We attended Susanne Bartsch and David Barton's 11th Annual Toys for Tots Party. Admission was one unwrapped toy for a child of any age. What a great cause -- and a marvelous excuse for a party! We each brought a bag of goodies -- from the Museum of Modern Art. (Remember Etch-a-Sketch? We brought 9 of them with the fervent hope their recipients are even half as excited and entertained by them as we are.)

We knew we were in for a fun evening before we even entered the joint. Admittedly, it was hard to miss Markus Kelle, standing guard and directing wayward guests down West Broadway to the party at the Soho Grand Hotel. Faithful readers know we feature Markus and his amazing hats in our Easter Parade posts.

Our "hostess with the mostest" Susanne Bartsch and Muffinhead.

Muffinhead's amazingly elaborate costume features hugely oversized hands. How long could it have taken to dream that up, much less put it together?! Did we mention that the party was an amazing amalgamation of Winter Holiday and Halloween?

Co-host of the event, uber-buff David Barton, wore a tee-shirt celebrating the Halloween aspects of the evening, while the Lady in Red clearly went the holiday route. Dying to know how one would cut a tee shirt to get that skull effect???!!!

As Captain Renault in Casablanca said, "Round up the usual suspects", so here we go:

Michael Musto wore the most hilariously garish sequin holiday vest.

Our DJ was none other than record producer, recording artist, remixer, nightclub promoter and impresario, Johnny Dynell.

Performance artist extraordinaire Joey Arias. Check out the wonderful weave on that jacket!

Our favorite dandy, Patrick McMullen, with Muffinhead. Note the black and white striped cap under Patrick's hat.

Louise Doktor and Zari Awodein.

Roger Padilha (left) and Evan Lenhoff.

Roger's brother Mauricio (also left) and friend (also named Evan). Check out the frames on Mauricio's glasses.

Lynn Yaeger.

Jean and Tim Boyle, whom we first met at Fashion's Night Out circa 2010.

We photographed this lady in our 2013 Easter Parade post and dubbed her a glamour puss and a vamp. Could we call it or what?

We've also met the chic blonde on the far left and are wracking our brains to remember exactly when and where ...

Mark, the tall handsome gent, is a model for IMG MEN and the lady to the left is jewelry designer Mahlia.

Ramy (r) and two friends.

Ramy's pal, Michael, who works for Paper Magazine, greeted us at the door. (We first met Michael at the Philip Lim Target event during September fashion week.)

Absolutely loved Zac's riff on red.

Great trio. We'd met the man in the middle at the Stephen Burrows exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.

Valerie and one of The Milk Maids (impossibly tall and improbably named "Milk", of course).

So many of the guests pulled out all the stops for wardrobe -- and makeup. Shades of London in the '80s! (And note the anti-fur patch.)

We ran into our Sunset Boulevard friends, Filippo and Pervis, and their pal who wore a wonderful riding hat.

This gent had a small Christmas tree on his head. Here's what it looked like with flash.

Here's what it looked like without flash.

A man after our own heart, wearing a veil, and voile ears.

Another veil, this one more turn of the century, covering the whole face. Very mysterious.

Our friend Victor, designer of the 3PTPOP line, and his friend.

Zac, Renato Dicent (who made the two fabulous second-skin costumes you see here), and friend.

The infamous Milk Maids (Milk, left & Skim, right) flank fellow partygoers.

Loved this red latex dress which comes with multiple ribbons in different colors to change up the look.

Afros are making a comeback.

Just as we were leaving, we met illustrator Bats Langley (left) and his friend Nick who probably set the evening's record for donations. They had filled that entire bag (big enough to haul a body!) with toys. Check out Bats' work here.

What we're wearing:

Valerie is wearing: multicolored felt helmet by Carol Markel, vintage Krizia wool coat, jacket from Patricia Field, vintage plastic ear clips, Issey Miyake pants, Jeffrey Campbell 'the artist' rainboots.

Jean is wearing: Ignatius hat; Gudron black and white striped and polka dot scarf; Chaos black and white striped cuffs; Costume National jacket; Eileen Fisher harem pants; vintage bakelite rings.

Following is the fabulous invitation to the event, followed by links to press coverage:

SUSANNE BARTSCH & DAVID BARTON

INVITE YOU TO
THE 11TH ANNUAL

TOY DRIVE

FOR CHILDREN IN NEED

THROUGHOUT NEW YORK

TUESDAY DECEMBER 17, 2013

• 9PM - 1AM

HOSTED BY

ALAN CUMMING, BETTE MIDLER,

BRUCE WEBER, CALVIN KLEIN,

DEBBIE HARRY, HAMISH BOWLES,

NAN BUSH,

NARCISO RODRIGUEZ,

ROSE MCGOWAN, STEVEN KLEIN,

SUSAN SARANDON

& VALERIE STEELE

* A NEW, UNWRAPPED TOY IS REQUIRED

FOR ADMISSION *

GIFTS ARE NEEDED FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES,

PERFORMANCE BY JOEY ARIAS

MUSIC BY DJ JOHNNY DYNELL

AT THE SOHO GRAND HOTEL

310 WEST BROADWAY