The holidays are a great time to create new memories, while reminiscing on old ones, which is why it’s the perfect time of the year to get friends and families together! It can be difficult to get a large group of people together with conflicting schedules, but throwing your own party can be the dream reunion waiting to happen, especially themed parties.
Themed parties are a great, easy way to make the event exciting, and memorable! Themes give people a chance to get excited and engage in the celebratory spirit together. Fellow students mention why they like themed parties so much!
“Themed parties are fun because I get to dress up all throughout the year, not just on Halloween!” says senior Jaimee Saracen. Kara Hunt, also a senior, mentions she prefers themed parties to non themed parties because they are “not typical.”
The Main Event Company, an Atlanta-based event-planning group attributes the theme to be an important part of any event, “For most events and parties, the fun, the atmosphere, and the memories revolve around a theme.”
Going along with the seasonal motif, one of the quickest themed parties to put together is a winter wonderland themed party. Quick tip, it’s always easier to correlate themed parties with the seasons. Why you may ask?
Decorations, food, drinks, attire, music and location require little time and effort in the planning process! For example, stores everywhere are stocking up with holiday decorations, foods, music and activities, not to mention the amazing sales everywhere too! After this article, you’ll be able to set up your dream winter wonderland themed party in no time. Now, let’s get started!
As I mentioned before, there are basically four crucial aspects to throwing the perfect party: decorations, location, food/drinks, and music. For starters, there has to be a time and place for this party to take place. A house, whether it’s your own house or another family or friend’s house, is a cheap, effective location for a party. If no one is willing to run the risk of throwing a party at their own home, don’t fret. There are many other locations out there that will work out perfectly at a reasonable price. Some examples of affordable locations are hotels and VFW venues. A typical four hour night with a cash bar at the VFW in Deal, NJ is anywhere from $800-$1000, depending on the amount of people attending. Friday and Saturday evenings are a good time to throw the party because more people are off from work and/or school.
Next step in throwing the perfect winter wonderland party is decorations! You want people to be mesmerized when they walk in, and really feel as if they are walking into a winter wonderland. Silver, gold, blue, and white are common color themes to incorporate into the winter theme, matching is key. Plastic silverware, table cloths, plates, cups, napkins, serving bowls, and ultimately any item you plan on purchasing for the party should be a combination of all of those four colors, or some of them.
Lights can also spruce up a venue instantly! Remember, stay with the four winter themed colors, and it will enhance the accents of the rest of the party beautifully. Some great finishing touches to add to the place are, hanging snowflakes, splashes of sequins and fake snow, ribbons, ornaments, flowers in vases, metallic garland, and any other items that you feel would correlate great with the rest of theme!
These decorations can be purchased ultimately at any party store such as Party City, or Party Fair and on online stores such as partycheap.com and iparty.com. These decorations can range anywhere from, $1 for the snowflakes (partycheap.com) to $10 for a 21 foot string of white lights at Party City.
A winter-themed party under my estimations may range anywhere from $50-$100, of course size of venue and party permitting. These decorations can also be reused and recycled for holiday decorations in your home, or for another themed party!
Now onto the food and drinks! Because this is a themed party, it makes it exciting for guests to indulge themselves in foods and drinks that relate with the theme. There are basically two ways to prepare the food at a party, a buffet style, or a set meal for each guest.
For this specific theme, I would encourage a buffet; it allows more creativity of the food and drinks being served and range of options for guests of the party to indulge in. Do you want guests to have finger foods, or a buffet style of meals? Quick finger foods can be purchased at wholesale stores such as Costco, or BJ’s at a reasonable price.
Some fun foods and drinks that can be made incorporating the theme are holiday treats such as, candy-canes, cookies, cakes, etc! There are many available holiday recipes on foodnetwork.com and allrecipes.com!
Music can range anywhere from a live-band and DJ, to a speaker system playing CD’s or an iPod playing your favorite tunes! There are so many DJ companies available in the Monmouth County, especially students that DJ part-time like Christopher Spirito. A speaker system can work just as well at a more affordable price, and many websites online have a variety of holiday play-lists, free of cost! Music is a great way to get the party started and moving along!
Now onto the final step, the appropriate attire guests should show up in! For this theme the attire can go one of two ways, formal or fun! If you want the event to be more upscale and formal, have guests dress for a black tie/formal event!
If you want the event to be more targeted as “fun,” have guests dress up in holiday-styled apparel. For example, guests can show up in Santa hats, reindeer ears, or wear clothing with holiday sayings/pictures, etc! It’s up to you!
Jessica Lustman a senior, likes when themed parties are targeted as “fun.” “I like to dress up funny at themed parties because it’s a good ice-breaker for other guests at the party to ask what I am, and discuss our themed outfits together,” says Lustman. When figuring out the appropriate attire for the party just makes sure to inform guests prior to the event!
I’ll end this article with some great advice. Themepartiesnmore.com states, when throwing a themed party, “Whether that theme is as general as a season or a feeling, or as specific as a special flower, it should be the subtle thread that ties everything together. Your location, invitations, flowers, menu, cake, and favors should all cleverly reflect one common concept. Then, get as creative as you can!” Don’t let the stress or weather of the holidays prevent you from getting together with your friends!
PHOTO COURTESY of georgiawatsonevents.com
