Lowcountry's witchy women flock together for over-the-top party
At the call of a bugle, a coven of Lowcountry witches gathered Saturday afternoon in the foyer of Debbie Laurich and Connie Schwerdt's Hilton Head Plantation home.
Around the room, about 40 grandmothers, mothers and daughters -- in big hats and tiny hats, in black dresses and striped tights -- directed their attention to Laurich, herself in a floor-length Maleficent-inspired gown and headpiece.
First order of business: Did everyone have a drink?
Last order of business: The rules.
"Nothing private said here goes home with you," Laurich warned the group.
Then, she showed them where the bodies and heads were kept.
'BE CREATIVE'
The annual Witch and Bitch party started 10 years ago when a group of Hilton Head Island women decided to host monthly get-togethers -- often sleep-overs -- where they could drink without driving, craft holiday-themed gifts and simply enjoy each other's friendship.
While the regular gatherings are no longer held, Laurich has continued the tradition in the form of two much-appreciated, over-the-top parties, during which friends old and new create and decorate witch dolls in October and gingerbread houses in December.
"Every witch has to have an accessory," Laurich told the group Saturday, as she directed them to tables and containers crammed with the costumes, fabrics, wigs, brooms and doll parts that she collects throughout the year. "Be creative. Don't throw a costume on and go back to the punch bowl."
For two hours, the witches were to work at craft stations set up inside and outside the house while they listened to the soundtrack from "Wicked," sipped on a secret Witches Brew and ate crudite, cakes and caviar. At 6 p.m. -- when the air would be thick with the hot smell of glue guns -- the dolls would be judged, and the winner would go home with a small witch trophy that gets passed on year to year.
Everyone is leaving here with a witch," Laurich called out as the women scattered with their materials.
WORD THAT RHYMES WITH WITCH
In compliance with the party's full title, the women were to be each other's sounding boards, therapists and advisers during doll construction.
Laurich, who has lived on Hilton Head for 35 years, acknowledged to the women that they were "all blessed" to live there, but she encouraged them to air their grievances -- whether about bosses, husbands or golf. They were friends, after all, and there to support each other.
Mackenzie McMillan, 7, of Bluffton was perhaps too young to have any existential angst to share -- except that her brother was spending his weekend camping with the Boy Scouts, which she told the table using air quotes.
"I know I have blond hair," she said while cheerfully decorating a doll with a picture of her face on it. "But I'm putting pink hair on this."
Marcella O'Fee of Hilton Head sat nearby with her two daughters, Carolanne, 17, and Charlotte, 11. O'Fee, an island resident for 24 years, has been attending the parties since the beginning. She had no complaints to offer, other than that her daughter is considering college in New England.
"Her lips turn blue when it gets under 65 degrees," she said.
Carolanne, who hopes to major in fashion merchandise, was focused on her doll, which she designed with the intensity of a "Project Runway" contestant. The end product resembled an even more ferocious Marie Antoinette.
'MY BABY'
Laurich and Schwerdt spent the party mingling and were often followed by a little dog too -- Jacob, Schwerdt's costumed Yorkshire terrier, who later passed out on a pillow next to a doll arm.
It took the roommates -- both widows who became friends through their daughters -- two weeks to set up the house with the seemingly thousands of witch-themed decorations they've each collected over the years.
"We should not be allowed to go to Michaels," Schwerdt joked.
A little after 6 p.m., the dolls were numbered and displayed on tables in the entranceway. When it was time to judge, the partygoers slowly walked past each one and then handed their ballots to Mackenzie, who collected the votes.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" one woman asked.
"Would you ever have thought we could all be so creative?" another said.
Within a few minutes, a winner was announced.
Laurich's friend of 30 years, Jan Paxton, took home the trophy for the first time. She has been attending the party for 10 years.
"It's just best friends," she said. "Coming together for the camaraderie."
Liz Farrell is the features editor at The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. Follow her at twitter.com/elizfarrell.
Related content:
This story was originally published October 5, 2014 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Lowcountry's witchy women flock together for over-the-top party."