And the Oscar goes to....

Several years ago, my sister and her husband started holding annual Oscar parties.  We were a family of theatre kids and always watched the Oscars growing up. At least as often as we could convince my parents to let us stay up late to do so.  We hardly ever saw any of the movies nominated, but we would watch it!  Since this is the first year The Fiance and I have our own place, I decided (rather last minute) to throw our very first Oscar party!

The Fiance, who is well aware of just how big of a nerd I am, was sort of laughing at me and asking what happens at an Oscar party?  He, apparently, has NEVER watched The Oscars!?! Since my sister is the resident expert, I called her for some tips. She sent me a link for this years winner's ballot as well as a super cool Oscar Bingo!

For those who are generally not interested in The Oscars, might I just say, its a a LOT more fun when you are playing Bingo and get to block out a space when a celebrity trips or cries!

I provided dinner for my guests and asked them each to bring their favorite movie snack to share. I decided to make "popcorn cupcakes" to share! I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and let them cool.  I found a template for popcorn cupcake wrappers and printed and cut them out.

I taped one wrapper around each cooled cupcake and lightly frosted the top of each one using vanilla frosting.  I then took mini marshmallows and cut each one in half.  Then squished the two halves together to form abnormal-popcorn shapes. Once I had enough, I covered the tops of the cupcakes with the "popcorn-marshmallows".  And of course, no popcorn is complete with out the butter!! I put 2 drops of yellow food coloring into a bowl and mixed it with a spoon full of water.  With a clean q-tip, I dabbed the "butter" onto the marshmallows and.....tah dah!!!  POPCORN CUPCAKES!

I printed out enough official ballots and bingo boards for my guests.  I ordered official bingo daubers from Amazon in a plethora of colors.  I found a template for little Oscar statues to use for decorations.

I traced several onto black and gold paper , assembled them and placed them around the room. Now, it was feeling very "Oscar-ey"!!

For the final touch, I prepped prizes for the winners.  My sister advised that it was best to have a first and second prize winner for bingo to keep the game going throughout the awards ceremony.  For fist prize, I hit up my local 99cent store and assembled a "movie night" basket, complete with popcorn, sodas, candy and a Redbox movie code.

For second prize, I printed  out an "Oscar winner" card and put two Redbox code on the back. (The Fiance won second place, by the way. I guess Oscar Bingo isn't too nerdy for him after all haha.)

For the Oscar winner ballots, I had each of my guests place their votes for the winners before the ceremony started and we graded them as we went.  My sister has an "Oscar statue" that she made out of an old Nutcracker that she found at a thrift store and spray painted gold.  Every year, the previous years winner brings back the trophy and it goes home with that year's winner, Stanley Cup style.  I decided we needed our own trophy.  I was running behind and did not have time to search for a nutcracker of my own, so I improvised! I had a round plastic box that I decided to use for the base.

I filled it partly with some hot glue for added weight and stability. Then, I sealed the lid on.

In my search for an Oscar look alike, I came across a box of PEZ dispensers at the impulse-buy section at JoAnn. Who better than Kermit the Frog to emulate the infamous Oscar??

I secure him to the circular base and gave the entire statue a coating of gold spray paint. How cute is this??

My best friend's husband won the ballot contest by a landslide! Here is his awesomely theatrical award acceptance photo shoot!

Everyone had a great time! Especially the debate over whether or not a diet coke commercial counted as a "coke commercial" for the bingo game! Seriously, HUGE and lengthy debate!! LOL I am looking forward to carrying on the tradition and seeing who gets to take "Kerm-Oscar" home next year!