A. Chederros/Getty ImagesIt's almost time for the Academy Awards!
To celebrate the star-studded occasion, invite some friends over and kick off Oscar Sunday with your own at-home viewing bash.
For tips on how to throw the ultimate fete, we tapped some of the biggest celeb planners in the business to get the lowdown on décor, invitations, party games, and more for Academy Awards viewing parties.
Check out all the details on the 7 must-haves for your at-home Oscars watch bash from famed planner Mindy Weiss and more!
1. Evites: Celebrity planner Lisa Gorjestani of Details Event Planning, who has planned parties for the likes of Halle Berry, said party hosts should have some fun with their invites. She suggests sending an Evite with catchy slogans like, "You may have missed George Clooney's New Years Eve, Didn't make the cut to Michelle Obama's 50th..? Well, here's the invitation you've been waiting for," with the party invite attached.
2. Games: Looking for entertaining activity ideas? For games to kick your Oscar bash off with a bang, try out an Academy Awards trivia game. According to Gorjestani, questions can include ‘who hosted the most Oscar shows,' ‘what film won the most Oscars,' ‘who will be on Jennifer Lawrence's arm,' ‘Clooney's best Oscar date so far,' etc.
Also, a six degrees of dating game can be a good addition to the party. To play it, write the names of two celebrities (preferably two of the same sex) on a dry erase board—Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner, for example—and see who can connect them through the celebrity dating pool.
3. Awards: Mindy Weiss, who has crafted soirees and weddings for her A-list clientele like J.Lo and Ellen DeGeneres, said having your own mini-awards ceremony for guests could make for a great addition as well. Some of her fave categories for this are best dressed, most entertaining, who saw the most movies that are nominated, and who can name a nominated movie's songs.
4. Party Favors: For party favors, Weiss suggests a mini swag bag filled with goodies like a gift card to Netflix, a split of champagne, bags of gourmet popcorn or bags of microwave popcorn, and a chocolate gold-foil wrapped Oscar. Feel free to get creative with the shape and color of the swag bag and the goodies you place inside of it.
5. Dress Code: Have some fun with this one. Rather than invite guests to come over in casual garb, Gorjestani suggests instead asking guests to dress like their favorite celeb couples or Oscar movie character.
Or, make the dress code on the invite cocktail attire or "red carpet glam" and leave that interpretation up to your guests.
6. Setting the scene/decor: Velvet Gardens Creative Director and co-founder Kimm Birkicht, who has also put together events for Hollywood's elite said, "a fun idea at any at-home Oscar viewing party would be a step and repeat red carpet." To do this, simply pick up some red fabric from an arts and crafts store and place it in an area that has space—whether that is indoors and outdoors—and have your guests pose for photos as they arrive. Generally for a step and repeat, there is a backdrop filled with sponsor's names, but you can either use a white wall or create your own.
"Another idea for a viewing party would be to create a photo booth with Oscar statues in the background!," Birkicht said. "You could give your guests voting ballots to guess the winners of each category."
As for décor, she suggested that the host place white flowers with gold accents around their home or apartment, and said "curtain draping with movie posters would be a surprise to greet guests as they arrive."
7. Cocktails and grub: For cocktails and grub, a champagne cocktail would serve as a nice bubbly treat, according to Food and Wine. And for munchies, consider Oscar-topped cupcakes, popcorn served in gold foil cones, and Oscar-nominee inspired dishes like Clams Casino (American Hustle), lobster bites or Lobster Thermidor (Wolf of Wall Street), and mini pizzas topped with pesto, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella (Her).