Abstract Nouns Party

Before I begin his party's description, I must define abstract noun.

Abstract Noun: states, events, qualities, etc., that have no physical existence.

This party is a costume party that requires a sound knowledge of grammar and a robust vocabulary. For this party, people should come dressed as abstract nouns. It must be emphasized that dressing as a concrete noun that embodies the abstract noun is inadvisable. Guests should dress as the noun itself. For example, if a guest is to dress as honesty, the guest should not come dressed as Abraham Lincoln. The guest should formulate some costume that would be what honesty looked like if you could see actual honesty.

As with any party, you first have to invite people. People should be invited well in advance so they have time to plan their costumes. Many of the less creative/more uptight guests may have trouble with this. As you decide when to send the invitations, keep these people in mind.

How you do the invitations depends on how you do the costumes. You can either decide to assign the attendees the abstract nouns or let them pick their own abstract nouns. If you are assigning nouns, send out an invitation that explains the concept of the party and ask them to RSVP. Let them know that once you receive their RSVP's, you will send them a notice telling them what abstract noun they are to dress as. Be careful to avoid doubling assignments. Another idea is to send an assignment with every invitation. Then you would not have to bother with RSVP's. If you are not assigning nouns, you can just send an invitation explaining the concept of the party to all those you plan to invite.

Once people arrive at the party, you can do anything you want: mix and mingle, BBQ, give awards, play games where people have to guess everyone's costumes, dance, etc. Because foods are not abstract, it may be difficult to theme your foods. However, it may be nice to decorate any sweets by writing abstract nouns on them. Also, somewhat formless or wiggly foods, like noodles and jello, seem oddly appropriate for this party.

If music is playing at the party, it would be a clever touch to play only songs that have abstract nouns in the title. This should be easy. However, you must be careful because nouns such as love and hate can also be verbs. You must be careful that no songs using abstract nouns as verbs appear on your playlist. This would be a detail no one would notice but you, but it would be satisfying to know you pulled all the stops.

Hat Party

Once again, another self-explanatory party. Basically, you have a party where everyone is required to wear at least one hat. I would also strongly encourage that dry foods such as chips and crackers be served in hats. If you have a hat that you think you could serve salsa or bean dip in, you can do that too.

People can receive hat awards as well. The following is a list of hat award ideas.

• Most practical hat
• Most impractical hat
• Wearing the most hats
• Most creative hat
• Best sports hat
• Best time period hat
• Heaviest hat

You could also have a moment at the party where someone gives a brief history of the hat. Or everyone could give one reason why they like hats.

As Americans, we wear many hats. We often take the hat for granted, so this party should remind us of how much the hat has become a part of American culture and society.