Museum Underground Presents Devil’s Night at Museum London

Last night was the annual Devil’s Night Party at Museum London put on by Museum Underground.  I went with my women’s group and we had a wonderful time.  There was so much to do and people were in such festive moods.  None of us were strangers – everyone striking up conversations with each other, laughing, singing, dancing, and having fun together!

My costume

Nearly everyone was in costume and we enjoyed simply people-watching and in some cases, trying to figure out who they were supposed to be!  There were the usual vampires, witches, princesses, brides (although this one was a large man dressed as a pregnant bride) and zombies.  We saw everything from Smurfette, a street light, Carmen San Diego, and Pat (the sexually ambiguous character from SNL) to a really wonderful Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, and Ursula from The Little Mermaid. 

Here I am at the party in my costume as the Mona Lisa painting.  It’s not quite perfect as I whipped it up quite quickly but everyone knew what I was supposed to be so I guess it did the trick!  I had decided since it was at the museum I wanted something art-related that was a bit unique (I already have figured out what I’ll be next year!).  It’s painted on poster board that is then attached to Elmer’s foam board for sturdiness (I attached it with brads).  I tried to figure out a way to have a harness or something so I didn’t have to hold it all night but couldn’t come up with anything that worked.  I also was planning for my head to come a little more forward through the opening but apparently I didn’t account for the fact that my bust would be in the way!!!

Couples were dressed as Beauty and the Beast (you should have seen Beauty’s dress!!! She made it herself and it was quite remarkable), a pilot and stewardess from Pan Am, Bonnie and Clyde, and LMFAO (gotta love how much they committed to their costumes, one of them wearing a cardboard box on his head and periodically shuffling through the museum!).  My favourite costume was the most amazing cardboard box robot I’ve ever seen- it was so well made and had an incredible lighting system on it.  

I attempted some Zentangling on my mask – it was a bit tough to do as they were quite thin and not terribly sturdy to work on but it didn’t turn out too badly.  Might add some more later!

There was live music on the main floor from Sandro Perri, Sad Skelton, Lonnie in the Garden, and The Riderless.  A cash bar and free appetizers were available there as well.  Downstairs, there was mask making with Cailen Dye, music provided by djs, a Halloween themed Poetry Slam, coffee, tea, and cupcakes.  If you went upstairs, there was more music provided by djs with a dance floor that was hopping.  There was another cash bar up there along with a free candy bar!!! Yum!

Why yes, there was candy corn at the candy bar…..and Rockets.  Mmmmm! (Flickr, The Culinary Geek)

Tours were done of some of the museum’s exhibits (I am in LOVE with Kim Moodie’s work!!! I can’t post any pictures of the work here without violating copyright but go to these links: http://londonfuse.ca/event/kim-moodie-all-not http://www.londonmuseum.on.ca/exhibitions:49 and you can check some of it out.  A lot of the work was black ink on paper and from a distance it made me think of Zentangles (hence my choice for my mask) but when you get close to it, you see that there are all these images in it.  My first thought was, Zentangle meets Where’s Waldo but it’s such amazing work and that name almost seems to trivialize it.  If you live in the area and have the chance to go see this exhibit, it’s on until Dec. 11th and I highly recommend it.

Another fun thing we did while there was to get our palms read.  It was just for fun, of course, but it was also pretty interesting to see just how close most of it was to our personalities and lives.  Yes, there are a lot of generalities being stated but still, she pretty much called it like it is and we gave her absolutely no background information on ourselves.  She told me I was very adept at communicating and teaching, was very artistic, and liked to keep busy and do things.  She said that I would be highly successful in life and want success on my own merit.  She also correctly talked about major changes that have happened in my life before now and said that I would have two major affairs of the heart.  Out of all of us, I was the only one who was told something negative by her and it’s the one I would tend to dispute – she basically said that I’m a control freak who often insists on having things my own way and sometimes can be quite mean about it.  Hmmm, I sure hope that part’s not true! In any case, it was fun and we had some great conversations comparing notes on our results.

Museum Underground did a great job of organizing this event.  It was very reasonably priced (even without the amazing two for one deal we got on Groupon) and we definitely got more than we paid for.  I’m already looking forward to going back next year!