Let's Party

Here are some party ideas I've been kicking around because dressing up and having drinks is a guaranteed good time in my book.

Wes Anderson party: This auteur's films are so highly stylized that it's easy to plan out all of the quirky hats, glasses, and vintage costumes required to take on the persona of your favorite character. For this costume party, invites are printed using yellow Futura bold, and food and drink mentioned in his films is served (with easy to find and print labels from the Internet). I want to give a big high-five to Jefferson and Val for inspiring this idea by showing up at a party once with Mendel's pastries they made using a recipe inspired by The Grand Budapest Hotel and my former student Sarah, who had a Wes Anderson themed birthday with a yellow tent and everything. 'Cause that's the kind of thing Wes Anderson fans do.

My film classes studied four of Anderson's movies, and we celebrated the end of the semester with a Wes Anderson party of our own; these are the menu items we came up with:

Rushmore

Something with honey (Rushmore bee keepers)

Sandwiches – tuna or pb&j

The Royal Tenenbaums

Cheeseburgers

Butterscotch ice cream

Dalmatian mice cookies

Candy cigarettes

Chips (not stolen)

Tic-Tacs

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Mrs. Bean’s famous nutmeg apple gingersnap cookies

Apples

Apple cider

Chicken (nuggets?)

Grape juice boxes

Blueberries

Moonrise Kingdom

Beef jerky

Bob Dylan party: Celebrate Dylan's Nobel prize by hosting a party where everyone dresses up as a character from one of his songs. We spent many a night out drinking with friends imagining what these costumes would look like. I found this and this that could help narrowing down the selection.

Throwback party: A happy hour with girlfriends this summer led us to uncover that one member of the group, during a particularly intense period of rebellion in college, had dreadlocks. We giggled, demanded pictures, and said how marvelous it would be to see Dreadlock Betsy. This inspired an idea for a costume party where you come dressed as a version of your former self. Bringing an inspiration photo of yourself at that age is highly encouraged. Now, aren't you glad you hung on to your favorite oversized J. Crew plaid shirt from 1995? I am.

Decade party: My friend Jenn had a costume party for her husband's milestone birthday by inviting everyone to dress up in clothes from the decade he was born. This party also gave me an occasion to wear an '80s warmup I bought from a fundraiser for my old field hockey team, and that is just plain rad.

Holiday charity party: Each Christmas we have a party with friends, and the huge gag gift parties we had pre-kids have been honed down to a small group of our closest friends; each couple gets spiffed up and brings a gift that is put into a silent auction, and bidding takes place during the first two hours of the party. All money is donated to our favorite local charity, so it's a win-win for all involved. Bidding gets hilariously competitive as the night, and number of drinks we've had, ticks away.

Pirate party: My last party suggestion is one that includes the kiddies. Each summer my mom hosts a pirate party at her beach house. Everyone dresses up, we hide a treasure chest on the beach that the kids have to find by following a treasure map, and we feast on a low country boil. Our kids are still little enough that they believe there are pirates who leave you toys on the beach, and we stifle laughter every time they see a boat on the horizon and think it's a pirate ship.

Feel free to add your own imagined or realized party themes in the comments.

Looking for more party ideas? How about a pop-up dinner party?