I’ve yet to meet super talented designer Stefanie of Brooklyn Limestone in person, but after a peek at the AMAZING October 31st celebrations she’s thrown the last few years I already want to crown her the Queen of Halloween!

I’m guessing everyone in her neighborhood feels the same way too – because Stefanie and her husband Luke really do it up right every year, bringing a super cool, unique Halloween theme to life – such as last year’s “CARNEVIL” theme, which is a delightfully twisted “Haunted Victorian Sideshow“, complete with Ringmasters, Strong Arm Man, Bearded Lady, and a Skeleton Fortune Teller! The creative decor for the party extends both indoors and out, making it possible for the entire neighborhood to at this twisted freakshow! And now you can too. Here we go…

“CARNEVIL” DETAILS, as told by Stefanie… {same details as Part 1}

“Every year I like to have a little backstory that inspires the look. (i.e. spider infestation, dead bodies trying to crawl into the house, etc.). This party was a Haunted Victorian Side Show/Circus. The concept of ‘Carnevil’ was suggested by my brothers girlfriend.

Invitation

I don’t think this one quite tops the previous year’s “Creature Survival Kit” invite, but I don’t know if I’ll ever top that one! That said, I’m loving how this version turned out too. It’s a little more twisted than the previous year, but works well with the “turn of the century sideshow look” I was going for.

The little ‘specimen’ jar has a two sided tag attached. One side introduces the “twins” and the other side reads:

‘Come one, come all,
for only one night.
You’ll marvel and gasp
at our shocking sights.
Oddities of nature,
all on display.
Come see for yourself
on Halloween day.’

Some fun facts about this years decor:

I made all of the signage (with a lot of inspiration and imagery pieced together from what I could find on the web). I didn’t want to shell out for printing large posters so I printed everything on letter sized paper and glued it together on sheets of plywood. The clothing for the ‘ticket seller’ came from a thrift store in Staten Island. The fabric ‘banner’ that is hanging from the top floor is painted drop clothes. My brother wrote the news article that is hanging on the fence.

As in years past, we had a ton of trick or treaters. We gave out 1000 pieces of candy! This particular celebration was even crazier with the addition of a cotton candy machine. Somehow I thought that most parents wouldn’t let their kids have any because it wasn’t prepackaged – and figured it would be mostly for the party guests and the people on the block that know us. WRONG! At one point we had a huge line with kids and parents all waiting for a little sweet fluff. Crazy. Thankfully we had the bearded lady and the strong man to help the production line and a few other guests doing crowd control. :)

Want to see more creative Halloween madness from Stefanie? Check out her past parties here, and a sneak peek at this year’s “Welcome to the Asylum” madhouse inspired party here!