Maisy Fernandez,
Oct 02, 2008
The only thing better than watching your favorite TV show is tuning in with your own personal peanut gallery. If I had the time and energy (and if my friends actually watched all the crap I watch), I'd host viewing parties every night of the week.
I really love the idea of creating a theme party, and often it can be done with stuff you already have at home or with relatively little expense. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Survivor
The show: Contestants starve, camp, compete and argue for a cash prize.
Snacks: Starving and camping inspired foods: 10 grains of rice for each guest; pork 'n' beans; s'mores; water (boiled for cleanliness). Offer twigs as utensils.
Decor: Easy decorations could include things we take for granted, such as deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo and clean underwear. You could also build a kiddie shelter out of couch cushions, chairs and sheets. If you're feeling ambitious, drag a TV and a really long extension cord into the back yard and set up all of the above in a giant camping tent.
Knight Rider
The show: A remake of the 1980s favorite about a man and his futuristic car.
Snacks: Stoplight Jell-O shots in red, yellow and green; pasta salad made with wheel shaped pasta; Kit(t)-Kats.
Decor: Hot Wheels; traffic cones; a GPS (which is as close as we will get to our own KITT); and for nostalgia purposes, you must have this David Hasselhoff poster.
Nip/Tuck
The show: Plastic surgeons from Miami make their way in L.A. while dealing with myriad egos and personal dramas.
Snacks: Boobie cookies; prescription pain killers; and Julia's favorite fruit cake (minus poison).
Decor: Toy scalpels (Halloween is coming, so stock up); hand-held mirrors; wax lips; silicone push-up pads (removed from Victoria's Secret bras); Sharpies (circle your cellulite during the commercials!).
Californication
Show: This season, Hank Moody -- the show's often drunken, pot-smoking, womanizing writer -- struggles to stay faithful to his baby's mama, give up cigarettes and be a more responsible father to his daughter.
Snacks: Viagra, vodka, marijuana.
Decor: A candy dish filled with condoms and nicotine patches, brochures to Sex Addicts Anonymous; Mood rings. (Get it? Hank Moody!)
Rock of Love Tour Bus
The show: Slated for early 2009, Bret Michaels will look for another girlfriend (cough*hooch*cough) as he travels around the country on a bus performing at state fairs.
Snacks: Insulin, Budweiser, HoHos, penicillin.
Decor: Personalized back stage passes for each guest; roses; thorns; tubes of black liquid eyeliner.
Dexter
The show: While working in Miami's crime lab, a sociopath lives an underground life as a serial killer.
Snacks: Blood oranges (naturally), donuts (which Dex always brings to his girlfriends and coworkers), steak and beer (Dexter's dinner of choice).
Decor: Miniature plastic dolls in tiny body bags; and the tools of Dexter's trade: Saran Wrap, blood slides, and duct tape.
Easy Money
The show: A drama series about a family of loan sharks.
Snacks: If you're struggling financially because you're in debt, this might be a perfect party for you to throw. Serve wine in a box; Ramen noodles; chocolate coins.
Decor: Credit counseling information; Monopoly money; Suze Orman books.
America's Toughest Jobs
The show: A reality competition in which people are thrust into dangerous and demanding jobs, such as logging, ice-fishing and oil drilling.
Snacks: Coffee (served in Thermoses); big, meaty, Dagwood sandwiches; potato chips.
Decor: Hard hats, insulated cooler lunch box (serve the food out of these); steel toe boots and Carhart jackets.
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
The show: Follows ample-bottomed Kim Kardashian's family, which includes the thousand or so siblings birthed by her mother, Kris.
Snacks: Honey Buns, cornbread; Sister Starseeker cocktails.
Decor: Hair extensions; business cards to your favorite family therapist; Kim's Playboy issue.
The Ex List
The show: After a psychic tells a woman that her soulmate is a man that she's already dated, she sets out to find him.
Snacks: Break-up staples such as ice cream and red wine, followed by get-skinny-again snacks like carrots and celery.
Decor: Photos that you've ripped your exes' face out of; old journals; a drunk-dialing phone list.
The Hills
The show: Lauren Conrad and her friends engage in repetitive, vapid conversations about themselves and boys.
Snacks: A menu inspired by the vapid Hills stars: Rice cakes (filled with air, just like the conversations); oxygen bar (see the pattern here?); Red Bull (for staying alert during the 418th discussion about Audrina and Lauren's splintered friendship).
Decor: A stack of applicable tabloids; gigantic sunglasses; a barf bag (for Heidi and Spencer scenes); and a dictionary and Boggle game, in order to replenish lost brain cells during commercial breaks.
