Easy Oscar Party Ideas {2011}

I love going to the movies! I especially love the excitement of award season, and the movie marathoning my husband and I do to see as may of the nominated films as we can. We even make an annual trip to Nashville to see the Oscar movies that didn't come to our town (double and triple features...yea!!!). I'm pleased to say we've seen all ten of the Oscar-nominated films this year!

With them in mind, I've come up with some super easy Oscar Party Ideas to help you throw a last-minute viewing party together. All of the ideas below require little to no prep, so all you have to do is email an invite and run to the grocery store.

The 83rd Academy Awards air on ABC this Sunday (February 27th)
6:00 pm Central - Red Carpet Show
7:00 pm Central - Awards

Oscar Party Invitations

I love Paperless Post email invitations! They are super stylish yet casual and very affordable (less than the price of a stamp), and you get 25 free credits when you sign up for a new account. So, your Oscar Party invites might be FREE! Here's a cute design I put together.

Oscar Party Dinner Menu

Some of the 2011 Oscar movies were perfect for a casual themed dinner that you could pick up from the grocery store or easily prep yourself.  Serve during the Red Carpet pre-show.

• Winter's Bone-in Chicken (Grocery store rotisserie chicken)
  
  
• Cheesy True Grits (Quaker Instant Cheese Grits or try this Paula Deen recipe)
  
  
• The Fighter Boston Baked Beans (Bush's Boston Recipe Canned Beans)
  
  
• Fresh Greens with Black Swan Poppy Seed Dressing (bagged salad with store-bought dressing)
  
  
• The King's Peach Cobbler (love this easy recipe!)
  This great idea came from @milodanish via Twitter. She has some other cute Oscar menu ideas.

With all of your fun Best Picture themed menu items, you'll want to show off the creative names with some labels.  I really like the classy tent cards in this Thanksgiving Printable Collection on Catch My Party designed by Love the Day, which you can download for free.

Oscar Party Cocktails

• Black Swan White Russian (idea from Make It Better)
  For the kids, you could serve regular and chocolate milk called "White Swan" and "Black Swan".
  
  
• 127 Hours Margarita on the Rocks
  
  
• The Social Network Apple Martinis

Oscar Party Dessert Menu - Sweets and Movie Snacks

Make your party even simpler by skipping dinner and having only snacks...just let your guests know on the invite. Or, after dinner have a fun dessert table set up with lots of movie-theater snacks.

No Oscar Party is complete without some fresh popped buttery popcorn, so definitely stock up on this beforehand.  Here are some Oscar Best Picture themed sweets to go with them.

• Black Swan Licorice
  
  
• The Fighter Jawbreakers
  
  
• Inception Totems (Hershey's Kisses)
  
  
• The Sour Patch Kids Are All Right
  
  
• The King's Peach (Gummi peach rings)
  
  
• 127 Hours Rock Candy
  
  
• The Social Network Appletini Rings (Gummie sour apple rings)
  
  
• Toy Story 3-eats (Rice Krispie Treats)
  
  
• True Grit Cowboy Crunch (Mini Crunch bars)
  
  
• Winter's Bone White Trash (see this salty/sweet party mix recipe)

Oscar Party Ballot

Part of the fun of an Oscar Party is getting everyone's predictions on the winners.  I love this stylish Oscar Party Ballot designed by Twig and Thistle, which you can download for free along with some other cute printables for the awards show.  I love the little score line on the back of the ballot!

Oscar Party Tips

If you have a DVR, set it to record the awards ceremony and about 1 hour after, as the live show usually runs long.  (You'd hate to miss the big award!) Then feel free to pause the awards show as needed to continue conversation, pause for bathroom breaks, or pop more popcorn.

Can't have an Oscar Party this Sunday? Consider hosting a screening party the following weekend for whichever movie wins Best Picture. Then you can use just the ideas related to that movie...super-duper simple! The Social Network and Toy Story 3 would be particularly fun for this type of party.


I'm really looking forward to Sunday's Oscar Awards show.  I'm not sure who will win, but I know my personal favorites. I'd love for Winter's Bone to take the awards for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), and Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes).  This was my personal favorite movie of the year, and I'm just so thrilled it was even nominated.  Fingers crossed!

Do you have any Oscar Party tips or ideas?  I'd love to hear them and if you use any of the ideas from this post!  

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