If you’re giving a Halloween bash this year but want to mix things up a bit, why not consider a theme party? A theme will get your creative juices percolating, and give guests inspiration for costume ideas.

I love theme soirees, so hosting a James Bond party was a mission I couldn't resist. Invites went out requesting guests to come dressed as their fave 007, Bond babe, or bad guy. Although I searched in vain for a vintage white bikini with a bullet bra as worn by Ursula Andress in Dr. No, I settled on a generically sophisticated black one-piece with a mesh cutout, them immediately went on the Bond Girl diet of champagne and caviar (okay, it was actually melba toast and lots of salad).

      

I canvassed garage sales for Barbie dolls, spray-painted them gold, and strung the gilded girls across the dance floor in homage to Goldfinger. Next, Jimmy, my husband, transformed our backyard into the Kiss Kiss Club, the tropical beachfront bar in Thunderball. To make the sign, my friend Anne, who should have been an architect, sketched out huge letters, which we painted lipstick red and cut out with an X-Acto knife, carefully leaving a border to give the sign stability once we hung it. Jimmy popped white Christmas bulbs through holes he made in the letters. The sign added to the ambiance and, if you’ve seen Thunderball, was pretty dead-on.

     

I even invited Pierce Brosnan, whose sister-in-law, Aubrey, is my mom’s esthetician.

The night of the party, the Miss Moneypenny Martinis were flowing as guests arrived. There were lots of Dr. No’s and Oddjobs. Friends streamed through the door accessorized with scuba gear, stuffed iguanas, artfully applied scars, and silky kimonos. As we danced to Bond theme songs under the stars, Aubrey arrived sans Pierce, who was off filming in the U.K. My heart sank. But then my buddy Shari (AKA Xenia Onatopp) burst in with her guest, a hard-body named Bo. Clad in a blue swim trunks like Sean Connery in Diamonds are Forever he turned the dance floor into a one-man show. We soon forgot all about Pierce.

The party was a total blowout, and definitely worth the work. I was dazzled by my friends’ creativity. Months later, the Kiss Kiss Club sign still hangs in our yard. It reminds me of that fun night, and who knows? Maybe Pierce will stop by for a drink some time. After all, you only live once—or is it twice?

Bond links: www.jamesbond.com (great for boning up on vintage bond flicks and characters)
www.party411.com (free theme party ideas and planning)