Academy Awards Gala

• Cut out Oscar shapes from posterboard and spray paint them gold, or cover them with gold foil wrap. Write the party details in black felt pen and mail to guests in gold envelopes covered with silver star stickers.
• Include a list of the nominees for your guests to ponder ahead of time (see the oscar.com website for a full list). Glue on pictures of the stars cut from magazines and add speech bubbles filled with lines from their nominated films or funny soundbites.
• Ask your guests to come dressed as one of the nominated stars, such as Denzel Washington as the boxer from "The Hurricane," Annette Bening as the hyperactive real estate agent from "American Beauty," Tom Cruise as the inspirational speaker from "Magnolia," or Angelina Jolie as the institutionalized patient in "Girl, Interrupted."

• Decorate the party room with silver, gold and black streamers draped from the ceiling. Float balloons from the TV, the furniture, the table and the chairs.
• Buy posters of the stars and hang them on the walls near your TV screen. Give them away as prizes for the games.
• Cut out stars from silver and gold posterboard, spray glitter on them, and hang them from the ceiling in your party room.
• Make a large colorful chart of the nominees, with photos from the tabloids or movie magazines. Check off the winners with felt pen or stars as their names are announced.
• Write out some famous quotes from the nominated movies — or any movies -- on gold star-shaped paper, and tape them to the walls. Remember these nominated films? "Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn," "Adriiieenn!" and "I coulda been a contender."
• Set the table with a gold or silver paper tablecloth and matching silverware. Make placemats out of large gold stars and placecards from inexpensive sunglasses with guests’ names attached with a string. Create a centerpiece using items from the top five movies, such as bouquets of roses from "American Beauty," jugs of cider from "Cider House Rules," a stuffed toy mouse from "The Green Mile," empty packs of cigarettes from "The Insider," and plastic ghosts from "The Sixth Sense."
• Play the soundtrack from one or more of the nominated movies, including "Blame Canada" from "South Park," "Music of My Heart" from Music of the Heart," "Save Me" from "Magnolia," "When She Loved Me" from "Toy Story 2" and "You’ll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan.
• Take Polaroid pictures of your guests as they arrive via the red carpet!

• Make ballots for all the guests and have them guess who’s going to win awards in the various categories — everything from Best Picture to Best Visual Effects. Award a prize to the player with the most correct guesses.
• For added fun after the show is over, vote on The Trivial Awards, such as "Most Embarrassing Speech," "Most Boring Speech," "Ugliest Outfit," "Most Risque Gown," "Worst Hair Style," "Weirdest Walk to the Stage," and "Most Pompous Actor." Whoever gets the most points wins a prize.
• Write down some famous lines from the movies and have the players guess the speaker and the film, such as "I see dead people" spoken by Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense."
• Give each guest a part from a movie to act out, and let the others guess. This is especially fun for couples to perform together.
• Offer everyone rubber-tipped dart guns to shoot at the screen when they’re unhappy about the winner!

• Provide lots of typical theater snacks, such as Jujubes, Jordan Almonds, Dots, Junior Mints, Raisinettes and Milk Duds.
• Offer a variety of foreign beers to honor the foreign films
• Choose a food from one of the nominated films to serve to your guests, such as Italian food from Venice.
• Serve a buffet of gourmet treats, such as caviar, cold shrimp, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
• Don’t forget the champagne to host the winners!

• Movie tickets
• Celebrity posters
• Film magazines
• Inexpensive videos
• Box of microwave popcorn
• Bag of theater candy
• Book on movie trivia
• Small Oscar trophies