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Officially, this is not a Backyard Theater Event.
Alas, the weather during Hollywood Award Season doesn't lend itself to movies on the lawn.
Still, if you're a BYT Enthusiast, it's hard to ignore The Oscars.
OSCAR INVITATIONS
I almost never send invitations for movie nights through the mail. Instead, I contact guests in person or on the phone. Then, when the list of confirmed guests is complete, I send an invitation to their email addresses.  |  |
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OSCAR FLYERS
 | The following are examples of flyers I have sent to invitees throughout the month leading up to the awards party.  |
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OSCAR COUPONS
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OSCAR EXTRAS
 If you spray paint your own, slip a popcorn box into the box you're painting. If you spray the box head-on, you'll avoid getting paint inside. The spray paint was designed to adhere to plastic (See Director's prize above). I'm not sure if that was necessary. | I tried finding black popcorn boxes online, but only found mini boxes. Since I must have 100 regular boxes, I decided to spray some I already had. | |
 I used the trial and error method to make a lapel and a shirt pattern. I cut the lapels out of black construction paper. Found a package of mini bow ties here. | ||
I like to surprise my party guests with something unusual in the guest/hall bathroom. I often have music playing that has to do with the theme of the dinner or holiday celebration for which they have been invited.
Years ago, I added an electrical outlet inside the vanity. I pulled electrical straight down from the outlet near the sink. For each party, I create a folder of selected songs in iTunes, plug my laptop in under the sink, set it on continuous play, and shut the cabinet door.
During the Oscar Party, a stream of Oscar winning songs will be floating out from under the sink.
I added another element for Oscar Night:
Powder room visitors are asked to guess the movie in which the currently playing song was introduced. They're invited to check their answers on the next page.
"If you were RIGHT, please take one of the clapboard boxes on the counter. If you guessed incorrectly, stick around. You're bound to know the next one." | |
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These Oscar Cookie Statuettes (originally created by Bakerella), are just so darn clever - which is why you can find them all over the internet.
After reading a blog post that used a brownie for the edible base, I decided to jump in.
My practice round (without frosting) went well.
Here's what I discovered:
1. Listen to Bakerella when she warns bakers to avoid making thin cookies. Make the cookies rather thick, because their legs are narrow and you don't want them to break while you're applying the icing or planting them in their brownie stands.
2. The sanding sugar looked better than the dusting powder, but gave the cookies a hard crust. My sanding sugar may have been too coarse, but it was what the candy shop sold.
3. I'm a nervous novice when it comes to baking anything. I found the video on University of Cookie helped me avoid marring the icing while applying an even coat of sanding sugar.
I first saw homemade theater stanchions on Hello My Sweet.
For a look at how I made mine, go here.
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The Red Carpet is made from two red plastic tablecloths cut in half lengthwise.
The seams are backed with clear packaging tape.
Four dollars for 36 feet of fun.
The following list of songs, repeated five times, was burned onto a CD.
With the use of a boom box, guests hear the music as they walk up the Red Carpet.
1. That's Entertainment (Judy Garland)
2. You Oughta Be in Pictures (Al Bowlly)
3. Just Another Day in Hollywood (from Chaplin, The Musical)
4. Hooray for Hollywood (The Hit Crew)
5. Going Hollywood (Bing Crosby)
came from an instructables tutorial by Biggsy.
It's made of cardboard, paper towels, diluted white glue, and an old belt.
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OSCAR PARTY GAMES
This is my favorite kind of party game because you don't really have to play it. It just sort of plays itself.
I found the game on the HMH Designs blog.
The name of each Oscar nominee is placed into its own individual envelope. (There were 122 nominees for the 2014 Oscars.)
Each envelope is sealed with a printed disc indicating the category in which the artist within was nominated.
I found my free printable discs here.
After everyone has arrived, the envelopes are shuffled and divided as equally as possible among the guests.
Throughout the evening, the guests holding the envelopes corresponding to the announced winner's category open their envelopes to discover who's holding the winner's name.
Running the Game:
Watch the Academy Award Winner accept his/her Oscar. Pause the television program. Allow your winning guest to open his/her prize and share with the party crowd. Speeches are optional. "Unpause" the television program and continue watching. Now you are able to fast forward through some of the commercials.
You can give actual prizes to the winners, but I tried to find SILLY GIFTS that were connected in some way to each of the categories.My prizes averaged less that $4.00, including tax and/or shipping,
Adding a small trophy for each winner brought the cost to just over $5.00
I had plenty of time to decide upon and locate each prize.. I think that's the key to keeping the cost down.
Below you will find my final list of prizes.
Some of the places I purchased the prizes can be found in The Shopping Mall at the bottom of this page.
1. Best Original Screenplay: An old computer keyboard.
Try the Goodwill Store. Look for a box marked "Computer Parts."
2. Best Adapted Screenplay:
A how-to screenwriter's handbook.
Buy USED ! It's actually better to get a book that's a little beat up with highlighter on the pages. These are supposed to be silly, white elephant gifts.
3. Best cinematography:
A toy clapboard
4. and 5. Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short:
A used pencil, a few old crayons, and a 100-Sheet Post-it notepad.
Include printed directions on How to Make a Flipbook (I found decent directions on this site)
6. Best costume design:
Half-used spools of thread, a needle, and a couple of buttons.
Put them in a plastic bag and add a label that reads, "Edith Head Design Kit."
7. Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Comb and brush set and eye shadow kit.
8. and 9. Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Subject: Small notebooks with blank, lined pages.
On the front of one notebook, paste the printed title A Year Long Daily Journal and on the front of the other, paste A Month Long Weekly Journal.
10. Best Film Editing:
Scissors and Scotch Tape.
If you can find it, you might be able to add an old film strip or some outdated 35mm film
you can pull out of the canister.
11. Best Foreign Language Film:
FOREIGN SNACKS to munch on while viewing a FOREIGN FILM.
Put three or more of these items in a shoebox:
a bottle of Heineken beer from Holland,
a bag of German pretzels (Any pretzels will do, just place a "German Pretzels" label on them.),
a cup of instant noodles or a bag of Chinese Fortune Cookies,
a bag of Portuguese Brazil nuts. (Buy a small can of assorted nuts and pick out the Brazil nuts.),
a bag of tortilla chips or a box of Royal Flan mix,
a can of Greek olives or a single serving carton of Greek yogurt,
an Armour or Oscar Mayer Pizza lunchable pack,
a French roll,
Japanese tea (Again, any tea will do, just say it's Japanese.).
It all depends on how much you want to spend.
12. Best Original Score:
Super cheap conductor's baton.
13. Best Original Song:
45 rpm record, "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow.
I found a reissue on eBay for under $5 including shipping.
The record arrived in a plain white sleeve. I printed a cover and glued it to the front of the sleeve.
14. Best Sound Editing:
CD filled with sound effects.
I found one for $5.13 including shipping from an online Goodwill Store.
A less expensive route would be to use one of the many websites offering free sound effects and burn your own CD.
15. Production Design: Small hammer, disposable roller, paint chips.
Start hounding your neighborhood yard sales for the hammer.
I sprayed the handle black and used a paint pen to add gold stars.
16. Best Sound Mixing:
earphones.
Attach a note saying, "Take the sound going into your right ear and the sound going into your left ear, and mix them up in your head."
Search Goodwills and yard sales, and don't worry too much about whether they work or not.
17. Visual Effects:
A child's kaleidoscope.
If you find a garage sale kaleidoscope in less than pristine condition, spray it black and add decorations.
18. Best Live Action Short: *Short* action figures.
Check your child's room or haunt your local garage sales.
19. to 22. Best Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress:
Gold and silver star-shaped shutter sunglasses.
Gold glasses for Leading Roll winners and silver for Supporting Roll winners.
23. Best director:
Megaphone and/or black beret.
I sprayed my purple megaphone with a partially-used can of black paint.
24. Best Picture:
If you're a conservative host, go with a disposable camera.
OR . . . . award the winner with A Movie Producer's Kit (aka: everything a person needs to produce "The Three Little Pigs").
If you're already a crafter, this won't cost a dime, but will take a couple of days to put it all together.
For more about a movie producer's kit, see below.
I'm inclined to avoid paper and pencil games at a party. I think they have a tendency to discourage interaction.
Still, a good word search or crossword can fill in some gaps if the ceremonies hit a low point.Crossword Forge is a puzzle creating software I've used since my teaching days, but it's easy to find free word puzzle generators online. I try to create crosswords and searches that are easily completed. Putting a Word Bank on the back of a crossword helps to make everyone successful.
The Oscar Bingo Games found online look fun, although I've haven't' tried using one of them yet. I found generic ones here and here. A set of Acceptance Speech Bingo cards can be found here and here. The later site's cards are specific to the 2010 Awards. You'd have to do a little tweaking to bring them up to date.
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A Movie Producer's Kit
Materials
crayons,
felt markers,
scissors,
glue,
one intact cardboard box and additional cardboard pieces,
half-used cans of spray paint (I used black on the box and red on the fireplace and valance),
a "Three Little Pigs" script from the internet
Three Little Pigs finger puppets (see below)
parchment and toilet paper rolls,
Two 1/4-inch dowels,
a printer (or nearby FedEx Office)
a length of red ribbon
scrap of fabric
Except for the dowels, you probably have all the materials
you'll need to put this together.
A List of Items in the Kit
Whereas the Entire World knows that the fairytale entitled “The Three Little Pigs” has no known author, common law grants to the Producer an irrevocable (but not exclusive) option to all motion picture, television, broadcast, home video, sequel, CD-Rom, and all other computer-assisted forms of media, merchandising, allied, subsidiary, and ancillary rights to the “Three Little Pigs” storyline, in perpetuity, for exploitation worldwide in all language versions and in all manner and media of communication now or hereafter known. I used ABC Kids font. |  |
| 2. The Screenplay Dozens of kindergarten teachers have shared their "Three Little Pigs" scripts on the internet. Do a search and pick the shortest script you can find (I found one with big font that was 1-1/2 pages long.) Center the body of the script rather than leaving it aligned to the left. Add a few notations (SOMEWHERE IN IOWA, FADE IN, etc.) Top it with a cover sheet, and you've got yourself a screenplay. | |
| 3. A Director Use this phone book of Oscar Winning Directors to assist you in finding a talented director.  I gave every director a Hollywood area code, even the ones who have gone to IN THE SKY. |  |
 4. The Willingness of a Major Movie Studio to Front You while you secure adequate financial backing. So, here's the front of a Major Movie Studio.  | |
5. A Sound Stage with a Set and Props |  |
6. Suitable location sites, scouted and confirmed. This scene was drawn on the back of the one above. Paper rolls hold up all props and actors. |  |
7. Camera equipment | |
| 8. The Actors. At least one actor should be a major box office draw.  Coming off his critically acclaimed performance in last year's top-grossing hit "Little Red Riding Hood," Mr. B.B. Wolf has agreed to play the roll of the villain. These finger puppets were used. |  |
9. A theater to which you can distribute the completed movie
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The Shopping Mall
PARTYCHEAP:
VIP Stage Door Entrance Door Cover.
VIP Peel N Place Toilet Topper
AMAZON:
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field (Best Screenplay)
clapboard (Cinematography)
Found mine for $4 on Amazon, but later came across them for $1.99 on Shindigz.
small notebooks (Best Documentary)
conductor's baton (Best Score)
If you are running out of time, here are some *short* little action figures
PAPER.COM
small category envelopes
PARTY CITY
red plastic table covers
OFFICE DEPOT:
100-sheet Post-it note pad (Best Animation)
You can find these anywhere, but Office Depot had them for 99¢.
JO-ANN FABRIC and CRAFT STORES:
Pick up a Sewing Repair Kit (If you don't have thread for the Costume Design category)
Use a 50% off coupon for one regular-priced notion.
DOLLAR TREE:
comb and brush set (Best Makeup and Hairstyling)
eyeshadow kit (Best Makeup and Hairstyling)
megaphone (Best Director)
scissors (Film Editing)
ORIENTAL TRADING:
gold and silver star-shaped shutter sunglasses from Oriental Trading. There are a dozen pair (6 gold and 6 silver) for about $15 including shipping. The good news is, you'll have enough glasses to do this a second and third time - and at no cost (if you can remember where you put the leftover glasses the following year).
clapboard favor boxes (Powder Room prizes)
small trophies (All game category Winners)
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