Heaven & Hell: The Party!

Anyone can throw a party. To be the envy of all of your friends, and to guarantee your position at the top of the party food chain, you must strive for imagination. It shows that you care about true entertainment and it raises you to the level of mature party animal. And what better to show your true devotion to things both decadent and naughty than a "Heaven and Hell" theme party?

Costumes
As with any theme party, your guests will have to use their imagination to interpret your theme. There are always a few, however, who will not be able to come with anything better than straight-up "angel" or "devil" to wear to your party. As gracious host, it is your job to try and steer them into a successful party costume. Of course, there are the biblical standards such as pre- and post-fallen Lucifer (this could be done as the half-and-half costume), horseman of the Apocalypse, or Adam, if you are talking to that friend of yours who digs public nudity (instead of taking off his pants later, he can just come naked).

To break away from the biblical and inject a little personal flare into the evening, your guests can consider wearing a costume that represents their own personal idea of heaven or hell. For instance, to represent heaven, they could take a mug shot of their fantasy lover and tape it to the face of a blow-up doll, and strap her/him on to an inappropriate physical location for the evening. Note of caution: if the doll is attached in a "straddling" mode, you could knock over a lot of shit, so try to stay seated. This costume can easily be converted into a hell costume by sticking a picture of a particularly heinous ex to the blow-up doll's face and dressing her in a wedding gown.

Decor
In order to set the mood for your Heaven and Hell party, it is ideal if you can have two separate areas in your house or apartment. If you have two different rooms, great. If not, you can separate one larger room with a curtain rod, hanging black fabric on one side, white or sky blue on the other (you can use a sheet or even a shower curtain for this). In the location designated as "Heaven", light as many candles as possible for nice soft lighting. Buy cotton filler from a fabric store to create clouds to attach to the floor, walls and ceiling.

Seating in this room should be comfy and luxurious, with overstuffed chairs and lots of big pillows on the floor. If you want to go all out, buy fabrics such as satin and velour to cover the furniture and pillows in.

In Hell, seating should be sparse and uncomfortable. Wooden or metal folding chairs will do. The room itself can be as elaborate or as sparse as you like. Hang torture or S & M devices around the room. Scatter about the room rubber snakes and plastic bugs (check at your local dollar store for these creepy crawlies). If you are thinking ahead, raid stores right after Halloween for great deals on macabre knick-knacks such as skull candles, plastic skulls to hang atop fake spears, and all sorts of demon paraphernalia.

For lighting, change the existing lights in the room to red bulbs. If you aren't worried about such trifles as "safety", buy some citronella torches and stick them in pails of sand around the room.

Food and drink
If there is room, stick all of the food and drink in Heaven. In Hell, place nothing but Melba toast or some other tasteless snack (without water to wash it down, of course). You can go simple or elaborate in the food department. Have a fruit tray, or ay least bowls of grapes around the room, for people to feed to each other. If you have a ceramic fondue pot, set it up as a chocolate dipping sauce for the fruit (do not use a metal fondue pot, as it will burn too hot and ruin the chocolate).

Make an angel food cake (of course), cut it up into bite-sized squares and put a dollop of whipped topping on it. This will compliment the fruit and chocolate nicely.

For a hot hors d'oeuvre, you can make some simple brie phyllo triangles. For this, you need a package of phyllo dough sheets (large, if available), one egg, a small wheel of brie and some blueberry pie filling. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the phyllo sheets in half to make a rectangular-shaped sheet. On the top left corner of the sheet, place a slice of brie and a small dollop of blueberry pie filling. Don't try to overstuff the triangles. Fold the corner with the filling in it down, so that the top left corner touches the bottom, and the side is flush with the bottom (should make the shape of a triangle). Keep folding the triangle to the right (at least three folds), until there is only a phyllo flap left at the end. Brush the beaten egg mixture onto the flap and fold it over to seal the contents inside. Bake the triangles on a cookie sheet until golden brown. Check often that you are not burning the phyllo. Serve hot.

If you are going to serve any alcohol in Hell, it should consist of cheap bourbon and Prairie Fire shooters (vodka and tabasco sauce) and be served in chipped glasses. In Heaven, have the full bar, and provide a recipe book for fruit cocktails and specialty martinis for a little added class.

Once you have set the scene, sit down in your throne (provided you have come up with a suitably imaginative God costume), and lord over your creation. Brag often that while it took the Big Guy seven days to create his universe, it took you only a few hours to provide them with this spread. Enjoy!