IT’S ALIVE… and it doesn’t take a mad scientist to conclude that it’s abnormally incredible! Gretchen of Three Little Monkeys Studio doctored up this electrifying Young Frankenstein’s Lab Party for Halloween this year. This little lab is equipped with the most spooky & fun treats {mmm… brain cake balls} that Igor himself would beware!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• “Abnormal Brain” Cake Balls and Pumpkin Face Mason Jars
• Frankenstein Cookies, Igor’s Eyeballs and a Cute Burlap & Black Stripe Wreath!
• Decorate A Monster Mask Activity & Frankenstein Needs A Brain Game

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Gretchen…

One of our favorite movies lately has been Young Frankenstein, and it seemed like the perfect Halloween theme. Frankenstein is such an interesting monster–a touch spooky but not too scary, and a lot of fun for kids.

Since our theme was based on a movie everyone may not have seen, I tried to keep it general enough as a Frankenstein’s Lab theme that worked for everyone, but with some fun gags that weren’t missed by the Mel Brooks fans.

PARTY FOOD

We wanted to keep the meal portion easy, so we served pizza to our guests and then followed that with amazing treats. Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats knocked it out of the park with Abby Normal cake balls and Igor’s Eye-ball cake balls. The brain cake balls were displayed in small canning jars with stickers that said “Do not use this brain! Abnormal.”

Linda of Frog Prince Cake & Cookie Design made Frankenstein cookies with brains, stitching and more. They were almost too pretty to eat!

I baked a gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate cherry cake (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte) to help some guests with allergies and served store-bought macaroons because they looked like haystacks (Inga’s Haystacks) and saved me some precious time. A beautiful cake tassel from The Purple Pug helped cover my icing flaws … well, a few of the many anyway.

For drinks, we served wine (Monster Moscato and Taffeta Vino) and beer (Frau Blücher’s {neigh} Brew) for the adults with Young Frankenstein-themed labels, Starbucks Frappucinos (The Blind Man’s Espresso) and Ovaltine from the movie.

Guests were encouraged to fill out toe tags to use as beverage tags keep track of their drinks. Guests could fill out their name, cause of death and so on. Lots of laughs from the guests over that activity.

DECOR

There really isn’t a lot of Frankenstein themed decor out there, so I turned the space into Frankenstein’s lab and study using furniture and props from around the house.

For the backdrop I wrapped a wall with gray paper and used chalk and a ruler to sketch out the blocks in the castle wall.

A small bookcase with strategically placed vintage books helped give the bar a spooky study feel. A chalkboard bubble placed next to the bookcase with a hand stuck behind mimicked a key scene in the movie Young Frankenstein. The shelves held a variety of adult beverages with custom labels that represented characters and key scenes in the movie.

The lab portion functioned as the dessert table and was set up on a galvanized garden potting table and accented with vintage pieces and black serving wear. A vintage electronics tester was turned into Frankenstein’s equipment and accented with some squirrel cage bulbs and a Luminglass from ThinkGeek to add that lightning effect. Cobwebs, skulls, printables and a beautiful banner by Peckled were used to add the spookiness to the scene. Jaclyn put so much details in the banner and used some fringe to give the letters texture.

Bethany of Sweet Georgia Sweet made a beautiful custom wreath, swag and topiary that matched the printables perfectly. She used burlap and black & white ribbon. I added a few cobwebs and a skull to make them a little spooky. Frankenstein and pumpkin lanterns from Dollar Tree hung from Sweet Georgia Sweet’s ribbon swag and helped light the front porch.

Homemade paper bag lanterns lined the windows and lit up the back porch and were super easy to make. I printed Frankenstein’s image on the paper bags (tape the flap down with washi tape before running through your printer) and place a candle inside.

OUTFITS

Lani from Elle Dee Designs made custom Frankenstein hoodies, which the kids adored and allowed them to dress up in costume but still be comfortable, warm and able to run around.

Under the hoodies they wore DIY potato stamped t-shirts we made in skull and Jack-O-Lantern patterns by slicing a potato and dipping in fabric paint.

ACTIVITIES

So the parents could relax and socialize, the kids had an activity table and lots of outdoor activities to keep them busy.

Outside I set up a homemade DIY Frankenstein Bean Bag toss, beach balls and a dart game to keep them entertained and burn off some sugar. I made the bean bag toss out of an engineering print of Frankenstein I mounted on foam core board, cut out a large hole for the “brain” and used rubber brains picked up from Dollar Tree to toss. The Ghost Dart Game was from Oriental Trading. I also blew up 12 skull beach balls from Oriental Trading that had glow in the dark eyes. The kids loved them and kicked those beach balls around all night.

Indoors, I set up a fun craft table with lots of DIY activities. I covered the table with a large roll of kraft paper to keep it protected and set out activity bags for each guest that were filled with Halloween stencils, stickers, two small Halloween activity books, crayons and a mini pen. I also set out lots of fun coloring pages I printed off from Oriental Trading’s site. Craft activities included making their own Halloween mask with an easy kit from Oriental Trading that included a witch, pumpkin, Frankenstein and a werewolf, and a fun felt sticker activity I picked up from JoAnns. There were lots of monsters prowling around our house that night!

FAVORS

For party favors, I tried to give out a bag that appealed to the kids and the parents. I found Frankenstein playing cards and glow sticks at my local Dollar Tree. I also threw in some Halloween rings and eraser to round it out. I printed the image of a brain on the bags with the wording “Thanks for being Abby Normal” and sealed them closed with satin bow ties as an homage to the Puttin’ on the Ritz scene of the movie. Ashley of L & M Boutique made the bow ties.