Written by The Strategy
Practical Magic is by far, one of the best movies to come out of the 90s, and since 1998, it’s been a movie the members of this company watch every halloween, without fail.
Once the leaves cover the ground with orange, yellows and reds, temperatures drop, and boxes of candy hit the grocery shelves, the only thing we’re in the mood for is Practical Magic, starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as the Owen’s sisters. Armed with a box of Halloween candy (who has time to put it in a bowl?), and clad in a cardigan and braided pigtails, every year, we curl up and watch the movie, reciting every line along with our favourite witch-y characters (sorry Sanderson sisters).
Because Halloween parties are cancelled this year, instead of watching the film alone with a box of discount halloween candy, we decided to do something a little different: We threw a Practical Magic Sleepover. In light of Covid, it’s important to note that this sleepover included 4 people, and we slept on socially distanced mattresses. Our food selection was served on individual plates.
The Movie
For those of you who don’t know, Practical Magic is a romantic fantasy film based on Alice Hoffman’s book of the same name. The film centres around two sisters, who at a young age, after the death of their parents, move in with their aunts. They share the hereditary gift for practical magic. It stars, as mentioned before, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as the two sisters, and Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, as their eccentric aunts.
The Scene
To set a proper Practical Magic scene, candles were lit everywhere. We scoured vintage markets and our grandmother’s crawl space to dig up antique candelabra’s and candle sticks, and DIY’d our own white bottle candle holders. Lights were dimmed, and our guests arrived to soft hums of Elvis Presley’s, You Were Always On My Mind.
The Details
In order to really get into the theme of this sleepover, much of our focus was on the details. We found antique books that cost around $5, with images of flora and fauna, and stacked and layered them on every surface. To re-create elements of the iconic Owen’s green house, we added potted herbs and greenery all over. Sprigs of lavender and rosemary were placed in glass bottles throughout the room, and we added pressed flowers to glass picture frames. We also added vintage bird prints and a DIY’d Practical Magic sign, for art.
Movie Touches
In addition to our Practical Magic quote board, we added small details of the film throughout the room. Details included were, a pot of white rose petals with a hand written “Amas Veritas” spell from the movie, a Sheriff’s star badge, which we found at a Halloween costume store, we DIY’d a label for Jimmy Angelov’s fictional Diablo De Flora tequila and adhered it to a bottle, and of course, we set out a vial of ‘Belladonna’ (read: Nerds candy).
The Food
Having any Practical Magic event and not including Midnight Margaritas is actually a criminal offence. We timed the night to start the movie at 10PM, and finish just in time for midnight. Harry Nilsson’s Coconut song played as we let our ‘caldron bubble’ and danced around the kitchen table, margaritas in hand. Breakfast was of course, pancakes (in the shape of a cactus) with syrup, and chocolate cake, because “in this house, we have chocolate cake for breakfast.”
