Those of you who sent in vacation photos helped us out with our decorations immensely. As I said yesterday, we converted my game room into a war room and covered three walls with “Recent Sightings”, which were all 122 vacation photos submitted that had aliens photoshopped in. You can view the whole set here, but here are some of my favorites, and I’ve also embedded a slideshow of all of them, too. Thank you to each of you who submitted a photo!

Bluepaintred

Karl, Cissa, and Becky

Britt

NYCWD

Hilly

LeSombre

Mew

RebTurtle

P.S. I’m considering going to Las Vegas on December 11-13th for the huge blogger birthday bash. Any of you planning on it? When are you flying in? Inquiring Avitable braincells want to know.

(cross-posted to Avitable.com)

I wish I was able to write a full recap of the party the day after it happened, but that would require preparation, motivation, and finished photos, none of which I currently possess.

If you had your photo taken in the studio, those should be done and up within the week. I’ll post them here and on the Halloween blog.

If you have photos of your own, there is a Flickr group all set up – just upload your pics and add them to the group!

Before I write anything, I wanted to thank some people. First and foremost, thank you to James, aka Clown. He invested just as much time and energy into this party as I did. He spent hours on the computer working with the photos and creating the two videos that were at the party (I’ll go into more detail with regards to those in a later post). James and I alone couldn’t have done everything, though. If it hadn’t been for the hours of effort by some amazing friends, none of this would have happened on time or even at all. Thank you so much to Jess, Todd, Baby James, and Hilly for putting in so much effort over the last few months. More thanks go out to Marc, Eric, Dave and Carolina for helping out over the last couple of weeks too! And thanks to Dave (and James and Jess) for designing the T-shirts to help raise money. Am I forgetting anyone? God, I hope not. Thank you so much for all of the work you put in for no other reason other than just being good friends. I’m blessed.

I plan on posting some photos of the props and a little of the behind-the-scenes in how we made them for the two or three of you that actually care about that. And I’ll also show you what we did with the vacation photos you submitted. Not tonight, though. Tonight I just wanted to post a little by-the-numbers:

Number of tickets sold: 100
Number of attendees: 88
Number of crashers: 5
Amount of time I got to use my taser that I bought just for party crashers: 0

Guests who arrived drunk: 2
Guests who arrived high: 5
Guests who arrived naked: 0
Guests who looked naked: 1

Time the party started: 8:00
Time the first guest arrived: 7:55
Time the first guest flashed her boobs: 9:15
Time the food ran out: 11:00
Time everyone got the munchies: 1:00
Guests who passed out: 0
Guests who vomited that we know about: 0
Time the last guest left: 3:00

Real Canadians in attendance: 4
Fake Canadians in attendance: 3
Real 80s musicians in attendance: 0
Fake 80s musicians in attendance: 3
Han Solos in attendance: 2

Age of oldest attendee: 60ish
Age of youngest attendee: 15
Apparent drinking age in the country of Avitopia: 15
Number of years in prison I could have gotten: 4

Costumes related to the Invaded! theme: 15
Costumes that went the obvious “illegal alien” route: 12
Costumes that went with a Star Wars theme: 4
Costumes that went with a Star Trek theme: 3
Number of guests who dressed up like me: 1

Total hours it took to design, build and create the party: 480
Total hours it will take to break it all down: 5
Number of days before we start planning for next year: 60

Oh, and I guess that I will share a little bit about the vacation photos. We decided to turn one entire room into a war room, and the walls were going to be plastered with “alien sightings”. So all of your submitted vacation photos had aliens Photoshopped in, and as soon as I can, I’ll post them so you can download them. Here’s one to show you what I mean, though!

Original photo:

Invaded! photo:

Thanks again to everyone who attended – you were the reason it was such a huge success!

There are six days until 100 people show up at my house to party. I think I need each of these upcoming days to be 40-50 hours long so that we have time to finish everything! Oh well, if I don’t get a chance to get those engraved iPhones done for each guest, I’m sure everyone will understand*.

Today is the last day to buy tickets to Invaded! The party is next Saturday, October 24th, starting at 8 PM, and I hope to see you there!

Also, if you’re still interested in purchasing an Invaded! T-shirt with designs by me and Dave2 among others, you can get 10% off all weekend long by using promotional code SWEETESTDAY9! Go visit the store and see both the T-shirts and the coffee mugs that are available.

(Crossposted on Avitable.com)

Halloween Tickets – you have until Friday, October 16th, to buy your tickets, if they don’t sell out by then. If you want me to save you one, just email me and let me know. And yes, if you read this blog, you ARE invited – don’t feel shy. You’re not going to get an engraved invitation – just buy a ticket and come on down!

Vacation Photos – In order to finish the decorations in time, the last day to submit vacation photos is Monday, October 12th. After that day, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to use your photo! You don’t even have to attend to be a part of the party, and I fully expect those of you who I call my friends to submit a photo – yes, I’m talking to you! And you. And you.

If you are planning on coming to my Halloween party in three weeks and haven’t bought your tickets yet, please do so as soon as possible. I need to be able to confirm the number of guests with the caterer, and tickets will be sold out soon. Go here to buy your admission ticket now!

If you aren’t coming and want to participate, or if you are attending and are a lazy fucker, email me a vacation photo or two. It doesn’t have to be in front of a famous monument or anything like that – just a photo of you or you and your family out on vacation – standing in front of scenery, at Mardi Gras, on the road – whatever. We need your vacation photos!

(cross-posted over at Avitable.com)

Thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets, the proceeds of which go to support the Halloween party happening on October 24th here in Altamonte Springs.

We sold 110 tickets total before the raffle ended, and this allows us to draw four winners for the following prizes:

• Third Prize: An Invaded! T-shirt (or mug) of your choice
• Second Prize: Two Invaded! T-shirts (or mugs) of your choice
• First Prize: One of each four Invaded! T-shirt designs!
• Grand Prize: A round-trip plane ticket to Orlando, Florida, just to attend the Halloween Party!

Each person who purchased a ticket was able to select the recipient of the prize – either themselves of someone specific. I put the name of each recipient into a list corresponding to the number of tickets in their name. (e.g., if someone bought 10 tickets for Joe Blow, I put the name Joe Blow on the list 10 times.) Then, I used the Random.org List Randomizer to randomize the list. Finally, I used the Integer Generator to randomly choose 10 different numbers between 1 and 110. I chose 10 numbers so that if there were any duplicated names, I could skip someone who already won.

Here are the numbers that were chosen in order, and I assigned them in that order to Third Prize, Second Prize, First Prize, and the Grand Prize, respectively:

Third Prize
108: Cissa Fireheart

Second Prize
84: Wayne Hall

First Prize
41: Ren

GRAND PRIZE
20: Sheila

Congratulations to the winners! I’ll be sending each of you an email to confirm.

Thank you to everyone who contributed. It’s only because of this raffle, the T-shirt sales, and the tickets that I’m able to throw such an amazing party and invite so many people. I truly appreciate your support!

If you are planning on attending the party, now is the time to buy your ticket(s)! In addition to being your admission to the party, they also support the free food and booze that I will be providing! Tickets are $10 each. Within a day or two of purchasing your ticket, you will receive an email with your actual ticket that you can print and bring with you to the party. Quantities are limited, so get your ticket while you can!

Tickets are nonrefundable. The only exception is for people like Margalit. If you’re not welcome at my house and you buy a ticket, I reserve the right to refund your ticket and bar you from entry. You know who you are.

Everyone else: you must buy a ticket if you’re attending! This is the only way that I will know who is coming, which will allow me to have enough drinks, food, toilet paper, condoms, lube, hookers, and coke for everyone!

Use the button below to purchase a ticket for each person attending. If you cannot use Paypal for some reason (and it better be a damn good reason), email me at my first name (Adam) at my last name (Avitable) dot com and we’ll work something out.

Tickets are no longer available for sale.

I look forward to seeing you on October 24th!

It happened without warning. Governments were taken by surprise. It was as if the skies erupted and hell rained down upon us. Before we had time to react, we were invaded!

Who:

You! Well, if you get a ticket that is.

What:

The biggest Halloween Party the blogosphere has ever seen

When:

Saturday, October 24th, from 8 PM until the invasion ends.

Where:

At our house located at 605 Birch Blvd, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701

Why:

Why not? What better time to see our friends and celebrate the second best holiday after Arbor Day?

And if that’s not quite enough answers for you:

Q: Am I really invited?

A: Yes, you are. However, you’ll have to buy a ticket this year.

Q: Dude, you’re selling tickets?

A: I am. This party costs us several thousand dollars to throw and last year I was surprised by an additional 25 people coming, so we ran out of food.

Q: How much will the tickets be and when can I buy them?

A: The tickets are $10 each, and they are available for sale now!

Q: How else are you going to suck us dry, you greedy fucker?

A: Just like last year, we raised funds to cover a portion of the party’s costs two different ways:

1. T-SHIRTS

Once again, several artists developed unique designs just to raise money. A portion of the proceeds of every shirt sold will help pay for the party. And just like 2008, we are once again lucky enough to have an exclusive design that is available nowhere else, designed by the Blogography’s own Dave2! You can see all four designs on the sidebar on the right. Each image will take you directly to the order page through Zazzle.com. Or you can see all of the shirt types, styles, and options directly at the storefront.

2. RAFFLE

Raffle tickets are $7.00 each, and here are your prizes:

• Third Prize: One Invaded! T-shirt of your choice
• Second Prize: Two Invaded! T-shirts of your choice
• First Prize: One of each four Invaded! T-shirts
• GRAND PRIZE: If 100 or more tickets are sold, one lucky winner will win a round-trip plane ticket to Orlando, FL, for the night of the Halloween Party! (The only condition is that the flight has to cost $350 or less, and cannot be exchanged for cash or any other prize.)

You can buy a raffle ticket (or tickets) for yourself or on someone else’s behalf. All you have to do is fill out the form below and buy your ticket through Paypal. The raffle ends on Friday, September 25th, and the winner will be chosen on Saturday, September 26th. Void where prohibited by law.:

(Raffle has ended.)

Q: I’m definitely coming – what airport should I fly into?

A: You can fly into either Sanford Airport (SFB) or Orlando International Airport (MCO). They’re both about 30 minutes from my house, which is located at:

605 Birch Blvd.
Altamonte Springs, FL 32701

Sanford doesn’t have many airlines, but if you’re coming in from the Midwest, you might be able to fly through Allegiant Air, which has pretty reasonable fares. They won’t show up on any travel discount sites, though, so you’ll have to go to their site directly.

Orlando International Airport has plenty of airlines flying in. A taxi from the airport to the general area near my house will cost about $60, but all taxis in Orlando take credit cards for payment.

The party will be starting Saturday night, October 24th, around 8 PM. If you are going to be departing on Sunday, October 25th, just keep in mind that flying out too early might mean very little sleep for you.

Q: I’m definitely coming – what hotel should I stay in?

The Hilton Altamonte Springs is only 2.4 miles away from my house and right off of Interstate.

Right now, you can get an advance rate of $75/night if you pay in full, and the regular rate seems to be $94/night. I have not reserved a block of rooms or anything, so if you decide you want to come, it may be worthwhile to reserve your room early!

Q: How can I participate, whether or not I’m attending your party?

A: Other than buying a T-shirt and a raffle ticket, there’s one final way that you can participate, and it’s free!

We need your vacation photos. Not just any photos, though. We need specific vacation photos that show you and/or your family standing in front of something. Whether it’s Niagara Falls, the world’s largest ball of twine, or just some picturesque scenery, we need photos! If you send in a photo of you, with or without your family, standing in front of touristy shit, we will use that photo as part of our decorations. Just email me at adam (at) avitable (dot) com with the photo as an attachment, or use the form below. You don’t have to be attending to participate, and the more people who submit, the more fun it will be!

Q: What if I have more questions?

A: Just ask your questions in the comments, and I’ll answer them there plus add your question to the FAQ!