Costume Standbys: THE LABCOAT

Another entry into your expanding costume closet should be the Labcoat. Got invited to a party Friday AND Saturday? You can't go as the same thing to BOTH of them; that would be gauche! Enter: the labcoat.
From the humorous to the horrific, established characters to spontaneous creations, the lab coat is a really flexible costume piece. Mad scientist is the first obvious choice, but should you make up your own or reference someone people already know like Dr Frankenstein, Doc Brown (from Back to the Future), Dr. Horrible (the Joss Whedon creation)? Dr. Stranglove, Bunsen Honeydew or Beaker, Dr. Hackenbush(any Grouch Marx fans out there?), Dr. Jekyll, and Dr. Octopus are all options depending on how much time you have.
Maybe you want a more historical figure like Einstein, or you could make a political statement and go as health care reform (pantsless? shirtless?). Make up your own medical doctor character and spend the night handing out prescriptions ("drink two of these and call me in the morning") or baggies of jellybean "pills". This leads us into humorous ideas which include the proctologist and gynecologist gags that have been popular the last few years.

Surgical accidents can make for a grusome theme with blood spattering and spare bodyparts tucked in your pockets. You could carry around a jello brain and hand out samples ("Oh, he won't be needing it anymore"). Or maybe your dentist is scary enough.

FREEBIE: TOE TAG INVITES

Invitations can really set the stage for your guests as to what to expect. Someone who receives a invite that obviously suggests a theme is less likely to show up in a t-shirt and more likely to get into the spirit. If your theme happens to be monster/ mad scientist kind of thing, this freebie should be just what the doctor ordered. So to speak.
Toe Tag Invites. The file includes simplified instructions on the second page for cutting and folding, so make sure when you print it you just select page one. After putting the the invited together we took small test tubes from American Science and Surplus and sprinkled in some red glitter and a small plastic spider. We used the ever popular cheap plastic spider rings that you always see around and cut off the ring part. The year after we used these I found small rubber fingers that would have worked nicely as well - use your imagination!

Food for Mad Scientists

Gross and edible... the jello brain. We tried different colors and presentations. The blue brain was lit from a tube/stand below the glass plate. The pool underneath the brain is a nice effect, but is indeed slightly melted jello... beware the hot light bulb! A bit of milk added to the liquid of the jello mix gives the brain more opaqueness.

The year we planned the Mad Scientist Lab, we went looking for this jello mold, and found it at a local toy shop. I've seen them online as well.



We found additional edible body parts by poking around at various discount stores. Bags of foil wrapped chocolate eyes, ears, etc. filled a small plastic cauldron.

Canning jars, glass beakers and stainless steel trays make nice serving pieces. And a liberal sprinkling of rubber rats around the food didn't seem to scare off snackers! American Science and Surplus has been a favorite and affordable prop supplier for years for lab equipment and more. Their collection of odds and ends is inspiring!

MAD SCIENTISTS NEED DECORATORS TOO

When we choose to do a themed party it's often the decorations that are the most fun. When you want to do a theme as simple as "Monsters" obviously you need to make your place look like a goo old fashioned Mad Scientist Lab. The Van Der Graff generator and giant computer banks may be a challenge, but often the look can be pulled off with a few well-placed props.

My friend Bobbi came up with a good quick a inexpensive set of props that also looked really cool. There's a whole series of "grow" toys. You know, the kind that "GROWS UP TO 600 TIMES ITS ORIGINAL SIZE!"

Bobbi just stuck a few of these in mason jars filled with water , and then set a small light behind each group of jars. Artfully arranged on shelves and tables these "specimen" jars are nice and creepy. If you wanted to go a step further, you could label the jars, but we decided they looked quite nice without.
It pays to have a pathologist for a friend.