How To Throw a Successful Party.
Having learned the tools of the trade from the 2000-2001 Modenafest party series, I helped my roommates throw a humdinger of party at our place Saturday night. The success of our party was no accident - we followed a sound strategy designed to perfect the art of party throwing. So in the interest of successful house parties, I'm going to divulge all of the secrets here on the ol' blog.
1. Alcohol and lots of it. The only way to compete with bars and clubs, especially if you only live a few blocks away from them, is to serve up plenty of booze and beer. The flow of said liquids must not stop until you are ready for it to stop. Much like a conductor controls the symphony with a baton, you control the party with the booze. And if you're really good, you know how to end the night with more alcohol than you started with at no added expense.
2. The Guest List. This is crucial to the success of the party because you are essentially the mad scientist, creating a vibe in your house with everyone you have invited. Ask yourself what the failing point of any party you've been to is and I'm willing to bet it was too many men in attendance, creating the proverbial sausage fest. Too much testosterone is hard to deal with; it scares the women off and frustrates the men with too much competition. The secret sauce in this case is simple: invite more women than men. Chances are, it will even out anyway with boyfriends, friends, etc. If women at the party are asking you "What's with all of the women at this party," you're doing things right!
3. Ambience. Everyone wants to feel comfortable and be in a good mood at your party. You must use ambience, i.e. sights, sounds, smells and tastes, etc. to provide an environment where nobody wants to leave. The simple way to achieve this is using nothing more than candles and music. With modern technology, we're now able to create self-managing music playlists that can last the entire night without playing the same song twice. The mp3, if anything else, was meant for the house party. As an added touch, I like to have a visual component to the media exhibition - in this case it was the realisitic aquarium scene of my screensaver and the always impressive, Koyaanisqatsi on the DVD player. As the night progresses, people are always attracted to strange and interesting visuals.
4. Food. Again, you want to keep your guests as comfortable as possible and feeding them definitely rules out party-goers fleeing to the taqueria next door and then going home. The other benefit to serving food is that it helps to prevent beligerance; a stomach filled with food cannot hold as much alcohol. The important thing to remember is that the food must be good, distributed easily and does not make a mess. I made some killer guacamole which everyone seemed to like. Bowls of chips, salsa, pretzels and crackers were set out and reduced to crumbs by the end of the party. We also served baby pitas (bite-sized pita bread) with hummus which tasted great and were incredibly easy to serve. The interesting thing about our menu was that it accounted for vegetarians/vegans or anyone else who is specific about what they eat.
5. Facilities. Here is where we may luck out since our apartment is ideal for throwing a party. Obviously the more space you have, the more you have to work with. Having 3 bathrooms in our place turned out to be very important since my bathroom inevitably became a de-militarized zone, inhabited by alcohol poisoned victims. You need to have different areas and rooms each facilitating an activity. Upstairs living room/kitchen was the bar and the downstairs living room was the lounge. We directed a coat check in Derek's bedroom and I hosted a champagne room in my bedroom. The smokers were great about using the deck outside, braving the extreme cold to keep our house smoke-free. And there are always the quiet corners for the lovahs to escape to...
6. Promotion. Parties with a name/theme that people can remember is always a good thing. It not only helps people remember the party, it also creates a reputation for future gatherings - people will know what to expect and hopefully show up. I always like to do a web-based invite like this one. We did end up using those graphics I did for email reminders...
So that's it, the guide to successful house parties. Saturday night was a success and I hope everyone who came had a great time. Derek and Luke really came through on the preparations while I was in California last week. And I think my Modenafest co-ringleaders, Travis and Dan, would have been very proud of the party. Cheers!
I'm working at collecting all of the pictures taken at the party and hopefully I can get them all posted by the end of the week...
