Decorate a Gruesome Over the Hill Party

An Over the Hill party is a fun option for nearly any milestone birthday from age 30 on. These parties are best thrown for tight-knit groups where teasing, light banter and other tongue-in-cheekiness are guaranteed to be the order of the day (and a hit even if the guest of honor is privately feeling a bit of trepidation).

Perhaps the best approach to Over the Hill is over the top, which in our case means checking out not just our Over the Hill theme collection but also hitting up Halloween party supplies for decorations, invitations and party favors that symbolize rust, rot and ruination.

Start with invitations such as “Skull” or “Bones Cake” vertical invitations. Each combines gruesome whimsy with a palette from which you can develop a party color scheme, such as black and white with purple, green, blue or pink. You will also be able to find matching candy bars, bottle labels, photo coasters and other party favors in either of these designs.

From there, think about providing the unexpected. Select a Halloween background illustration such as “Cemetery Gates” or “Graveyard” illustration to cover a wall as a focal point with a big impact. As is true of most of our backdrops, you have choices of material and size along with the option to add wording or not. Place a few personalized Halloween tombstones in front of your illustration for some depth (and added humor) and hide a fog machine behind one of them.

A Grim Reaper is a must for an over-the-top Over the Hill, and we have at least a dozen to choose from. Place the Reaper as a “greeter” at the door.

Mix and match solid color tableware in your party colors. Plant a big, sly, smiley Tombstone Vulture mylar balloon in the middle as a centerpiece, and black glitter candles on the cake.