I’ve told you how excited I am for the new season of Arrested Development, right? Cause I am. “Can’t sleep, too excited,” counting down the days-style. No one will be allowed to bother me on Sunday. So what’s a girl to do who wants to celebrate the show but not have everyone around when she actually watches the episodes for the first time? Have the party a week before! If you’re not as crazy as I am, these ideas will all make for an excellent premiere party. Well, most of them. Just keep reading. We’ll all learn some lessons along the way.

Drinks

Arrested Development-themed drinks were easy. We had juice boxes for Buster, Wine boxes for Lucille, and the ingredients for make-your-own “Cloudmir” vodka martinis. Everyone had something, and I didn’t have to do much prep. Win-win!

Food

Oh dear. I went through the food items mentioned in Arrested Development, and took out all of the ones that would potentially give my friends heart attacks or food poisoning. (Goodbye hot ham water and chicken in chicken sauce. Skip’s Scramble, we’ll see you another day.) Unfortunately, the food items left over made for an…interesting…array of party food. What did I include, you may ask?

• Mayanneggs. They were exactly as you’d expect . Mr. Geek and I were both surprised to see that people actually ate them (although most people chose to have their egg sans mayo.)
• Ice Cream Sandwiches. As delicious as ice cream sandwiches are, they’re way better when inside of a prison ice cream vending machine. If you plan on keeping them out at a party, get yourself a cooler (full of evidence?) or choose a specific time of the party to bring them out. They melt quickly. I was running back and forth between the freezer for most of the party.
• Bluth Bananas. See above. The chocolate stayed mostly in tact, but the banana melted and became mushy fairly quickly. A mushy banana is not a fun banana.
• Candy beans. Delicious. Easy party food. Win-win.
• Cornballs. Oh, cornballs. It was only appropriate that my cornball recipe did not turn out. I used a hush puppy recipe (it’s essentially cornbread mix, an egg, and some chopped onion), but the oil must have been too hot. The outside would get brown way too quickly, and the inside wouldn’t be completely cooked. If I did wait for the inside to cook, the outside became an unappetizing black. Luckily, no one burned themselves.

So for those keeping score at home, we have hard boiled eggs, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate covered bananas, candy beans, martinis, wine, and juice. Most bizarre mix of party food I’ve ever had. I don’t recommend it. I ended up making some popcorn later in the night just to even out the food a bit and not put my friends into a sugar shock.

As you may all have known (why didn’t anyone tell me?) the characters on Arrested Development never claimed to be great cooks or have good taste in food.  I had made a huge mistake.

Still looking to make  Bluth Bananas? Here you go. Just make sure you bring them out right before you plan on eating them!

Bluth Bananas Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4  Bananas
• 1 bag Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 TBS Unsalted butter
• Chopped nuts, optional
• Popsicle sticks

Directions:

Carefully put a popsicle stick in each banana. Wrap the banana (I wrapped it in plastic wrapped and placed it on wax paper) and place in the freezer. Let freeze for a few hours or overnight.

Melt the chocolate chips and the butter together in the microwave. Melt for 30 seconds, then stir. Continue microwaving and stirring at 10 second intervals until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Take a frozen banana and dip into the melted chocolate. You will most likely need to pour more chocolate over the banana using a spoon. The chocolate will harden fast, so work quickly!

Roll one side of the banana over a plate of the chopped nuts. Let cool/harden on wax paper. Place back into the freezer until you’re ready to serve.

Activities

You’re going to be watching Arrested Development. This is a no-brainer. But if you want something else to do, here are some suggestions:

• Encourage your guests to come dressed in costume.
• Host a photo wall. My dad printed the amazing mugshot backdrop for him that he modeled after this promo photo. Mr. Geek created the fantastic quote signs. You can see more photos in the Geeky Hostess Facebook Album.
• Host an Arrested Development trivia contest. IMDB can get you started.
• Hold a Chicken Dance competition. Has anyone ever seen a chicken before?

Have fun! Report back here on how your premiere party went, and what you think of the 4th season.