I’m not planning on throwing one anytime soon, but I’d like to know what to do, and not to do, when the time comes. What’s essential for a great party? Has anyone here ever thrown a legendary one? What made it stand out from all others?
Jim Jones is pretty apt on this subject.
Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us to divulge his secrets.
Have lots of friends and tell them to invite lots of their friends. And have alcohol but be in a safe place where no one can do anything TOO stupid. That’s how all the best parties I’ve been to seem to happen anyway, I’ve never actually thrown one of my own.
Think of the neighbors in advance; invite’em, warn’em, perhaps find out when the closest will be away. Know in advance who (it should be the host/hostess) will engage the police when they arrive.
A few things I’ve always included in parties I’ve thrown. These are all suggestions assuming that you and your guests are of legal drinking age and will want to consume a lot (that’s what all our legendary parties are like.)
[ul]
[li]Greet your guests with shots… (something easy for the lightweights, maybe jello shots or a pucker)[/li][li]Maybe have some games to start things off, before the party really gets started and everyone is there. Charades always works really good, and you can just add people into the game as they arrive.[/li][li]Have some snacks… no need to have a full dinner (unless thats what you’re going for) Some pretzels, chips and dips and salsa will work great[/li][li]If you can afford it, get a keg. It’s easier to clean up the next day. Charge 5 bucks from everyone drinking off it if you can’t afford to carry it yourself[/li][li]There are a endless number of great drinking games that everyone can play - even lightweights. Flipper is one of the best (ask for details)[/li][/ul]
Probably the most important thing is to make sure people have a place to crash. If they have a driver, make SURE you take care of that person. Give them money, gold, whatever they want… they deserve it.
These are just a few things that I’ve found make a great party for me. You and your friends may be different in the things you like. Maybe you’d rather link up X-box’s and play unreal or Halo all night… that can be a great time to.
You know your friends best and what they like… follow that.
The best party I ever through consisted me my roommates and I buying a keg and telling everyone we knew to invite everyone they knew.
Things only went uphill after the British Air Force showed up…
Good times, good times.
Joe - what age range are we talking here? My wife and I host an annual party at our home in the summer that has grown from mere friends to close to 90 close friends and acquainhtances. However, we have learned several key things in the past several years that have stood the test of time. Before I get to that, our back yard is essentially geared to entertain. We have a large porch, wraping around the rear of the house…a decently large granite chat pit not too far off the porch and a fun little treehouse with an outside office in it.
Ok on to the things we have learned…
Leftovers go to friends…
belligerent party goer’s do not get invited back… (very few over the years…)
Stick to martini’s and Margarita’s and the party tends to stay more under control than with just beer and wine. (don’t know why…just an observation)
Keep everyone well fed. A grill going at all times is essential. Passed Hors d’Oeuvres is very nice…A caterer can be fun…
Easily accessable everything. A guest should not have to go into the kitchen…
And above all…Have fun!!
Most legendary parties have live music. If not live music, then danceable music from the era fondly remembered by most of the partygoers.
You also want a reasonable balance of men and women.
It’s nice to have different rooms or outside areas for folks to gather, and if you want to get creative, each room can have a theme.
Make sure the bathrooms remain in working order.
If want the party to break up start playing Frank Zappa.
My friend throws the best parties ever. I think the way it’s done is to not do it halfway. Make sure it is an Event so that everyone makes an effort to get there. Go all out and tell people your party is going to be the one that ends them all. Convince them they will have missed the best fun of the century if they don’t go. If they are still unconvinced, morally blackmail them by just assuming they have accepted your invitation. Then make sure you have enough booze and a good amount of nibbles.
There’s some element of risk with the “big build up plus blackmail” strategy, but in my experience those were often the parties that were so much fun that people talked about for months afterwards. Years, often.
The people make the party. Large or small, it helps to have folks that you enjoy being with, who can enjoy being with each other.
Too much space and/or too much light can put a damper on some parties. It helps if the geography encourages (forces?) people to mingle, and the atmosphere makes it comfortable.
Make sure the bathroom(s) has extra toilet paper, clean towels, fresh soap, and a TRASHCAN! Don’t forget that last thing unless you want a woman having to choose between the embarrassment of asking for a place to dispose of a tampon or tossing it down the toilet (a major no-no).
Shut off any rooms you don’t want people going in. May not work for the boors, but most people would understand that a closed door means “keep out.”
Send the pets to the kennel or a friend’s house for the evening.
Make sure you have food to appeal to everyone. Have something for low carb dieters and low fat dieters, along with the all-purpose bad-for-you stuff like chips, cake, brownies, etc. Fresh vegetables with dip, chicken wings, cheese cubes and meat cubes are great for the low carbers. Plenty of low fat cookies and stuff for low fat dieters.
I wasn’t talking about any specific age range, just asking about how to kick off a great party overall, but I suppose I should have been more specific since alchohol is involved in a good deal of parties.
Good post. I think I’ll make a folder with all of these tips saved inside.
Live music? That must be hard to arrange, but there are quite a few bands floating around here. A good portion of them used to play at a local coffee house by the name of KoolBeans, but then it closed. How much money should somebody be expected to pay for local band to play? I’m assuming I wouldn’t want to bother my party guests with having to tip the band, nor would I want to upset the band if nobody at the party tips them.
How do you achieve the reasonable balance of men and women? Most of the people I know are guys…
Can you give me an example of this?
Is this for the sake of the pet or the guests? Because I’ve always liked it when other people had pets at their parties. I mean, even if you loathed every person there, hated the music, thought the food was crummy, but had to stay for one reason or another, hey, at least there was a dog to pet :).
(LOL)
[QUOTE=whatami]
[li] Greet your guests with shots… [/li][/QUOTE]
. . . and make sure your spouse has a baseball bat to finish of the survivors who crawl out the door onto the lawn.
Queer Eye/Straight Guy has had some helpful hints you may wanna check out. (Go through their hints section and ignore the “rub product in from back” and “make eye contact” stuff for the more interesting info.) Among them:
-Have slightly fewer chairs than people (to encourage circulation)
-Introduce one guest to another with some one sentence thing they have in common (“Jerry, this is Maguire… he has a celebrity urine collection that would match your celebrity fingernail collection”)
-Serve coffee as the “it’s time for ever’body to git the hell out…”
Plus, some recipes and assorted tips.
Invite killers!
I hear Manson isn’t busy…
Both, actually. It keeps your pets safe, and it helps if any of your guests are allergic. Plus, some people just really don’t like pets, and it’s rude to foist your animals on them when you’re not able to keep track of them.
This made me chuckle. The last time I threw a major shindig was in college. We had great parties, crazy parties. Sometimes I didn’t even know half of the people there, but everybody had fun.
This made me chuckle. Our parties would end when either the beer ran out, or the cops came and strongly suggested that all underage people should probably be heading home right about now.
So, the few tips I have:
- a fairly even male/female ratio makes everything so much more pleasant. People always flirt, and if there’s too many guys hitting on a small number of girls, it’s not fun. Don’t have any female friends? Tell your male friends to invite their female friends and make it a “invite anybody you want” situation. After that, just hope for the best.
- Buy more of everything than you think you’ll need. Nothing’s worse than running out of cups, or ice, or whatever in the middle of a party.
- Music is very important. Live music or a DJ would be cool, but just having a good mix of music ready is fine.
- I second the seating thing - generally the less the better. More room for people to wander around or get their groove on later. Sitting encourages clumps of friends to sit and talk to each other and ignore other people.
That’s all I can think of right now. What kind of party you were thinking (nice dinner party? crazy kegger? rave? people wandering around and chit chatting? small party with people playing games?) That’s the first thing you’d have to decide.
All good suggestions! Good music is essential, as is booze…lots of booze.