Confession time: how often have you felt rather bored at parties, despite the efforts of the host?
After you arrive and say “hi” to friends, get some great party food, dance, or play some standard party games, you’re basically left with chatting, people watching, or fiddling with the balloons and streamers. Ringing any bells?
The simple fact is that most social soirees go down this all-too-familiar route.
Far from avoiding every party on earth from now on, why not use a great theme that ties everything together and brings out the party mood in all of us? Here are some great suggestions:
- Arabian Nights
Travel to Morocco with lamp light, generous drapery and lots of cushions. Special Arabian dishes include easy-to-make cous cous, rice with lamb, and sweet harisa among many others. Call in a henna artist, break out the silks and fezes, play some Arabian tunes, and belly dance the night away.
- Murder Mystery Party:
You’ll be surprised by just how much your guests will get into trying to guess who is the murderer while playing this classic party game. Choose a theme for your murder mystery – and you can even get imaginative with the setting – like the far future or crime noir. Invite your friends with a court summons, set up your ‘crime scene’, stash those clues, and let the sleuthing begin!
- Make Your Own Pizza Party:
Buy pre-made dough, and have plenty of toppings on-hand—everything from pineapple to Portobello mushrooms—so your guests can really go to town. Experiment with exotic toppings, like chicken tikka masala, taco, and strawberry. Best of all, pizza leftovers are are too delicious to last long.
4. Masquerade Ball:
Have your guests wear black ties and don masks. The party will essentially take care of itself. Dance the night away in an atmosphere of mystery, before all identities are revealed at the stroke of midnight.
5. Under the Stars Movie Party:
Image belongs to Movie Night Cupcakes
The best place to watch a movie as far as we are concerned is outside, under the stars. All you need is a movie projector, a wall, and a white sheet. Choose your favourite theme. Tropical? Horror? Outer space? There are movies galore and snacks to fit the mood, making for a memorable movie watching experience with friends.
6. Trivia Night:
Why not get your buddies together for a good old-fashioned trivia night? Think beer night with friends spiced up by keen mental competition. Jog those neurons over lots of obscure trivia on science, geography, history and frankly, anything that Google can find. Attractive prizes for wins and drinking penalties for losses help keep the fun going into the night.
7. Stache Bash:
Mustaches are a bona fide fashion trend these days. Set up a stache station for your guests with different varieties (Salvador Dali, Walrus and Handlebar are some celebrity lip-huggers), and make sure to take a lot of photos. Staches make for easy comedy gold, being relatively simple to use: mustachioed straws, sandwiches shaped like soup strainers, and “gentlemanly” cookies. Ice-breaking is a breeze and guests get to walk away with a smile (and lip wig) on their faces.
8. Harry Potter Party:
Image belongs to Jakovche
Because having wizards gathered around a long table is a good recipe for fun games, weird drinks, and menu items. Plus, costumes would be fun. Have lookalike contests, sprinkle the room with potion bottles and magical paraphernalia, while you serve up chocolate frogs and cauldron cupcakes. With seven books and the internet, party favours are a cinch: cut-out Gryffindor neckties, Ferrero Rocher Golden Snitches and Hedwig balloons are a few options. And for party games there’s always Quidditch Pong.
9. Game of Thrones Medieval Party:
Bring in as many elements from GoT as you can into a party – from themed menus to proper medieval outfits. Throne is a must. Dragon optional. Play the series soundtrack in the background. Muffle modern furniture with furs and curtains, and prepare a dragon’s hoard of candles. A medieval menu can also be served up: bread and salt and many others. For games, there are GoT board games and the eternal struggle to ‘poison’ each others’ drinks with chili sauce.
10. Flashback Party:
You can host a theme based on the 80s or 90s or even the noughties by bringing in music, movies and fashion of the time! It’s a trip down memory lane… starting with invitations recorded on CDs or cassette tapes. Get hip with dance-offs (Thriller from the 80s, the Electric Slide from the 90s or Backstreet Boys from the 00s), while parting gifts are a blast from the past, like a chapteh or old-school card game.
All parties have food, decor and games, but joined with an exciting theme they add atmosphere and fun, making for an awesome summer jamboree.
Feature image belongs to Libertinus
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