Award Night Party -13yr- Individual Ballots

Since my 13 year old daughter is into drama and acting, we decided to throw an Emi Award Night birthday party.  Emi is her nickname and worked just great for the theme. 

For the invitations we created an official ballot.  We don't let our kids watch PG-13 movies until they are 13, and as a result, Emi had a long list of movies that she wanted to see.  I had her pick the five favorite ones she wanted to see. 

I then created a ballot using the categories for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Costume and Make Up, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Visual Effects and Best Picture.  Any terms we didn't think the kids would know, we defined for them.  I used an Oscar clip art for the top of the ballot and a fancy font for the heading.  Here is what the ballot looked like:  

The Emi Awards April 3, 2009 -- Please complete your ballot and return it one week prior to the event. 

Best Actor, Leading --  Ken Watanabe-- Memoirs of a Geisha,  Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean,  Daniel Radcliffe Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,  Adam Sandler Click o  Gerard Butler Phantom of the Opera

Best Actress, Leading,  Keira Knightley Pirates of the Caribbean,  Emma Watson Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,  Kate Beckinsdale Click,  Emmy Rossum Phantom of the Opera,  Zhang Ziyi Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Art Direction  (The expression of mood in a movie achieved by using lighting, colors, costumes, and sets) Phantom of the Opera,  Memoirs of a Geisha,  Pirates of the Caribbean,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 

Best Costume and Make Up Design  Memoirs of a Geisha,  Pirates of the Caribbean,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,  Click,  Phantom of the Opera

Best Original Score (The music throughout the entire movie)  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,  Phantom of the Opera,  Memoirs of a Geisha,  Pirates of the Caribbean

Best Visual Effects (The special effects in the movie)  Phantom of the Opera,  Memoirs of a Geisha,  Pirates of the Caribbean,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Best Picture,  Phantom of the Opera,  Memoirs of a Geisha,  Pirates of the Caribbean,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 

We enclosed the ballots in a movie ticket invitation with the details of the party on it, including that they were to come in formal dress.  We sent it a month in advance so that they could have time to return the ballot for the RSVP. 

For decorations I found a red carpet and a four foot movie award statue blow up on Oriental Trading Company.  We set up the Red Carpet photo op in our living room.  We took red velvet curtains and hung them over two folding screens.  Then we took our coffee table and covered it in a black cloth. 

Next we put the blow up sculpture on top of the table and surrounded it with fake plants and trees.  We laid the red carpet from the front door to the main room, with it passing in front of the photo op. 

Our two younger children were given cameras and they kept flashing the cameras to be the paparazzi.  My husband was dressed in a black suit and sunglasses being security.  He also took pictures of the group.  In the dining room we had a black and white movie tablecloth.  We also hung a film reel decoration over the appetizer table.  We had old movie posters and actor and actress photos in the main room. 

After taking a group shot, the guests went in to have their appetizers.  We had cucumber sandwiches, cheese and crackers, meat rolled up with fancy toothpicks, and a vegetable tray.  I also found a chocolate fountain and had marshmallows, fruit and different cookies they could dip into the fountain.  I found fluted plastic champagne glasses on Oriental Trading Company and filled them with non-alcoholic champagne.  I had a couple of extra bottles on ice in an ice bucket. 

Emi's cake was in the center.  I made a film reel cake using a round cake.  I frosted it with grey frosting and used Thin Mint cookies as the holes around the edge and in the middle.  I used brown M&M's for the smaller holes.  I then used a Fruit by the Foot to wrap around the outside of the cake to create the look of the film. 

After the guests had eaten we moved into the main room, which was decorated to look like an award hall.  We had chairs set up in rows facing a microphone on a small stand.  I had made ahead of time, posters with the pictures of each of the movies and the actors and actresses.  We used these when we announced the nominees for each category. 

I was the hostess and each of the guests was given a category that they represented.  When the winner was announced, the guest would come up and give an impromptu acceptance speech.  I found little Oscar like trophies on OTC and gave one to each of the winners.  Once all of the awards were presented, we watched the winner of the Best Picture. 

Before each of the guests went home, they were presented with a Swag Bag, just like the real winners of the Academy Awards.  In each of the bags we had made CD's with all of the movies main songs.  We also had a group and individual photo that we had printed out while they were watching the movie.  We had them autograph their photo with a silver permanent marker.  I found Bon-a-Bon chocolates that we put inside.  For the girls I made each of them a pearl bracelet.  We bought fancy pens for the boys.  We put all of these items in a fancy popcorn container. 

It was a huge success and the guests loved it!