Project Project Runway: Finale Party

Is it too late to write about Project Project Runway? I think if  Tom and Lorenzo are still reviewing the final collections this week, we are current. And with that, I will show you some of the fun we had on Finale night.

For the night of the actual final show, I hosted a party. I invited friends to come dressed as their favorite designer, or in homage to the designer.

First, I ‘decorated’.

And someone was super excited! She knows “party” when she hears one!

The schedule was pretty loose, as this was a ‘school night’ and many of the “designers” that were invited have one or more kiddos at home. So people kind of trickled in as they were able. I had a yummy tortilla pie for dinner. And, it was funny, almost everyone who came had a slice when they arrived. So the dinner portion was not a formal, sit-down affair.

Then came the crafting portion of the evening. And this, my friends, was a very serious sit-down affair!  I made cupcakes, and some Crispy Treat shapes, and I had doll toppers to stick in them. We decorated our forms. Someone asked “What is our challenge?!” I laughed. Isn’t designing a cup cake challenging enough? We decided that the best thing to do would be go with “a final show stopping look”.
Here “Anya” and “Anya” are discussing strategy.

And here “Victor” and “Anya” are in the work room.

This would be a great party to have for kids. I would do it again. But here is what I learned:

• the Crispy treats were more successful than the cupcakes. When doing the Crispy treats, make them according to your favorite recipe, and then stand over them like a hawk. You have about 3 minutes to make your forms. Stir in the Crispies, and then count to 20 while the scalding hot marshmallow cools. When it is just cool enough to handle start forming cone shapes that are about the right scale for your doll tops, and set them on a lined cookie sheet.  If your hands are slightly wet, the the treats will not stick to you. Or a TINY bit of olive oil on your hands. But you want the frosting to stick, so I didn’t use oil, just in case.
• Frost the bases (which ever you choose) ahead of time. One coat of white very runny frosting will do the trick, and then let them dry for several hours or over night. We were fine, but you can see the challenges we faced. And with kids it would be better to have this step done.
• Have lots of tiny ramekins of frosting, and maybe popsicle sticks or coffee stir sticks for frosting colors.
• Have the chocolate chips and other little design elements already out in ramekins.
• Cut the tops off the tubes of frosting before your guests arrive
• Have some tweezers out, so if someone wants to get fancy, they can lay ‘sequins’ down
• Have some food use paint brushes ready for the glitter powder !!!
• The dolls were topless. That is stating the obvious. But they really needed some tops for the fashion show. Even if they were paper, some sort of tops would have been good. It starts to get a little soft-core without them. If I were doing it for a kids party, I would paint on white tops. Or dip them in the wet frosting the day before, when I was doing the bases, and let them dry.

(Note, I had everything ready, and waiting, set aside. But I thought that if I frosted the cakes ahead of time that I would directing people’s creative vision too much and I didn’t want that. But as it turns out, if I had taken it a few steps further, it would have made it easier for people to execute their designs.)

We all had a great time.

And we had a runway show. (the lighting crew was not available that night.)

Here they are before the show.

And then the back board fell over, taking out several models.  It looked like a drunken scene.

A good time was had by all. Until the actual show started. Then there was screaming and shouting.

I hope you all enjoyed the season. We sure had fun playing along. And sharing with all of you!