Let's Do a Walking Dead Zombie Party

“The Walking Dead” is one of the most talked-about and celebrated shows on TV, so join in on the fun with your own themed party. Make your own stuff to make the party perfectly tailored to your needs. A zombie party is a great way to show off your DIY skills.

Decorations

The Walking Dead takes place in a nightmarish landscape of a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by the undead. That sounds daunting, but with a few DIYs you can create the look of a world gone mad.

• General disarray: Upset some of the items in your home. Remove books from the shelves. Empty out a cabinet and leave the doors open. Open drawers whenever possible and make them look as though they’ve been rummaged through.

• Zombie attacks: All you need to make fake blood is water and red food coloring. This washable blood can be smeared on mirrors, doors and walls to show evidence of zombie attacks. Dip your hands in it and press them against walls for authenticity. For more authentic blood, i.e. more sticky and harder to clean up, mix food coloring and corn syrup. Leave a trail of hand prints and drag marks where someone was pulled to their doom.
  

• Boarded windows: The world is lousy with zombies, and your windows should be boarded up. Make the window boards with 1-inch foam, because you don't honestly want to board up your house. Measure the windows and cut foam to size with a serrated knife. Foam board insulation works perfectly. Cover it with brown latex paint and ad detail with gray latex paint. Attach the boards with double-sided tape. Add 1/2-inch nails to the end to make the boards look as though they've been nailed in place. Paint fake wood grain if you're feeling really bold.

Costumes

The characters on The Walking Dead fall into one of two categories: the zombies, and the people who fight against them. To become a walker costumes can be any uniform or street clothes that you already own, but make it tattered and dirty - remember you've already been killed. Add makeup that makes you look dead. Gray out your skin as a base and add green and black highlights to bring home the dead effect. Of course you need some blood around your mouth.

As a survivor, you've scrounged the clothes you need to be an effective combatant. What you really need is a zombie-killing weapon. Make a staff or handle for any DIY (fake) weapon with a thick branch or a piece of reclaimed wood. Cut a notch in one end and place a plastic knife inside the groove. Secure it with twine. Cover the handle of the weapon with tape, and you’ll have a DIY weapon that looks perfect for the TV series. This method can be used to make a sword, knife, or spear.

Make a DIY crossbow prop. Use the same foam insulation you boarded up your windows with to make the body of the crossbow. Cut a notch in the front and a flexible piece of wood or plastic plumbing pipe and paint it brown. Drill holes through either end, and string fishing wire or kite string through it. If you get arrows to go with it, remove the arrowheads.

Food

Any good party needs food, and a good zombie-themed party needs pretty gruesome-looking food.

• Skull head feast: Get one pound of ham, or any lunch meat you like, sliced quite thin. Cover a plastic Halloween prop skull with aluminum foil. Cover it very snugly, outlining every crevice. Now cover the skull with the meat, following the contours of the skull. Stack more meat around the skull, along with your crackers and cheese. It’s a gross centerpiece, but a good one.

• Bloody intestines: Make cinnamon rolls and dye the sugar glaze red with food coloring. Make twice as much glaze as usual and cover the rolls with it liberally. With red goo oozing all over them, cinnamon rolls look like intestines.

• Flesh cupcakes: Make white and chocolate cupcakes, and top them with any frosting you like. Slowly cook cherries in sugar, and use this as a topping for the cupcakes. The red cherries and juice will make the cupcakes look covered in blood and bits.

Walking Dead Party

Prepare to fight in the zombie apocalypse.