Halloween Parties for the Rich!

It's that time of year again when Halloween frolic is upon us, no matter how silly and absurdly we might celebrate the day. For the rich, Halloween is most certainly on the agenda as well.

As you might suspect they pass up no opportunity to throw a cocktail party or gala to show off their latest fashions and jewels, and just hang out together in a safe environment - far from the Great Unwashed. But Halloween adds a special flavor to an otherwise typical party.

There was a time when full-scale masquerade balls were all the rage, with people showing up dressed like European royalty with tiaras and diplomatic ribbons all over the place. But with everyone being so busy nowadays, it seems most rich people have opted for something more simple.

I'm recalling the days when the former Missus was here and the elegant Halloween parties she could come up with. Instead of costumes, guests mostly wore their own haute couture attire plus a designer Venetian mask of some sort. The Missus wore a simple eye mask she bought in Venice some years back - black silk with small diamonds outlining the eye portals. Together with her Coco Chanel little black dress and renowned string of uneven pearls, she always looked radiant.

These parties always incorporated caterers, bar tenders, valet parkers, security, expensive vintage wines, the obligatory Beluga caviar of course, and always music. For small parties she would hire a pianist and saxophone player; for large parties tents might be set up outside to accommodate bands and a dance floor. She could spend fifty to two-hundred thousand in nothing flat.

On more than one Halloween event she would hire thespians from the local theater, dressed as witches and vampires, to skulk around the gardens and stare in the windows at the elegant party going on inside (which to the paranoid rich was quite spooky indeed!). Plus she always hired a fortune teller to sit in the library, for those so willing or daring.

Then there was that one year she even tried to hire Nancy Reagan's astrologer Joan Quigley to appear at the event, but it didn't work out. (Not to sound ill-mannered in any way, I'm just surmising that Quigley had her hands full at the time.)

In any case, I hope you have some fun Halloween events planned. But with the Missus gone there's nothing going on around here at all. Period! Even the gates and dogs prevent trick-or-treaters from entertaining the evening.

Thanks for stopping by tonight and Happy Halloween!

Andrew