My husband wanted a a themed birthday party this year—and since we’ve been watching a lot of Walking Dead around here—guess what he picked? And of course it had to be a costume party.
We sent out video invitations as if they were coming from the last safe-house on the planet. “Doctor Zenk was researching the Zombie outbreak and asked all Zombie Hunters to bring one Undead to the safe-house for research.” Ideally out of each couple that arrived, one came dressed as the Hunter and one as the Zombie, giving us instant teams for all our games. (ALL the guys chose to be Hunters of course.) And in the end, the Hunters won. The human race will live on.
Above: Target practice—pin the bullet or the brain on the zombie, depending on which team you are on. Below: A few signs we hung on the walls.
We boarded up all the windows, doors, and fireplace. The room was lit by candles and flashlights only.
Some of the food included brain cupcakes, cookies shaped like fingers, gingerbread men with their heads, arms, or legs cut off, labeled drinks, and some human food as well.
The evening turned out awesome. I only wish I could have spent more time on giving the design and icons a little more originality, but for a party, it’ll do pig. It’ll do.
Note: The Zomcon name and tagline were a tiny side note on a poster I saw, but so poorly done I wanted to give it a re-brand of sorts.
Ha! What a great idea. I love the whole concept, the video invitation and all. The boarded up fireplace and windows are my favorite, I seriously might straight up steal that from you for our halloween party.
I want to see the invitation video too!
Oh, and the brain cupcake is brilliant and disgusting.
Steal away! It was a total blast! And let me know how it goes.
As for the video invitation—it is SO NOT Co-op worthy. (I was completely short on time and THREW it together; even before I’d had the concept completely worked out.) But I’ll send a link to you so you can get the idea.
Also, I do have to add that the Zomcon name and tagline aren’t mine…it was a tiny side note on a poster, and so poorly done and full of fun potential that I took it and gave it a life.
This is amazingly out of control. I am no familiar with Walking Dead, but I will probably steal some of these ideas for Halloween one of these days.
I bet is was an awesome party.
This is so amazing! I love every part of it. I would so love to copy this idea for a friend’s birthday party, he would absolutely love it!
Your party sounded like it was so much fun.
Thanks Jennifer! Copy all you like, it’s the perfect guy party.
I love all of this! So amazing! What did you use for the fireplace? I gotta do this!
Caty, the fireplace “wood” is just cardboard, I bought a large packing box and cut it into strips. Then I drew the wood and nail design onto it and taped it to the brick.
The arms were drawn onto and cut out of poster board then taped up as well.
Have fun!
You are beyond creative!! I especially love the fireplace. What games did you play besides pin the brain or bullet on the head?
Amazing job!
Thanks Christen! The other games included:
LIE TO ME
Upon arrival each guest was given a secret “lie” they had to insert into conversation sometime during the evening without getting caught. For example: “My all time favorite horror film is Night of the Living Dead.” (It’s quite fun trying to get some lies past your own spouse.)
QUESTIONNAIRE
Another game was a questionnaire all about zombies and apocalypse preparedness etc. We tallied up the scores to see who knew more, the zombies or the hunters.
FOOD
After guests had helped themselves to the refreshment table, I collected points based on which kind of food a guest decided to eat first. If a hunter’s first bite had been human food (water for example) he scored a point for his team. But if he had drunk the brain juice…he lost a point for his team.
PAPER GAME
Lastly we played what my family calls the paper game. Each guest receives three small pieces of paper. On each piece they write a commonly known word or phrase. (A different one on each paper) All papers go in a bowl to be passed around the room. All guests sit zombie, hunter, zombie, hunter etc.
First round, a player draws a paper and describes it to their team. Try to get through as many papers as possible within that 30 seconds. Then the bowl is passed to an apposing team member who will take their turn for 30 seconds….and so on. Once the papers run out round one is over. Tally up points based on how many papers each team has won.
Place all the papers back in the bowl.
Second round, each player gets 20 seconds to silently act out what is written on the paper. That player must try to get through as many papers as possible within that 20 seconds. When the papers are gone, round two is over. Tally points for each team. Place the papers back in the bowl.
Last round, each player can use only ONE word to describe what is one the paper. Their team gets 15 seconds to guess as many as possible.
The team with the most points win.
That’s a long answer to your question. Hope it made sense. The evening went really well. The games went quickly. And the paper game is best played last.
LOVE the boarded up zombie fireplace! Do you happen to still have the arm/hand templates for that to share??
Thanks SoCalGal! Sorry, the files aren’t available to share as of now. But it would be super easy making your own. Just trace your hand…or even your shadow.
This is so, utterly fantastic.