Organizing a party is not as difficult as it seems. Over the years, I have organized several epic home parties and my friends often ask for advice and ideas to organize their own events at home. That is why I have decided to write an article to share a few fun ideas to have a great party at home that will make your guests want to come back soon.
When it comes to having fun with friends and family at home, having a list of great party ideas can make things much easier. Let’s go over a few fun alternatives that might get your creative juices flowing and get you started along the path of an epic party.
Getting the right people onboard…
First of all, make sure you invite people who are fun and enjoy parties. Inviting a few too many introverts or individuals with a negative attitude can ruin the fun for everyone else. It’s not about being mean, it’s about making sure there’s a good atmosphere that lets everyone at the party have a good time.
Make the party feel alive by filling the room…
This is one of those elusive things that rookie party organizers often miss. Depending on how big the party venue is (a house, an apartment, and so on…) it is fundamental that you make sure to invite enough people to fill the room where the party will take place. There’s nothing more demotivating than arriving at a sad party where the venue is half empty. Something happens in the psyche of guests that makes them come alive and feel happy when they encounter a full room. I’m not a social scientist, so I won’t even try to explain it, I just know a party that is half empty is not as fun as a crowded party. If you have ever been in either one of these scenarios you will intuitively understand what I’m talking about. Now, it’s time to go over a few great party ideas for adults.
Have a party theme (and make things easy for your guests)
Choosing a theme for a party is an easy way to help your guests relax and interact over a common theme. It’s hard to start worrying about not wearing the right type of designer shoes or feeling stressed about your skirt if you are dressed like a potato or wearing an outfit that is entirely red, just like everyone else at the party.
One important piece of advice I’d like to share with you; and this is something I have learned after years of planning parties; is to make an extra effort to keep things simple, and especially, when it comes to costume parties. For some people, finding the right costume can be an intimidating experience, and one that also involves more effort than say, wearing an outfit that is entirely blue. Therefore, instead of organizing a costume party, I‘d suggest a theme party. Let’s go over a few fun party themes you can try soon.
Color Theme Parties
These party themes are easy to implement and fun for everyone involved. For example, you could organize a “Black and Silver Party” where guests would be expected to only include these colors in their outfits, or wear either an outfit that is entirely black or silver. In the case of an entirely “silver” outfit, guests would be encouraged to get creative along the way. For example, they could use aluminum foil to make bracelets, necklaces or decorative head pieces that may make them look like a visitor from another planet. Another idea could be to organize a “Red Party” where everyone would be expected to wear something red. There’s also “White parties” where everyone is expected to wear a white outfit, and you could even add some special clauses such as “all guests who are single, should wear a red flower on their lapel” and so on…
Organize a Letter Party
These are fun parties that encourage guests to be creative within a set of established guidelines. For example, you could organize a “P Party” and ask your guests to dress up, wear or come up with an outfit that is related to the letter P. Some of them could wear their Pajamas, dress up as a Pediatrician, glue a small horn on their forehead and get a fluffy tail so they look like a Pony, or even dress up as a Policeman. If you chose to thrown an “M Party” your guests could make an outfit that looks like Madonna, wear a suit and a hat so they look like a Mobster, or shave their head and wear round glasses so they resemble Mahatma Gandhi. This kind of party ideas allow extroverts to go all out and are easy for introverts who want to fit in. The point of the whole thing is to help your guests relax and have fun in an environment that makes it easy for them to interact with each other and have fun.
Christmas in July Party
This one is really simple. You plan the menu around traditional Christmas dishes and ask each guest to bring a gift that costs less than 5 dollars which are preferably humorous so they can exchange them with other guests, either by having a raffle or a “Secret Santa” exchange. Usually, the host dresses up as Santa and leads the event.
Try a Pizza Making Party
Pizza parties are a lot of fun because everyone likes eating pizzas and they are easy and fun to make. You can make up batches of pizza dough and freeze them, or if you prefer you can buy pre-made pizza bases. After taking care of the pizza bases, which is the part that requires the most time and preparation, all you have to do involves a lot of chopping and dicing. You can dice bowls of all the food that will be needed for the pizzas, which may include things like pepperoni, capsicum, onion, mushrooms, olives, anchovies, etc. For some of these, you could even use a food processor to simplify the process and have bowls of ingredients ready for your guests when they arrive.
This party idea is even better if you happen to own a pizza oven. If you don’t, you can bake the pizzas in your traditional oven, but you need to make sure you have 2 pizza stones (it’s a big ceramic plate used to cook pizzas and make them crunchy) so that, while you cook one pizza the other pizza stone stays in the oven to get hot. At the end of the night you can even have a voting process to select the best pizza of the night.
Start a Cocktail Making Contest!
Another fun idea to get your guests involved so they interact with each other is to organize a cocktail making contest. You could even make it more specific so the competition gets more interesting. For example, you could have a “Masters of Mojitos Contest,” or a “Moscow Mule Challenge” where guests get to vote and choose their favorite Mixologists.
The Fuel of the Party…
Getting the right people together, and giving them a fun environment where they can have fun is important. But making sure your guests have the right drinks, snacks and food is also a fundamental part of the mix.
Make sure you have great food that is well suited for your audience and easy to eat with fingers. Traditional snacks will usually cover all your bases, but it is important that you make sure you take into account any particular dietary habits some of your guests may have. For example, if several of your guests are vegan, and all you have to offer is pepperoni pizza and cheese cubes, they may not feel very welcomed.
Overall, just keep your guests in mind and make sure the snacks and food you offer, are a good fit for your friends.
Having the right drinks for the right people is another important thing to keep in mind. Unless there is a specific theme that limits the choice of drinks, such as an “Oktoberfest party;” having a wide variety of drinks is usually the best way to go. To keep costs down ask guests to bring a bottle of their favorite wine whenever possible.
In the end, the most important thing about organizing a successful party is making sure your guests feel comfortable so they can have fun and get to know each other while you have fun too. I hope you find these party ideas useful, and if you do, please share this article with your friends on Facebook so they can discover new party ideas as well. Thank you!
