by Tricia Chaves

Created on: February 17, 2009

The 81st Academy Awards will premier on Sunday, February 22 at 8 p.m. EST and while us common-folk won't get tickets to the event, you can feel like you're part of the festivities by hosting your own Oscar party.

Invitations

Mail your guests cute Hollywood invitations or use one of Evite's free Hollywood or red carpet templates to send and track your invites online.

Setting the Mood

What would the Oscars be without the famous red carpet? Roll out a red plastic tablecloth from your front door and tack it down so your guests can strut their stuff.

Play paparazzi! Keep a digital camera to take a snapshot of your guests when they arrive. Better yet, invest in an inexpensive Polaroid camera and your guests can take a photo favor home to remember the event.

Set your own soundtrack for the night, just pop in the CD 20 Years of Original Oscar Winning Songs to play while your guests arrive.

Your local party store should have plenty of Hollywood and Oscar-themed favors and decorations.

Food

A few affordably-priced buffet trays will keep your appetizers warm throughout your party. If you want a simple menu, make a couple of easy dips and serve them alongside sliced baguettes, veggies and tortilla chips.

Feeling creative? You don't have to spend a lot of money to make an impact. Create menu based on a specific theme, like the best picture nominees. Make up labels with cutesy names like Benjamin Button Burgers, Slumdog Sticks (kebabs) and Reader-cakes (potato pancakes) served with "Milk"-shakes and Frost-ed-Nixon Cupcakes for dessert.

Drinks

Champagne is the universal drink of luxury. If you don't want to blow your budget on the bubbly, buy some cheap champagne and add a splash of Chambord and a raspberry to the bottom of each glass before pouring and you won't be able to tell the difference between a $5 and a $50 bottle. Search for your local restaurant supply store and pick up stemmed glasses for $1 each or less.

Entertainment

If you want to fill in the gaps during commercial breaks and long-winded acceptance speeches, pick teams and play some Oscar trivia. Buy the book So You Think You Know Oscar, or create your own with questions from this site.

Giving each guest an Oscar ballot to predict the night's winners. Feeling generous? Award a door prize or two to the game winners:

If you have deep pockets, the coffee table book 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards makes a great door prize, the paperback

The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History or the chick-friendly Cinematherapy Goes To The Oscars: The Girls Guide to the Best Movie Medicine Ever Made are some more affordably priced options. Not interested in books? Hand out Oscar statuettes instead.

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