Preparations for halloween , part 1

Even in june I start thinking to halloween what food I' going to do , how to decorate etc..Last month I send the invitations for our annuel  party.I did like to be an hindi princess or bride (as you like)for the picnic in july.I did found a good source of inspiration and decided we will stay in the theme of India.

As you may seem , I found India very inspiring recently. I did remember this tv serie I watch months ago on the french historia tv and it was so perfect.It's call Rani .It's in french (and I do mean made in France).It seem it wasn't translate in other language as the dvd offer only french and french subtitles .I found this place  which allow you to watch it  with english subtitles, it's a cc work.Each of the 8 episodes is separated in 4 parts, the subtitles are not perfect but at least you can understand.I did like this romance historical serie.The costumes are beautiful and the choc of culture present in the serie is interesting.It show a  part of history. The serie is not old , 2011, I  highly recommend it.Here is a short description of it:

Rani is about Jolanne De Valcourt ,  a french women in the 18th century which have a peaceful life until her father die.Accuse of a crimes her half brother did ,she is sentence to death .She find a way to escape death and her fate bring her in India , where the french and british fight to know which one is going to exploit the richness of the land .India is a country with traditions very different from Europe.Even there , Jolanne is not safe from the intrigues of her brother who hate her so much that he want her dead doesn't matter how ,as long as he could get it.She will have to escape death and will try to find the men she love , a soldier and spy for the british army.

The costumes
For my son , I will do a maharajat outfit .Maharajat or raja is the king in India.I buy a blue art silk sari from ebay for 8,99.It's same fabric I did buy for the picnic.I will have more fabric then I need.I'm going to try to make something I could adjust in the futur so it could be wear more then one time.

For me , I will be a ghost , but not any random ghost but  a women who had been sati.One of a tradition show in the serie , no longer practice (ouf) is women beeing sati.A widow will wear white sari.When a husband die , the women can choose to join him in his new life and burn (alive)on the funeral stake with the corpse of her beloved husband, it's sati.Yes it is a disturbing tradition and even if it was done by choice , history have show it wasn't always the case specially in royalty.Personally , I have a lot of difficulties to believe someone can do it by choice.

I'm not going for something bloody , I don't want to scare the child. I will simply wear a white sari with jewelry I have.You may ask why I choose that.Costume always reflect a part of history or something we like , we do research and learn from it.I think I did learn something  about indian tradition and want other to learn a litlle more about it too.And of course , the idea of buying a new sari wans't exciting at all.The hole party will be about India , food and decorations.

As I said , white is the color for a widow.It was really hard to find something .I didn't want something cheap made of chiffon , net or georgette ,it's too delicate.Most shop didn't sell plain white sari.I finally find something white with a gold border in art silk with a custom petticoat for just 57$ from Indian selections(the link for it is in the shopping for sari article).For that price I knew I could never find a 6 yards of fabric with a gold border like it .I may be a little picky but I want to looks good and like what I'm going to where.The art silk isn't cheap so I'm glad about it.

This year , I want our annual party to be very special and remember by our guest.I'm working very hard on a totally new menu and how I'm going to decorate our appartment.I promess to take a lot of pictures to show it.