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Planning an Oscar-inspired party? It's time to pull out all the glitz and glamor for your big evening at home. Image ©lina0486 / Dollar Photo Club

Get Ready to Host Your Own Oscar-Inspired Party

The 2015 Academy Awards Ceremony is a month away. That can seem like a long time if you are one of the nominees waiting to hear who wins. But if you want to host an Oscar Night event, it’s time to start planning your big gala.

So what does it take to host an Oscar party?

First decide on your guest list. Will this be an adult only event? Come up with an Oscar-worthy invite like these from printaholic.com. Invite your partygoers to dress up in their best designer attire or to come as one of the characters from this year’s list of Oscar nominated movies. Then nothing says swanky like rolling out your own version of the Red Carpet with “media outlets” and “paparazzi” recording your guests’ arrival.

At the party you can set the mood with glamorous decorations like these from camillestyles.com and delicious hors d’oeuvres like these ideas from delish.com.

However if you want to host a family event, you may have to come up with your own lists of nominations. (None of the 2015 Best Picture picks are really child friendly.) This year’s Oscar nominees are determined by voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences just as are winners from of the Golden Globes (selected by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), Critics Choice Awards (chosen by members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association) and Peoples Choice Awards (the general public who vote through the People’s Choice website). So you can form your own voting body and nominate contenders from 2014’s more family friendly movies.

Depending on the age and interests of your attendees, you could let your guests pick their own favorite movies to put on their ballot or choose from the following categories:

Animation:

The Lego Movie

Big Hero 6

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The Box Trolls

Planes: Fire & Rescue

Rio 2

Penguins of Madagascar

Drama:

Dolphin Tale 2

The Giver

When the Game Stands Tall

Million Dollar Arm

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Muppets Most Wanted

Annie

The Fault in Our Stars

Action:

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Maze Runner

Guardians of the Galaxy

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Divergent

Send out invitations that look like a movie ticket and use a long piece of red fabric for your guests to walk down. Don’t forget to take plenty of pictures of your “celebrities” as they arrive at the event.

While you tally up the votes for this year’s winning movies, have guests play Pin-the-Mustache on a poster of a favorite actor or musical chairs with tunes from past winners of Best Original Song. You can also make a list of movie characters or titles and have your kids play Charades.

Pull out craft supplies and have guests make their own statuettes for the big ceremony. Your guests might even be inspired by Philip Lord. After The Lego Movie was snubbed by the Academy this year, Lord, one of the movie’s directors, snapped together his own Oscar.

Keep food simple with these mini party food ideas and lots of popcorn for the moviegoers. After announcing your guests’ picks of the year, choose one of the “nominees” to watch as a group and then send everyone home with their own Hollywood-style swag bag filled with celebrity or movie-inspired trinkets.

If your partygoers are young enough, you might even have them tucked in bed in time to catch the announcement of this year’s big Oscar winner on Sunday, February 22.

More details about the movies mentioned in this post…

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie

Viewers will feel giddy as a kiddy with a new box of Legos

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6

Just because he's inflatable doesn't mean he's an airhead.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

At the center of this tangled web is OSCORP.

Divergent

Divergent

All is well and good until some one decides not to, "get with the program".

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

There is only one way out.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Keeping history alive.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

How to Train Your Dragon 2

A dragon is a man's best friend.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy

Bringing order to the galaxy -one disorderly super hero at a time.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

It may be a new season in his life, but the Captain is still determined to defend his country.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

A treasure is a dragon's best friend.

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars

Cancer threatens to eclipse the teen love of Gus and Hazel.

The Boxtrolls

The Boxtrolls

A surprise in every box.

Planes: Fire & Rescue

Planes: Fire & Rescue

Dusty the airplane races to the rescue to fight fire.

Rio 2

Rio 2

Blu the Macaw is a bird out of water when he ventures into the Amazon rainforest

Penguins of Madagascar

Penguins of Madagascar

They are black and white -- and trouble all over.

Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted

It's not easy being green.

The Giver

The Giver

Receiving from "The Giver" may entail accepting more responsibility than a young man can take.

Dolphin Tale 2

Dolphin Tale 2

A second chance for a dolphin named Winter.

When the Game Stands Tall

When the Game Stands Tall

A football coach can make all the difference to the team.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Things could always be worse!

Million Dollar Arm

Million Dollar Arm

An opportunity to pitch baseball comes from out of left field.