Author Topic: Tips for how to throw a successful party?  (Read 24087 times)

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Offline JonLeung

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Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« on: September 22, 2009, 07:47:01 am »
Hi, all, I'm wondering if any of you guys have any tips for throwing a successful party that includes multiple social groups.

As you may or may not know, me and my brother have the house to ourselves for a whole three weeks, and probably on Friday Oct. 2, we are hoping to throw a party.

I want to invite a bunch of people, more than I would usually invite, since without my mom in the house, it's a bit more free to use more floors and more rooms.  My friends aren't the type to get rowdy, but not having my mom around at least means having more space to have more people over and groups can separate if they don't feel comfortable mingling.

But of course I'd rather not have people stay apart too much, I wouldn't feel like a good host if I couldn't keep people entertained, which is hard to do if we have clumps of people that stay together and apart from the others.

I'm hoping to invite some of the more outgoing people that would be willing to reach out to others.  For example, one girl I know from church is really into scrapbooking and making custom greeting cards (http://lydzcardstudio.blogspot.com), and so I mentioned her to my co-workers who might be interested in meeting her.  I know some of my closer friends who are females would be able to chat up a storm with a co-worker who knows everything there is to know about shoes.

Though moreso than trying to entertain multiple groups, maybe I'm really just hoping the women can entertain themselves while I play video games with the rest of the guys.  :p  Most of the guys, regardless of how they know me, can get along fine by picking up a game controller, even with three other guys they may not know at all.  I guess us guys are pretty easy to get along with.

Still, though.  Considering the potential number of people coming, concerns remain.  Anyone have any tips on how to throw a good party?

Offline Will

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2009, 10:12:56 am »
Whenever I have special occasion, me and my family have certain methods to ensure guests have good stay and enjoyment.

To begin the party it is important that you get to know what sort of food visitors may like, as there might be vegetarians, vegans and such like. As a starter when visitors first enter, they freely help themselves to the following: Pringles, Bombaymix, Mixed Nuts, Skips and Mints. You can however choose whatever crisps and dry foods you think best. For seconds you'll need something wholesome to eat but easy to cook like fruit salad, vegetable salad, meat kebabs, sandwiches, prawns, cupcakes and so on.

When picking music to play on stereo, choose some catchy music tracks like "Initial D - Night of Fire", "Breaking Benjamin - Firefly", "Body Rock" and lots more. You can download a large variety of music on the website http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/view-all.

Offline Will

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2009, 10:18:44 am »
Double post sorry, but the system is limiting the amount I type.

Amongst chatting, gossiping and socialising, you may wish to tell or/and demonstrate a convenient practical joke. Have you ever tried turning two pringles opposite sides on top of each other and then sticking them in your mouth in a position that looks like Donald Duck's beak? If you're not sure what I mean watch "Pringles Chips Commercial from 1993 - Cheesy Rap Song" on YouTube. For a whitty joke to tell try this dialogue I got from Simon the Sorceror.

Person 1: You've heard of many stories?                                Person 2: Yes I have.
Person 1: But have you heard the story about the butter?        Person 2: No, tell me.
Person 1: No way, you might spread it.

When entertaining with films, I find the older titles entertain better like "The Incredible Journey", "The Amazing Adventure", Sherlock Holmes films and others. Certainly some films like Shrek films promise a decent watch. You can either view videos online or you can rent DVDs from a rental. That's about all tips I can advise, hope it helps and have a wonderful time.

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2009, 10:57:08 am »
Thanks for the tips, Will, but I'm not that much of a shut-in.  :p  I know what a party is.

Finding refreshments, snacks, music, video games and movies isn't the concern, it's really more about finding ways to get people to interact when they may not know each other.  (Which is ironic considering that when I'm at a party, I'm not among the first to try to meet new people.)

Maybe I should find some board games that might appeal to more people.  Video games are generally more appealing to the guys, and I don't have Guitar Hero or Rock Band.  Sure, there are some like Wii Sports Resort I suppose I could dust off...  Also, video games are limited to up to four at a time whereas maybe there are some board games that might accommodate more people.  I'm not really into the Cranium series, personally, but maybe I can avoid playing it myself.  :p
« Last Edit: September 22, 2009, 11:03:28 am by JonLeung »

Offline DarkWolf

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2009, 03:33:18 pm »
Apples to Apples.  Problem solved.  If the people who come to your party don't want to play Apples to Apples, you don't want to be hanging out with them anyway.

Also Will mentioning "Night of Fire" just reminded me of all those silly English Initial D songs.  I'd probably stay away from those.  "Back on the rocks! Back on the rocks, BABY! You gotta go and live forever."  Yeah, not the best thing to play at a party IMO.

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2009, 09:37:52 pm »
Funny how I hadn't heard of Apples To Apples before today, and then it was mentioned to me three times today.

Also funny that I was listening to some Initial D MP3s recently...  (*turns off WinAmp*)  >_>
« Last Edit: September 22, 2009, 09:38:18 pm by JonLeung »

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2009, 07:08:38 am »
Well, Toys Я Us had some things on sale including the Apples To Apples Party Box, with prices in effect until yesterday, so I figured if I was going to get it I might as well while it was at a lower price.  So I've got that now at least.

Perhaps this weekend I'll start moving some of my mom's many knickknacks.  Even if they weren't likely to get broken, I don't find many of them appealing.

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Tips for how to throw a successful party?
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2009, 07:58:44 am »
As per a co-worker's and DarkWolf's suggestion, I tried out Apples To Apples (Party Box) with a few friends when we got together Saturday night for a potluck.  It was amusing to apply the green apple / adjective cards that we won to describe ourselves...one guy had "cruel" and "snappy", so he was either "snappily cruel" or "cruelly snappy".  Overall the game turned out to be more fun than I was expecting for a game about matching words.

(By coincidence, while we were playing, the girls were in the kitchen making pie and cake with a lot of extra apples they had, so it was a very "apply" evening.)