With warm weather and the week of Little 500 well under way, the urge to party becomes stronger. The necessity of putting your training from spring break to practice consumes your thoughts and homework becomes an afterthought. This feeling is normal; it’s called the will to darty (day party) and the will to rage.
Of course there will be plenty of parties and concerts to attend throughout the week, but for some that just isn’t enough. Some students want to take control of their future and throw their own party. The thought may be daunting, yet exciting, but don’t let this task overwhelm you. Throwing a Little 500 party can be simple if you follow the steps mentioned below.
The Nuts and Bolts
To begin with, it is vital to create a game plan before jumping into the purchasing stage headfirst. It is important to pick a date and time. While determining the date of the party, you should make sure it doesn’t conflict with any parties your friends are throwing. Conflicting parties will only decrease the amount of partiers at your own and decrease your party’s chance at success. Also, if the weather forecast predicts warm weather consider a darty. A darty is an almost sure-fire way to please all your guests with a full day event. I mean really, who doesn’t like a good day party? If you are planning on keeping your party during the night hours, consider starting around 10:30pm and expect people to show up around 11-11:30pm, but if you intend to darty plan on opening your doors around 2:00pm.
To Theme or Not To Theme
Typically, a night party consists of the theme “dress to impress” a.k.a wear your normal going-out gear, but the week of Little 500 is an important week and shouldn’t be doomed to normalcy. If you want to go all out consider some themes and try to forego the clichés. It is tempting to pick Cowboys and Indians or heaven and hell, but your friends have been there and done that. It is time to try something new. Some fun ideas can be “I’m glad I’m not”, where you dress up as something you’re glad you’re not, like 16 & pregnant or a BP executive, or try the seven deadly sins. Then again if you can’t think of anything new you can always go with the typical favorites like a rave or toga party. Although dartys aren’t usually themed you can tie in a theme to an activity. Beer Pong Olympics (if you are 21 of course) is a normal crowd pleaser and a fun daytime activity. Create a poster with brackets and start a tournament. To add incentive to play, reward the winning team with something fun or have everyone throw in money and the winning team can split it. If teams are known in advance they can even dress up together to give the party an extra element.
The Preparation
Once you have the basics planned out, the monetary investment comes next. As college students we are always on a budget which leaves you with two options: B.Y.O.B (bring your own booze) or provide it for the party. If you buy alcohol by the case or if you buy a keg it can be cheaper, also if you charge a few bucks at the door you can make your money back. Besides the alcohol, for the 21 and over crowd, chasers/mixers as well as cups are a staple for every party. There is no need to splurge at Kroger for name brands like Coke and Pepsi, head on over to K-Mart for some Faygo or another generic brand of soda. If you’re lucky and catch a sale you can get 12 bottles of soda, a couple hundred cups, and 200 Dixie cups all for under $30. Remember, think generic and sales to give your wallet a break.
Alerting The General Public
No party is complete without partiers. If there are no people, there is no party, simple as that. Before you start sending out invites and letting your friends know that you are throwing a party, think about how many people you want to come. It is vital that you inform everyone of the size of the party and how the guest list will work. If you want the party to stay small, make it an invite-only party or if you want to throw a giant rager with every space of your house filled, tell your friends to invite everyone they’ve ever met. Phone calls, texts, and bbms all work but the most efficient way to let your intended guests know is to create a Facebook event. Keep the name of the event short, sweet and informative. Add the word party or rager and the date to give people the general idea. If you want to keep the party small make the event private, but if you want a huge free-for-all rager keep the event public. Also, to reach an even greater amount of people, tweet about it.
Final Moments
Before you throw yourself into the fun, set out the Dixie cups, soda, and optional alcohol on a counter or table that is easily accessible and keep all doorways clear. If possible, move some furniture around to create a dance floor and set your playlist on loud. Keep all valuables locked away behind closed doors and extra rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom. Also, to try and prevent an extra mess, put a couple of garbage bags around the house and cross your fingers that your party-goers will know to put their garbage in it. Most importantly, while people are rummaging through your house, don’t forget to breathe and to enjoy yourself.
Now stop reading and get to it. Start planning your party and rage on.