#1 Awesome way to make your party memorable if you don’t have a strict budget!

So here it is, as promised – based on my observation of a few thousand parties, what’s the best way to make your party memorable if you don’t have a strict budget?

The most memorable parties have a theme.

Now I know what you are thinking, dress up parties are dime a dozen, but I want to assure you that the parties that I most remember (and this is just as a worker there, not even as a guest) and the party memories that I see being most recalled by people years later, are about theme parties that are done very, very well.

This is what I know from evil science and direct experience that has made parties awesome:

1.       Get the key people involved early

2.       Dress up and make sure your close friends do too

3.       Supply costume

4.       Appeal to all of people’s senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch

That’s all you need to know, but if you want more explanation and elaboration, read on!

Involve your key guests in the choosing of the theme. This makes it easier to choose a good thee but more importantly it gets the key people who will make the party fun and memorable engaged very early in the process. If you need a resource for choosing good themes this one has helped me for my parties! I went to a “Princess & Princesses” theme party last year where all of the key female guests has absolutely amazing gowns and awesome tiaras that were welcoming people and introducing them to other guests and it was really memorable – they not only looked great but I could see that there was a key group of 10 girls that really cared about the party being great for everyone.

Ensure that your costume is totally out there. This is often overlooked. People will remember that you wore a full suit of armor, a penguin suit or a onesie complete with bum flap. Choose a very flamboyant costume that represents the core of the theme. For example I went to a toga party and the host was not wearing a toga. He was wearing a Julius Caesar outfit; a toga but also a wreath woven through a crown as well as jeweled arm and leg plates and sandals, with a huge silver chalice and a sword – they were the absolute centerpiece of the evening.

Let key people know how much trouble you are going to with the theme and let them help you. Letting key people know all of the key parts of the party that will make it awesome and allowing them to take responsibility for one part of it allows them to feel ownership and will also make your night easier!

Make this invitation clearly reflect the theme. Be creative and embody the theme in your invitation – I was recently invited to a retro party where the invitation was printed in the text plate of 7 inch vinyl record and sent to me in a record sleeve. This made me both want to come and also want to dress up because I could see that the host was all about the theme. If you need help designing an inviatation, try Crowdspring or oDesk!

Decorate the people more than the tables. I see a lot of people spend a huge amount of time and money decorating the tables. They are important but they don’t make any impact if everyone isn’t dressed up. I went to a back to school party last month and the host has bought 100 school ties from a big op shop from the $2 bin and picked up a whole bunch  of grey and white school shirts as well as a range of tartan skirts in lots of sizes – it was $400 well spent because when guests arrived out of costume he got them to dress up from the bits provided. For people who has dressed up there was a face painter going around putting freckles on people faces and band aids on their knees and issuing them with rulers to smack each other on the butt with. With absolutely everyone dressed up, this party was a blast!

Decorate the tables more than the walls. So use most of your decorations budget on people, but save some for the tables – good themed centerpieces really set a great context for the whole party. They don’t have to be large, what matters is that they are in theme – I went to an under the sea party about 5 years ago. In the middle of each table was a fish bowl with lots of weed with a deep sea diver statue at the bottom single goldfish swimming around in it. It really set the tone for the theme!

Let the music set the scene. At the end of the night when people are drunk & dancing, just play songs they like, but for the first hour or two as people are arriving play music that is theme. I saw this done with massive impact at a superheroes party where for the first hour the music was all hero themes from batman to bond, the pink panther and everything n between. It was only about 20 songs but it really set the scene because when the theme song that people has dressed to came on they cheered and got on the dance floor to strut their stuff – it really broke the ice right at the start of the night,

Lighting matters! The easiest way to make the room look right over all is with lighting. You can spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on elaborate room sets. Good lighting, if combined with themed centerpieces and everyone dressed in theme will save dollars and allow the room to work for your theme. For example I went to a fire & ice ball recently and the only room set beyond an ice statue of a fire in the centre of each table was an led light under each statue that switched from blue to red every few minutes as well as really intense blue and red color changing lights spilling up the centre of each wall ot the room. It was simple, classy and absolutely embodied the theme.

Involve themed service providers. I went to a circus themed party for about 200 people for a 21^st. It was in a person’s back yard. One of the things I most remember was that they had a bouncy castle. It only cost them $300 for 3h, but I can tell you, I DJed at that party over a decade ago and I can still remember the people lining up in their circus costumes for a shot on that castle! I also went to a Mexican Party where there was a 4 foot tall man in a matador outfit running along the bar giving people lay back shots of tequila. Unforgettable!

Use propos that create smells and tastes in the theme. I went to a carnival theme party many years ago. I it was in someone’s front yard. I can still remember the smell of fairy floss and the Dagwood dog and donuts that I was served as my lunch. Smells and tastes make very lasting emotional impressions – use them to your advantage!

Make a fuss over the people who dress up. This helps people remember what was particular about your day – the most effective way I’ve seen this done is not with “winners” like a prom queen, but with group activities – I went to a Latin party where they got everyone in costume to do the limbo and then gave everyone a prize when they count skip the bar, with the prizes betting better toward the end, but everyone got a prize. I also went to an 80s night where they got all the people who dressed up to compete in a hula hoop comp and gave them all snap bands as a prize – it really got the dance floor pumping!

So, get the key people involved early, dress up and make sure your close friends do too, supply costumes and appeal to all of peoples senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, and you will create a lifelong impression

What’s Cheap and What’s Awesome to Have at My Party?

So, what are the 3 cheapest ways to make a house party great?

And what are the 3 most awesome things that you can do that people will remember?

Well, I don’t know for sure, but I’m going to make some suggestions over the next few weeks  from my experience in organizing and attending these sorts of shows over the past decade.

Cheap & Effective #1: Buying your own booze and getting your crazy uncle to be the bar tender.

This has definitely been a big one for me – so many times I’ve seen people do this well. Your uncle, you know, the crazy one; ask him if he wants to be the bar tender – he will usually say yes!

From there, you need:

2 long fold up trestles  – you can hire these, borrow them from someone on your block, or buy them at a hardware store for quite cheap. Or you can do what I saw at one party and lay two wooden doors down on a pile of hay bales. It actually looked quite cool!

2 large black table cloths. These get soaking wet in the first 15 minutes but no one cares because they soak the drips of the table so you don’t have to wipe it down.

Ice. You need 4 bags plus one for each 10 people at the party.

Stackable plastic 52-68l buckets. These are large buckets – you put the ice in them to keep the drinks cold. You ca buy them at the hardward store.

Glasses: Hire hard plastic glasses – this ends up being about the same cost as crappy plastic throw aways, but much cheaper than hiring proper glasses because they don’t break so you don’t get charged for breakage. Also stops your female guests cutting their feet when they dance barefoot & drunk across the lawn.

Booze: My advice: Soft drink, bubbly, red & white wine, beers and ready to drink only, and beer and ready to drink only after speeches. Why? 2 reasons:

Firstly your uncle isn’t a pro bar tender. None of the these drinks require mixing or ice. Make his life easy, he will make your guests happy.

Secondly, spirits at house parties and bottles of wine & bubbly swigged after speeches often end up in an ambulance call or you cleaning up a lot of mess the next day. Make your night smooth and the next day easy by keeping to lower alcohol drinks, especially later in the night.

Cloths: Use tea towels – they can soak up spills and be wrung out on the lawn when they get too wet.

Goooood huntin'!

Next Week: #1 Awesome way to make your party memorable if you don’t have a strict budget!

Should I Have my Birthday at Home, at a Function Centre, or Out & About

Well, what do you prefer?

Here is a quick and easy way to figure out what you should do:

If you are more of a chiller, then a party at home is the go – its less messing around to organize and you will be in a comfortable environment with your friends. If you prefer to take it easy and don’t like to make a big deal of things, this is the go for you.

However, remember that if you have the party at your house you may need help, depending on who you invite and how many guests you have – if you are having a lot of guests or you don’t trust your mates to be sensible, then a party at home won’t work – play it safe!

If you want to create in impression, a memory for your friends that will last a lifetime, then a party at a function centre is the go. Don’t think it’s out of your price range – if you have  a large group it can actually be cheaper than having it at your house if you need external catering, cleaning & entertainment. On the other side, if you have some good dollars to throw at a big celebration like a 21^st or 40^th, this is a really great way to mark the occasion in a classy way that everyone will remember for years to come. Shop around – there are lots of people who want your business – go for the people you trust to make the night special!

On the other hand, if you have flaky friends, a function is a bad idea – there is nothing worse than going to all the trouble of organizing a party and then your crew doesn’t roll up – so if you are nervous about this, a private function is not the best option for you.

If you like to wing it and get amongst it then a pub crawl or club tour is what you are looking for – if you have a small group of close friends that you love partying with or  a large group but a strict budget, this can be the best option for you. A tour or crawl allows you to satisfy the needs of a diverse range of friends by visiting a number of places on the one night, and if you shop around many clubs and pubs will offer you a good deal to bring your friends in, especially if your group is large.

However, if you want to have everyone you love and cherish around you for the whole night or you are very particular about how you want your party to turn out then this in not the option for you. Pub Crawls and Club Tours are by their nature unpredictable – this is what makes them fun – so if this isn’t your idea of fun, cross this one off your list.

Well, I hope that helps – if you have any more detailed questions, hit me up here or on facebook or email!

How do I decide what club to go to when I’m already out?

So this happens to a lot of people, like, every weekend.

You‘re out, just going with the flow, bouncing club to bar, pub to lounge.

What club should you go to next?

I mean, you want to make the most of your night out, so how can you quickly decide which place is the best to go to next?

Here is my quick quiz that I use to answer this question for myself:

Where am I – what’s close?

So this question is important but not the whole story. But it is important. Why walk across town or spend $20 on a cab when there might be a really good option within a block or two. Make a short list of the clubs that are close by.

Where will I know people?

This is a big one for me – and it goes both ways – If I want to chill with just one two mates or I want to dance like a honey badger then I want to go somewhere where I won’t know many people. If I’m riding solo and want to get in on the party, then I want to go to a club I know my peeps go to. If you have a smart phone Facebook places or 4square can help you here as well – use it!

How busy will it be when I arrive?

Oh man, people get this wrong more than any other key consideration. You need to know whether you want room to move or to be in a mosh pit. And then once you decide that, you also need to ask how long the wait might be to get in. If its midnight, don’t head for the hottest club in town. You’ve missed your window. Go to a cool club or bar that’s not so ultra popular and then head to the uberclub around 2 when it’s not so busy. That being said, if you want to be somewhere busy to get amongst it then really think about it – where will be full but not crazy busy in say half an hour (when I arrive!).

How much money do we want to spend?

This is important, especially if you are leading a group. Remember that taking 20 of your mates to a cool club with a $20 cover charge when you don’t have manes on the door list is going to suck $400 out of the groups cash reserves before you even get to the bar. Be realistic, especially if you haven’t organized special treatment before you headed out!

What am I doing later?

This is a big one as well – be strategic. Its midnight. You want to go to that oh so cool club that you went to last month that was packed with great people and had awesome tunes. Then you want to meet up with your special guy or girl at a lounge after that.  It will be an hour line up to get in to the super cool club now – what good options are in between here and there geographically? Maybe you can check out some other bars that you have heard about that are along the way, or you can pop in to a pub where you know some of your mates will be drinking. And message your girl or guy to see if they want to meet you at that awesome club at 2 – then you can dance there and head to a lounge after that!

So these are my big 5. Going out without a plan can be great fun so long as you take a moment to figure out where is best to go next between clubs!

How to Fund your Nights out on the Town!

So you want to party, but you’re also on a budget – this applies to almost everyone these days, whether you are a uni student, and apprentice, a parent or a professional, we all want to have fun but we also want to get its at a good price.

Here are a few tips, in no particular order, which I’ve picked up over the years:

1: Know who is keen to party with you and where they like to go out.

This helps with getting the right offers at the right places and also gives you an idea of how many people you will be out with, which is always the first thing most service providers will want to know.

2: Eat & have pre drinks together at someone’s house.

This applies whether you are a struggling student or a high flying professional. Dinner at someone’s house with “pre drinks” allows you to get everyone together, formulate a great plan for the night and also save quite a few dollars on food & drinks once you are out & about

3: Designated Driver Rewards

Having designated drivers for your group will massively reduce cost for everyone and also keep your crew safe when they are out. Use big cars that can fit 5 people – this means that 80% of the group will be in full party mode. Also make friends with people who don’t drink – they are often happy to drive every single week! Finally, reward designated drivers from go to whoa. Make it clear that they pay for nothing all night and give them petrol money as well. Don’t say “ill pay you back by drinking next time. When you drive they will pay for your night out. This includes club entry, and even fast food at the end of the night.

4: Shop for Offers

When you know where all your people want to go, shop the venues to see what they offer of you come in as a group. A lot of bars & clubs will give you extra love if your organize a booking in  advance. Make a quick email template with how many people, what night and what time you want to go out and Google all the clubs, bars, pubs and other places ou want to go to. Get an email address and hit it up with your email template. Then just wait and see who responds with good offers, and let your crew know what offers are on the table for the big night out!

5: Let people shop you!

Join up to the communication channels that the venues you and your crew frequent use to market their wares. Join their membership database, their Facebook page and their twitter feed. Also subscribe to 3^rd party offer lists like groupon and living social. Scan the offers and when good ones come up, get involved.

6: Make a good impression and create personal ties

When you go out to venues that you and your crew really like, take the time listen to and speak with the staff there – whether it’s the manager, the hosts, the DJs or the security guards, make the time to chat and swap numbers with a few people at each place. You can then hit these people up next time you go out – they can often get you much better offers that what you will get as a member or via an email!