Throw a True Blood Party: An Unofficial Guide to Partying with Your Favorite Vamps

Throw A True Blood Party:

An Unofficial Guide to Partying with Your Favorite Vamps

By Paula Conway

Smashwords edition

The First-Ever Party Ebook with Hundreds of Dollars in Exclusive Deals, Discounts and Offers from More than 60 Companies

Including Artists and Designers Who Have Contributed to the Popular HBO Series True Blood

Original Recipes, Games, Exclusive Beauty Products, Jewelry and More

Sign up for Paula Conway’s next Ebook Private Sale at EbookPrivateSale.com

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright © 2013 by Paula Conway

Published on Smashwords by Riverdale Avenue Books

5676 Riverdale Avenue, Suite 101

Riverdale, NY 10471

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America.

First Edition June 2013

Cover by Scott Carpenter

ISBN: 978-1-62601-037-6 ebook

978-1-62601-038-3 paperback

www.riverdaleavebooks.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Acknowledgements

II. Introduction

III. A Brief History of Vampires

IV. Exclusive Deals, Discounts & Offers

V.True Blood Party Etiquette

VI. Invites

VII. Party Themes & Environments

a. Choose Your Cemetery

b. Fairyland

c. Faerie Nightclub

VIII. Food

a. Bayou Beginnings

i. Kickin’ Cajun Mix

ii. Cajun Spice Mix

iii. Cajun Style Boiled Peanuts

iv. Cajun Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

v. Cajun Deviled Eggs

vi. Beef Jerky Treats for Wolves

vii. Marnie’s Moldy Cheese Balls

viii. Faerie Food

b. The Main Event

i. Cajun Crawfish Boil

ii. Jambalaya

iii. Bayou Burgers

iv. Gumbo

v. Crawfish Pie

c. Dinner at Merlotte’s

i. Merlotte’s Burger

ii. Sam’s Quick Boil Hand Cut Fries

iii. Merlotte’s Coleslaw

iv. Bon Temp Shrimp Boil

v. Bruja Bake

vi. Corn Bread

vii. Sarah Newlin’s BBQ Ribs

viii. Sookie’s Revenge

ix. Pot-on-the-Fire

x. Leek and Potato Soup

IX. End of Life Desserts

a. Beignets of Evil

b. Sweet Bones

c. Sookie’s Cake

i. Vanilla Pudding

ii. Lemon Frosting

d. True Blood Cake

e. Lafayette’s Spicy Doughnuts

i. Sugar Coating

f. Graham Cracker Ghoulish Pie

g. Custard Graham Cracker Pie Filling

h. Faerie Pie

i. Cajun Cake

j. Mausoleum Mousse

k. Bloody Apple Pie

l. Apple Filling

i. Egg Filling

ii. Egg Coating

m. Jessica’s Cherry Bomb Pie

i. Pastry Crust

ii. Bill’s Brandy Hard Sauce

n. Coconut Butter Cookies

o. Satan’s Soil Cake

i. Frosting

ii. Satan’s Soil

p. Tombstone Lollipops

q. Alcide’s Wolf Treats

r. Blood Clot Cookies

s. Red Jell-O Ice Cubes

t. True Blood Candy Buffet

u. The After Buffet

i. Bats!

ii. Character Cookies

iii. Sookie’s Faerie Mints

iv. Popcorn

v. Vampire Killer Kale

X. Drinks

a. The Jesus

b. Deathdination

c. The Sparkle

d. I Couldn’t Stop the Coffin’

e. The Fang Maker

f. Urn Your Keep

g. Decomposure

h. Luna

i. Jason

j. Benedict

k. Jessica

l. Lafayette

m. The Bloody Billith

n. Sookie’s Straw-Bury Smash

o. Blew-a-Casket

p. Sweet as Sookie

q. Tara’s Tincture

r. The Bill

s. Eric’s Ice Martini

t. The Baby Vamp slut

u. Virgin Bloody-Marys

v. Shifter Shakes

w. Pam’s Black Leather Martini

x. Eric’s Bare Bottom

y. Marnie’s Witches Brew

z. Holy Smokes

i. Reverend Newlin’s E. Vangelist

ii. +AB Positive Morning Magic

iii. –AB Negative Morning Mash up

iv. –A Negative Bitter Gin ‘n Tonic

v. Bayou Blue

vi. Walk of the Living Sludge

vii. B+ Positive Passion

viii. A+ Positive Bat Bite

ix. –B Negative True Blood

x. Sookie Stackhouse’s Secret Syrup

xi. Bill’s True Bloody Mary

xii. Eric’s Silver Shocker

xiii. Killer Tea and Scandal

xiv. A Peach of a Death

xv. Sinful Sam’s Secret Solace

xvi. Detective’s Delight

xvii. Wicket Worlow’s Blended Bombshell

xviii. Tara’s Tamarind Torture Treat

xix. Ghost Hunter’s Champagne

xx. The Blood Root Blast

xxi. The Last Standing Vampire

xxii. Mystery!

XI. Sober up Your Vampire Guests

XII. Fang-Over Remedy

XIII. Games

a. Paula’s True Blood Board Game

b. Graveyard Guessing Game

c. Match the Characters Game

d. Vampire Cards

e. The Truth Only Room

f. Game Reference Chart

XIV. Costumes & Bling

a. Pam

b. Jessica

c. Sookie

d. Tara

e. Bill

f. Eric

g. Jason

h. Lafayette

i. Faeries

XV. Beauty

a. Sookie

b. Pam

c. Tara

d. Jessica

e. Vampire Makeup

f. Lafayette

XVI. Gift Bags & Swag

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To say that this book was a labor of love is an understatement -- I wrote this book in a white hot flash of inspiration and to do so the subject had to be one that I was passionate about. I could not have done it without my husband John Conway, my aunt Carla Conway, my mother Mary Wenger, my father Jon Hoornstra and my friends Erika Labatte, Shelly and Steven Goldman. Each of these people moved mountains for me. Carla researched every character in True Blood, developed the character guide, and literally sat in my office with me for seven hours extoling brilliant ideas to help me complete whole sections. My mother helped me find family recipes, made them, and corrected them. My husband is a genius; the vampire history is thanks to him, along with the best games and Cajun cooking. Dad, how amazing and brilliant are you for spending hours over the kitchen table brainstorming, then creating games with me?

I want to especially thank Alyssa Tognetti, our account coordinator with Astonish Media Group. Alyssa made it her edict to find the deals, discounts, and offers, and she did not stop until she had everything she wanted. She was ruthless with herself and her pack of interns.

Courtney Bradford, thank you for all your hard work. You brought some of the best deals. And Lizzie Brown, you too. How you two did this while you’re in school, I just don’t know. Erika, you put time and thought into everything you do, and you always go out of your way for me.

My publisher Lori Perkins has stood behind me for years. She watched with me as my first book hit the charts and sold out, she saw me cook my way through my second book, a cookbook, and she held my hand while I cried through the third book for four years. Lori has always believed in me -- there is nothing more powerful than someone’s belief in you.

Stephen Silverman, I will always be grateful to you for believing in me when I was a student at Columbia University. And for sticking with me all these years. You are never a step from my mind when I write.

And finally, I turn to Francesca Borgognone at TheDailyMeal.com. Francesca, if you had not let me write that first True Blood party article, this book would literally not be here. You have been a solid partner and supporter and I hope to do many more projects with you in the future.

This is the family who delivered this book. I am humbled, I could not have done it without you.

INTRODUCTION

I have always been fascinated with vampires and vampire lore. I’m not alone. The vampire industry is enormous and growing. I remember seeing Nosferatu with Max Schreck when I was in my teens, and being fascinated with the idea of the undead walking and living among us. As a kid, Dark Shadows played in reruns, and while I did not watch it at the time, I caught up with it recently when my husband purchased the entire series box set (which came in a red satin-lined coffin, so cool) for me last Christmas. We are just half way though, and it is amazing to see how writers and producers portrayed a vampire living among us in the 1960’s.

Dark Shadows was truly the first supernatural soap opera. The storyline begins with the Collins family of Collinwood, Maine, an old wealthy family who own a local cannery and have become somewhat of Maine royalty. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is the matriarch, and she never leaves the house for reasons that are eventually revealed, and settled, and then she goes out. Her daughter is Carolyn Stoddard the quintessential spoiled little rich girl who always looks pretty, seems to date everyone in town at some point, and gets dumped each time, and never seems to actually DO much of anything. The governess, Victoria Winters, takes a twilight train to Collinwood to care for Elizabeth’s brother’s son David who is about 9 years old when we first meet him. His father, Roger Collins, is a selfish and pompous windbag who stands around insulting literally everyone. David is a precocious child who is home-schooled. By the way they all live together under one roof, the West wing of Collinwood Mansion. Because of course, why would anyone move out of a family mansion to be independent? Carolyn never works, Elizabeth matriarchs about the house, Roger drinks brandy with a high ascot and snubs his nose at everyone while exhaling acerbic commentary nonstop, and Victoria is just a nice girl who grew up in a foundling home and traveled for a job.

Some secondary characters include Joe, a local fisherman who is an affable chap that everyone likes; Maggie Evans, a girl who works in the local diner and lives at home with her father, the town artist Sam Evans; and Burke Devlin, a newly wealthy old friend of the Collins family who had a legal falling out with Roger and has come back to town after serving jail time to take revenge on the Collins family.

We are introduced to the pivotal character, Barnabas Collins, in the second season of Dark Shadows. Barnabas, in fact, was introduced to the show to literally save it from certain death. Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid, is not exactly sexy and he’s an older vampire by today’s standards. He is also just about the lamest vampire ever. He has very few powers compared to today’s vampires and can be overtaken quite easily by a witch. He couldn’t even get out of his coffin for 200 years because the chains were too heavy (metal had nothing to do with it). Never mind the fact that he can disappear at will and reappear somewhere else, that skill just didn’t work in that coffin. Then there’s Grayson Hall who played Dr. Julia Hoffman, constantly stammering through her lines, squinting upwards toward the sky as if to make some grand statement after every line. And never mind the fact that she is a psychiatrist who happens to have been working for years on a cure for vampirism. She’s so excited that finally she meets Barnabas and can put her research to work. And it works, Barnabas becomes human and she becomes his closest confidant.

It’s so much fun to watch, and addicting because the cast was incredible and it was the time of early experimenting with soap operas. In the late 60’s, there was no such thing as a second take, so whatever the actors delivered the first time was it. The lines are constantly fumbled, booms falling in to camera shots, people coughing and moving furniture off set, and I seriously think that Mitchell Ryan playing Burke Devlin was intoxicated most of the time. But even with some unkind casting and through the bumbles and fumbles, Joan Bennett, Louis Edmonds, and Jonathan Frid are such