Mothballs

The idea is simple and inspired by The Moth.

This party is best held in the winter time and in a room with a fireplace. Drinks such as Italian Sodas and/or sparkling ciders should be served. Small hor'doerves can also be served. These should be placed on a table like a buffet.

Guests are also required to wear the ugliest and oldest sweaters they can find. They should also be told to be prepared to tell a real-life story about a theme. For example, you could tell guests to come prepared to tell a story about Firsts or about Birds.

The living room should be well lit with all chairs facing the fireplace. (If you have no fireplace, just have them all facing the same direction.) When all or most guests have arrived, begin the storytelling by standing in front of the fireplace and announcing that the storytelling will now begin. You should tell your own story first to break the ice. Then invite others to come tell their stories. If no one volunteers, begin chanting someone's name to encourage them to go up to the front.

After everyone who is willing has shared their stories, guests should vote for their favorite stories. Once all votes have been cast, guests can mingle while you count the votes. After the votes are counted, announce the winter and give the winner a great prize such as a pie or a box of mothballs.

Avocado party

The Avocado themed party is pretty self explanatory.

Dress in Avocado green. Dress up like a lawyer (french joke). Serve avocado in every way you can think of.

Everyone brings either 1. an avocado based dish or 2. an avocado.

You don't need to play games because everyone will be too busy eating:

-avocado shakes

-avocado pound cake

-guacamole

-avocado chocolate cake

-avocado tomato sandwiches

-all things avocado

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.

Social Experiment Party

This is more of a social experiment than a party. But here's the idea.

Invite a lot of people over that either you or others you invite have had bad break-ups, ongoing fights, general hatred toward each other etc. Then see what happens when they all show up at the same party. Make sure you take copius notes of the happenings and maybe even place some hidden cameras.

Of course, you wouldn't want to advertise this as a social experiment. Just tell everyone you're getting a group of people together for a chill game night. The actual playing of games would yield great awkward/tense moments.

This wouldn't necessarily be a fun night. But it would be an interesting and eye opening night. Maybe some people could even resolve their problems or get back together!

Bobby Jindal Party

Bobby Jindal is the governor of Louisiana. He is a man who deserves a party in his honor. I have come up with at least three (3) variations of a Bobby Jindal party.

Variation 1:

Bobby Jindal Appreciation Party

The credit for this goes to Lauren Golds and her friends at UCSC. Basically, you decorate with a Bobby Jindal theme. Pictures of him go on the wall. Watch videos of his speeches (he was the republican reply to Obama's address to Congress on February 24, 2009). Eat American foods, like hamburgers and hot dogs, because those are Jindal's favorites. Since he's the governor of Louisiana, any Louisiana-themed activities are appropriate. Republican and political themed things are also appropriate.

Variation 2:

Bobby Jindal Volcano Party

Bobby Jindal once spoke out about Government spending and how outrageous it has become. He cited, in particular, volcano monitoring.

Recently, a volcano in Iceland has erupted and caused all kind of chaos with airlines in Northern Europe. People were literally stuck in cities across Europe because no flights were coming in or out of airports.

Thus, a Bobby Jindal Volcano Party would be themed around Jindal's coincidental speech! The theme is more or less the same as the above party, but with Volcanoes added in! Make it a more tropical theme, or even an Icelandic theme. Watch Jindal's speech about volcano monitoring spending. A fun game would be to try and predict what else seems like wasteful government spending, but could possibly become a relevant and useful cause!

Variation #3:

Bobby Jindal and Kenneth the Page Party

If you don't know Kenneth the Page (from the hit comedy show, 30 Rock), then I suggest watching more TV before you throw a party. Not just this one, but any party.

Bobby Jindal and Kenneth the Page share many similar qualities, and this party would celebrate their similarities (and even their subtle differences!).

Watch 30 Rock episodes that center on Kenneth, and some of Jindal's speeches. Play a game where you read quotes from things each has said, and the guests have to guess which man said which quote! The results may be hilariously shocking.

All of these variations are quite similar, and indeed, one could even throw a more general Bobby Jindal party with all of these elements combined! Either way, Bobby Jindal is proof that politicians deserve parties, too.

Eurovision party

A Eurovision party probably isn't all that unique. At least, not if you are in Europe.

The concept of this party is Eurovision, the European Song Contest. Ideally, it would involve watching Eurovision live(the 25, 27, and 29th of May in 2010). This feat may be difficult in the United States, however. Thus, as a substitute, watching clips of Eurovision entries and simulating the voting process would be the ideal replacement.

Each country that submits an entry has a band or singer to represent them. Different song styles win, from the Herrey's Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley to Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah. Each country is also represented by a judge, and each judge can vote up to 12 points (12 given to the favorite song).

To recreate the Eurovision experience, each guest should represent a different country and place their votes.

Another version of this party is the "Best of Eurovision" party. In this one, the entries for a particular year aren't chosen, but rather classic Eurovision entries. Guests then vote for which entry is their favorite in the same 12-point system.

Guests representing particular countries should try to dress like that culture, and if the party is given pot-luck style, bring a dish from that country's cuisine. If not pot-luck style, or if thrown together last minute, the host can provide national props and food from various Eurovision countries' cuisine.

Another fun activity, or perhaps another riff on the Eurovision party in itself, is Eurovision Karaoke.

Here is a song that most people probably don't know was a Eurovision winner back in the day:

And here are some examples of classic Eurovision songs: