(Article first published as Ratcheting Up Your Oscar Fun! on Technorati.)

Oscar night is all about the predictions!  Here are some great ideas to ratchet up the fun whether you are at a party or watching alone with a glass of wine.

First things first: get on the official Oscars 2011 website, where you can see pictures of each of the nominees and make some official guesses!  Never heard of one of the nominees?  (Hey, it happens!  There are TEN best picture nominations this year!)  Click on the movie (or actor/actress) and get a synopsis or blurb about it/them…ok, this is getting complicated.  Click on the icon and get more info, ok?  Additionally---there is a full list of presenters for each award, so now you can plan your bathroom breaks!  The site for Academy Awards itself is here. Really only looking at the clothes and the big 4 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor)?  Now you can go about getting your party on and just check in at the pertinent parts!

Make some money.  Wouldn’t you like to feel like a winner on Oscar night too?  Why not start an Oscar pool?  This would be especially easy if you were having a party!  Get yourself a big sheet of paper or a white board and start noting predictions!  Make it cheap--$5 to participate and you’re off!

Another fun game idea is Oscar bingo!  Give out  blank Bingo cards and have people jot down their predictions in random order on the blanks.  You can use pennies or peanuts or whatever is available to mark your choices as they are announced.  This can be good clean fun or also involve betting. 

Something I love to do is watch the red carpet portion of the evening.  I’m always eager to see who’s wearing what, especially the best and worst dressed of last year.  Will they learn from their experiences?  Will they wear something risky this year, buoyed by last year’s success?  Or go ultra conservative after landing on worst-dressed lists last year?  To have a better idea of whom to look out for, check last year’s list!   And for the men’s worst and best dressed of the 2010 Oscars, check out this Esquire article.  A final party idea (this would be for the young ‘uns or the really prone to boring parties) is to make the Oscars a drinking game.  You can make up your own rules or follow the directions at Seattle Pi’s website.       

Watching the Oscars alone?  You can still do your own predictions and have some fun by entering some online contests!  Both Web Goddessand The Numbers websites  are hosting contests with prizes and all!  Google “Oscar online contests” for more options.

Finally, let’s not forget about social media.  If you’ve got opinionated friends like I do, there will be comments galore and plenty of opportunity for laughs.  Personally, I have two Twitter friends I plan on “meeting,” via my Tweetdeck, so we can make fun, cheer, groan and cry together.  Create a hashtag but make sure it’s different!  Everyone and their brother will be on #OscarParty!  (mine will be #LaLaOscarParty for example) and a separate column (if you have Tweetdeck or HootSuite or other tweet organizer) so you can see everyone’s comments in real time.  The nice thing about this is, I’m comfy in my own bed, eating the snacks of my choice with a glass of wine, but still having a great time!  We did this with the grammys and had a blast!  I’m excited to do it again.

No matter how you do it, the Oscars really can be a lot of fun, despite the length of the show.  I know it’s cheesy, but we used to watch the Oscars as a family when I was a kid, and I still look forward to watching them. 

<glass clink>

Here’s to the Oscars!  

My blog is www.lara-lalaland.blogspot.com