Halloween Party - Fear Factor Theme
Last year I went to the greatest Halloween party. I thought it was going to be like every other costume party, but it turned out to be much more. To keep the guests busy, my friend planned the party around a game of “Fear Factor”, inspired by the popular television show.
The house was decorated with everything fearful, from bats and rats to knife carrying killers. From the moment I walked in the door I got the feeling I was being watched. It was probably just the large metallic werewolf head lunging out from the wall as I entered the front door. Its sunken eyes followed me longer than I would have liked.
The entire house was lit by blue lights and candles. Cobwebs were in every corner and walkway and huge bats with fierce bloodied fangs hung from the ceiling. Carved pumpkin heads sat in every room. Fog and scary music floated in from open French doors that lead to the backyard “cemetery.” As I made my way toward the outside festivities, a rather large man with torn clothes, dirtied face and killer smirk, followed me. He waved a blood stained knife at me, but never spoke. He scared the you-know-what out of me. I found out later that he had been hired to walk around the party and torment people. (It was a great idea and worked like a charm – several people, mostly women, were really freaked out.)
Once everyone had arrived, the host welcomed us and explained that the Halloween party theme this year was one of fear and fun. To that end, we would be participating in a “Fear Factor” competition. She warned us to be brave and work together. There would be a reward for the winners.
We were divided into equal groups. The host tried to separate couples and friends so that people would make new acquaintances. It's amazing how fast you'll get personal with someone when you want to win a race. There were three tasks for the evening. After each round the team that performed the worst would be eliminated.
The first stint was performed in the garden. The Halloween party decorations outside were just as good as the ones inside. Halloween lights were strewn all over the patio cover. Haystacks were placed around the perimeter of the patio for sitting and “bodies” (newspaper stuffed clothing with a mask head, hands and feet) were lying around. Lights illuminated the grass area where fake Styrofoam gravestones littered the lawn and skeletons looked to be reaching out of the ground. We were told to assemble youngest to oldest and given instructions. We would be partaking in a food fear, titled “What's your poison?” Each member of the group was to drink the contents of a cup, completely finishing it before another cup with the same yummy concoction was passed to the next team member. The groups that accomplished the chore in the fastest times would move on.
It was hysterical watching the first members of each group drink. They made faces, gagged and slurped, alarming the rest of us. We all wondered what was inside the cup but would have to wait our turn to find out. When it came to my turn I was ready. I decided to plug my nose and down the whole thing as fast as I could (I noticed it was worse for the people who took their time.) When we were all done, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it,) my group moved on. The drink, it turned out, was canned beets, crushed pineapple and string beans…!!!!
The next task was a little easier. We were each given a spoon and had to pass an egg from person to person on the spoon. The catch was we had to hold the spoon in our mouth. Again, the quickest times would go on. We remained outside for this as well, in case any eggs fell to the ground. Cool and collected, my group beat the others by several seconds. So we were on to the finals. Bring it on!
The party moved indoors for the final challenge. The eerie glow inside the house gave me a chill and again I was visited by the knife carrying man. As far as Halloween party themes go, this was definitely the best I had been to. I seriously thought about jumping ship and heading home, the guy put that much fear in me. But there was a prize at stake so I put my game face on and wiggled my way between two team members for safety.
Everyone gathered around to hear the last dare. Each group would be given 10 minutes to come up with a short sketch to be performed in front of the rest of the guests. The spectators would vote on which performance they liked best and a winner would be declared. The fun thing about this was that since this was a Halloween party, everyone was dressed in costume. My team included a wizard, pirate, car crash victim, pregnant nun and bride... to name a few. So, each group member had to be their Halloween “character” in their performance. Trying to come up with a story using the above characters (plus a few more) wasn't easy. We thought ourselves clever, though, and in 10 minutes were ready to perform.
Can you say Academy Award? When we were finished you could still hear laughter from the crowd. We were naturals (I'm not sure what that reveals about our true characters) and my group was declared the winner. We each received a gift bag with DVD's of classic horror movies, microwave popcorn, sweets and a toffee apple. The rest of the evening was spent talking about the fun Halloween activities we had just done, drinking punch ladled from a cauldron and snacking on delicious Halloween desserts. It was the best Halloween party I've been to.
