This past weekend, I threw a Hunger Games themed birthday party for one of my closest friends, Lori. We gathered a group of hardcore fans of the book series and headed to see the film at Cinebistro with matching shirts that the hubs designed before heading over to our house to celebrate. I worked really hard on all the details, with help from the hubs and the bestie, and I was so happy with the way things turned out.

As for the movie, I think they did a good job. But, of course, a movie will never be as wonderful as a book. Never. Unfortunately, I think their biggest downfall was character development. There were a lot of relationships that were not delved into as they should have been and remained pretty superficial, but the acting was absolutely amazing. Jennifer Lawrence is my girl, yo.

For more party details, click below.

Cornucopia centerpiece was made with white cardboard rolled up to form the shape, covered in tin foil in order to extend its curved tail. We then spray painted it with both gold and gold glitter. We went to the dollar store and collected little weapons and first aid products to put in and around the cornucopia, just like in the arena. We also used this tutorial to make mini bows.

I also snatched up some $1 picture frames and printed out Katniss & Peeta prints from Living Locurto.

I made a signature drink for the night, Girl on Fire, and used this recipe. I tied some raffia onto Mason jars and got my favorite striped straws from Hey Yo Yo, and affixed some Hunger Games quote drink flags to them, again from Living Locurto.

I scattered faux white roses around our home with a little creepy message attached from President Snow.

I made some gluten free Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting adapted from this yummy recipe.
The hubs designed the mockingjay toppers to pay tribute to our favorite heroine.

This was my favorite little detail: I made badges, which I referred to as identifiers to make it more Capitol oriented. Everyone could pick a role, whether it be gamemaker, stylist, sponsor or Capitol citizen. For those especially rebellious types, they could claim to be the mockingjay or support the rebellion. The special birthday girl got a birthday token. Design by the hubs again, actual DIY badges were made by me with help using this video tutorial.

We also had a reaping ball – it was a fun little detail where I had everyone enter their names and towards the end of the night, I pulled one out at random and gifted the lucky tribute with a Hunger Games poster designed by…who else? The hubs.

The whole spread, including my banner found on Etsy that I absolutely love!

Like a proud mama!

The hubs designed our shirts and it was uploaded to Spreadshirt, which is my new favorite site for custom tees. They have such a wide selection of styles and prices. It works for anyone and everyone! Plus, the quality is great. I unfortunately cannot say the same about CafePress (wah waaaah).

I also tried my hand (har har) at the infamous girl on fire manicure that Katniss sports while in the games (at least in the books, I was bummed to see that they left this detail out of the movie). I tried to follow this tutorial, but the flames did not peel off the lunch bags. So I used my nail pens and drew the flames by hand. They didn’t come out half bad! If interested, I used China Glaze’s Smoke and Ashes as a base and China Glaze’s Electrify for the pinkie pops. Finally, I used cheap $1 nail pens in red, bright orange and yellow to create the flames.

Overall, it was such a fun party, and I had so much fun creating and planning all the details. Next up on my party planning list? Continuing the planning for a Harry Potter themed bachelorette! Sure to be another super fun project!