swung out from an opening in the left wall that opens to the upstairs hallway where the dry ice machine was. At the beginning it is not seen, but after the lights go out, it is swung out. You can’t actually see the boom, but you can see tattered cloths that were hung from it. It was an 8” flex pipe on a counterweighted boom. 50 lbs of dry ice pellets were dumped into the tank right before the music kicked in.

People have been drinking for 2 hours, and get real loud when the lights go out.

You can see them carrying and waving glow sticks.

At the start, most of the guests are in an adjoining room to the right where all the food and drink is.

The sound effects track is worth listening too, although the crowd noise kind of drowns it out. I worked on it for weeks. I bought a Sinistersonics .mp3 and overlaid it will all kinds of voice me and our kids did, ripped thunder tracks off of CDs, etc. My DJ console is in the bedroom at the top left of the screen, you can see me walk in there at the beginning, and then hanging out there turning on lights and stuff with the X10 remote.

The sound during the event was accomplished by starting two separate CDs simultaneously. While the whole mix was done in a single Cool Edit pro session, but separate CDs were burned, one with only the thunder and some other SFX that I wanted to trigger the strobes (twin 750 Watt), and the other with the music and SFX that I didn’t want to trigger the strobes. Only the last 2 voices heard are ones I didn’t do, they were on the sinistersonics track. They are really creepy and people suddenly got real quiet. One CD players output is split to a small car amp and the audio signal drive the strobe triggers. As you will see, the effect is incredibly realistic. Also, some thunder lightning hits can then be timed with the music. Watch how one hits right when the music kicks in. Also, before the music kicks in, some of the non-thunder SFX triggers the strobes.

You can hear the voices say things like “there are people here”, “I see lots of them”. Then I did one that says “Leave them. Do not torment. Give them light, give them music! <lightening hits>”. Not sure how many people actually heard all that. I mutated voices using Cool Edit pro….

What looks like a table to the right of the bedroom door is actually a JBL JSX-115 speaker, another one sits atop a subwoofer in the right corner, also covered with cloths. No one had any idea that sound system was in there until the first lightening hit.

The little floating ghost was my sister’s last minute idea. She ran a fishing line guide wire from the top of the stairs to the far corner of the room, and she had another line tied to him so she could make him dance along. Watch how in one part he slides all the way down, disappears into the fog column, then reappears (right after the “Lighting and Sound Design” credit rolls past)..

The projector light that comes on right when the music starts is an American DJ “H20” light, it was mounted right next to the camera atop the stair rail. Of course I could turn it on and off with the X10 remote.

The video was chopped up quite a bit with the editor in some places, so the audio is choppy too.

PLEASE RESPECT my ownership to this video and DO NOT copy it and post it elsewhere on the web. 

Here’s the URL (at long last…!) 

http://www.thebugshop.org/movies/Halloween 2006_event_only_360x240.mp4

So this Sat night, we do it all over again!!!!!


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## OKHaunting (Sep 6, 2007)

That's great! And it sounds like you had some guests that really appreciated what you put together for them.


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Hey Johnshenry....I need your address. Looks like I have Jess as a partner in crime to crash your party. 

Seriously....have a blast! Best wishes on everything running smooth.

Also, thanks for the media monkey tip. Downloaded it, now I just need to take the time to set it up.


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## Push Eject (Oct 11, 2005)

Oh man! Amazing. Thanks for posting it, johnshenry!

Hey, let's see the "documentary making-of" footage too 

Cheers,
Charlie


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

Its about time lol But definitely worth the wait!
What a way to get the dancing started lol Loved the moves on that ghost haha
Loved how the guests called the voice the wizard of oz lol 
Don't wait so long to post this year's video 

MsM


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## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

Well I worked my wy through college as a nightclub disc jockey... and I always love to build exceitment at a party, get people begging me to play some good music, and WHAM! In fact I have a CD called the "Lost 45s" that has some really BAD music from the 70s and 80s on it. Captain and tenille and Helen Reddy like, but bands that you never heard from again. I play it in the sun room that is adjacent, on a weak overhead stereo. So unsuspecting people think "Oh, this is it for the music, huh?"

Then the lights go out.



I love this stuff. And yes, now that I have the video editor, I'll post a video sooner....

Also will will take and upload some pre-party pics of the decorations. Some of the last minute stuff you improvise ends up looking pretty good.


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## ylbissop (Sep 6, 2007)

thats truly awsome thanks for sharing!!!!


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## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

Pics of props from this years party at:

http://halloweenforum.com/showthread.php?p=396764&posted=1#post396764


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