Famous Magazine's Top 10 Oscar® party tips

Word is Sebastien Centner is the man to talk to about throwing Oscar parties. As the director of Eatertainment Special Events, he’s thrown bashes at this country’s biggest affairs — Fashion Cares, The Toronto International Film Festival, Fashion Week — with guest lists that include the likes of Matt Damon, Bill Clinton and, ahem, Martha Stewart. He’s also in charge of Toronto’s Bloor Street Diner and Panorama Lounge — known celebrity hotspots at film fest time. So, yeah, he has some cred. That’s why we asked Centner for his Top-10 insider tips for celebrating Oscar.

1. Make your invitation look like an envelope containing the winner of an Oscar. With “The Envelope Please” scrawled across the outside, this sort of invitation immediately sets the tone for your party.

2. Make the evening a glam one with shiny trays (silver/gold/mirrorred) for serving canapés or displaying drinks. It’s the Oscars for God’s sake…the palette should be gold, white and black!

3. Fill commercial time with mini-games — Oscar trivia, favourite movie moments or my personal favourite, “The Newlyweds Movie Game,” where you test spouses on how well they know their partner’s favourite movies.

4. Create great parting gifts in true Hollywood style. The real stars may be getting a bag of goodies worth $50,000 at their Oscar parties, but at least your guests can leave with some bling too (movie passes make a great gift, or classic movie posters). For one party I hosted I had a graphic designer Photoshop all my guests’ faces onto the cover of a DVD case for a specific movie and each guest left with a copy — not of the movie, just the case.

5. Create a themed photo booth. Pick up some great props and let your guests dress up and take digital snapshots of each other. Especially funny when you email them to everyone a few days later!

6. An Oscar Pool. Much like fantasy football, send out the ballots ahead of time so guests have time to fill them out before they arrive. Make up teams with, for each category, the losing team being assigned a task (do the dishes, drink a specialty shot, etc.).

7. Create a red-carpet entrance. Pick up remnant red carpet and cut to size or look into one-use event carpet. This will surely set the tone as guests arrive. Accentuate by getting your kids to snap photos of guests as they arrive — paparazzi style!

8. Create fun movie snacks such as exotic popcorns in Asian takeout containers (the containers even come in silver, black and gold).

9. Make miniature versions of fan favourites — Caesar-salad spears, miniature steak sandwiches, bite-size pizzas, smoked-salmon or cheesecake lollipops (made by putting small pieces on spears).

10. Create movie-inspired cocktails such as “The Junotini” — a Sunny D specialty martini with vodka and mandarin orange garnish (based on Ellen Page’s Sunny D-loving character from last year’s nominated pic Juno).

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Do you plan to throw an Oscar party? What tips do you have for hosting a fab night? Share your thoughts below!