Manning Makes Stuff - Halloween decorations, paper mache masks, costumes, party ideas, and more

Cabaret de L’Enfer Halloween party

The theme for my Halloween party in 2012 was the Cabaret de L’Enfer — a real Hell-themed café in the red light district of Paris in the 19th century. You can read all about it and see some amazing pics of it on my Paris website, Cool Stuff in Paris. Of course our color scheme was red/orange/yellow, and the centerpiece for the party would be the iconic devil mouth doorway that graced the entrance of the Cabaret. But first, here’s the animated invitation I made for the party. (It has audio, and it’s made with Flash so it won’t work on your iPhone/iPad.)
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Cabaret de L’Enfer Halloween party — cave walls in Hell

For my Cabaret de L’Enfer-themed Halloween party in 2012, I wanted to totally transform my apartment; a goal I have with the decor of each of my Halloween parties is to make it feel like you’re not in a modern apartment in Brooklyn, but somewhere else entirely; somewhere scary! This was the first time I completely covered all the walls of my living room and dining room; I wanted to turn them into the cave-like walls of the real Cabaret de L’Enfer.
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Cabaret de L’Enfer Halloween party — light-up sign

For my Cabaret de L’Enfer-themed Halloween party in 2012, I made this fun light-up sign that I hung sticking out from my front balcony so that guests could see it as they approached my apartment. This was an easy project that made for a really impressive effect! Here’s how I did it…

I made the box shape out of foam board; of course you can just use a cardboard box if you can find one that’s the right size. I cut the pieces of foam board to size with an X-acto knife, and assembled the whole box shape, minus the front panel, with heavy duty Scotch packing tape.
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Cabaret de L’Enfer Halloween party — devil mouth doorway

The theme for my Halloween party in 2012 was the Cabaret de L’Enfer — a Hell-themed café in the red light district of Paris in the 19th century. You can read all about it and see some amazing pics of it on my Paris website, Cool Stuff in Paris, and I have a whole post about the party decor here. Of course, the main decorating project I wanted to tackle was the iconic devil mouth doorway of the cabaret.
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Taking a moment to plug my websites about Paris and Dracula

If you’re digging Manning Makes Stuff, please check out these other websites by me as well!

Cool Stuff in Paris is my collection of weird Parisian attractions, creepy museums, awesome restaurants and bars, bizarre public art, and more. Don’t miss my article about the Cabaret de L’Enfer, a 19th-century Hell-themed Parisian café (and my theme for my Halloween party in 2012).

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