Find THE theme for your next party

Find THE theme for your next party

Theme par­ties are a must for any event plan­ners. Even if themes and con­cepts evolve with the trends over the years, themed par­ties are time­less! It is up to you to mas­ter all aspects of it to plan an unfor­get­table par­ty for your guests. Here are some tips to find the right theme for you, and to pur­sue all your ideas!

Con­tents

  1. Find the per­fect theme
  2. Design and rule
  3. Cos­tumes
  4. Theme music
  5. Serv­ing food and drinks
  6. Organ­ise activities
  7. Cus­tomise tick­et­ing and booking

1. Find the perfect theme

Before rush­ing head­strong into the search for the per­fect theme, we rec­om­mend you analyse the com­mon­al­i­ties between all your guests. 

  • What brings you together? 
  • What are your com­mon passions? 
  • Do you have shared dreams? 

You can also ask your guests to sug­gest themes — organ­ise a vote and choose the most pop­u­lar theme. This allows you to involve your guests in the thought process. They will there­fore be more excit­ed for the par­ty, espe­cial­ly when it comes to dress­ing up and help­ing you with the prepa­ra­tions. To help you find the per­fect theme, we have divid­ed the themes into 3 categories.

Classical themes

It is very like­ly that you have already attend­ed or even orga­nized “clas­sic” themed evenings. In many cas­es, the organ­is­ers of clas­sic themed evenings favour a good prepa­ra­tion and atmos­phere, rather than an in-depth search for ideas. This may be a good option, but be care­ful not to make your guests feel like they have déjà-vu. 

So, look for ideas on Google and Pin­ter­est or event Chat­G­PT. There is no lack of choice! Here is a short list of clas­sic themes: 

  • Car­ni­val
  • Black & white
  • Famous cou­ples
  • Trav­el in time
  • Paja­ma
  • Super­heroes
  • Beach/holidays
  • Roar­ing years

Also, take inspi­ra­tion for your theme from the cul­tur­al events of the month. In Feb­ru­ary, it makes sense to organ­ise a Valen­tine’s Day par­ty, and in March, you can opt for a Saint Patrick­’s Day par­ty, for example.

Original themes

If you have more time to devote to your theme research, or if you want to make your evening total­ly unfor­get­table for your guests, you are free to look for a more orig­i­nal or eccen­tric theme. To do this, think about the com­mon­al­i­ties that bring you togeth­er and are spe­cif­ic to you. You can also mix two themes to cre­ate a new one. Give free rein to your imag­i­na­tion, to your wildest ideas. Do what you’ve always dreamed of! You can find inspi­ra­tion for orig­i­nal themes in music videos, movies or TV shows, in Face­book events, or even on Instagram!

Avant-garde themes

You dream about find­ing a theme that no one else could have thought of? Your quest has only just begun! In this case, don’t look for inspi­ra­tion on Google, Face­book or Insta­gram because it could block your imag­i­na­tion and lead you to themes you’ve already seen. Trust your ideas, pas­sions, and deter­mi­na­tion. You will need a lot of it to com­plete this project. Organ­is­ing an evening with an avant-garde theme, pur­su­ing your ideas, and moti­vat­ing your guests to fol­low you into this mad­ness requires effort… but it’s worth it! If you suc­ceed in your mis­sion, all your guests will remem­ber it for the rest of their lives. Give it a shot! 

2. Design and rule

Atmos­phere design and dec­o­ra­tion are crit­i­cal ele­ments of any themed par­ty because they set the mood as soon as your guests arrive. Some­one enter­ing a par­ty where the atmos­phere instant­ly immers­es them in the theme will imme­di­ate­ly feel the excite­ment. It will encour­age them to socialise, laugh, and dance! This is also a way to show your guests you have made extra efforts to design an event that will please them and ensure that they have a great time. 

Dec­o­ra­tion and over­all atmos­phere also allow your cos­tumed guests not to feel uncom­fort­able. This can hap­pen when guests arrive in a themed par­ty where the atmos­phere does not match their expec­ta­tions — too seri­ous, not immer­sive enough, etc. Dec­o­rate like a pro and your guests will con­sid­er you the king of themed parties!

3. Costumes

A themed par­ty with­out cos­tumes is like a Fer­rari with­out an engine! Guests are the most vis­i­ble ele­ments of a par­ty. They are, in a way, part of the decor. In addi­tion, dis­cus­sions and jokes about cos­tumes are key to a suc­cess­ful themed par­ty — they will cre­ate a cheer­ful and friend­ly atmos­phere, con­ducive to social­is­ing. A themed par­ty with­out cos­tumes would there­fore take away from the desired atmos­phere. Guests may even for­get the ini­tial theme.

To get your guests to par­tic­i­pate, give them cos­tume ideas or a list of places to rent/buy them. Reas­sure the shy among them and most of all…set an exam­ple! Feel free to show some ele­ments of your cos­tume before the par­ty. Your guests will want to dis­cov­er it and even do bet­ter than you!

Tip: Take pic­tures through­out the evening to keep mem­o­ries. You can also leave a Polaroid at the dis­pos­al of your guests. They will hap­pi­ly take pic­tures of them­selves and each other!

4. Theme music

Stay con­sis­tent with your theme and adapt the sound­track of your evening. Be care­ful not to be too strict in your musi­cal choic­es. Broad­cast­ing a sin­gle musi­cal theme through­out the evening can be bor­ing for your guests. Vary­ing and bal­anc­ing musi­cal styles at cer­tain times of the evening will bring a fresh and dynam­ic touch.

If you have cho­sen to use a DJ, agree before­hand that he will play music from his reper­toire in accor­dance with your choic­es. You can also sub­mit ideas and playlists to him.

In case you don’t have a DJ, pre­pare your playlists ahead of the par­ty and ask your guests for 2 to 5 songs they would like to hear at the par­ty. This will help you put all the chances on your side and sat­is­fy every­one’s tastes.

5. Serving food and drinks

A full buf­fet means a suc­cess­ful evening! Beyond cre­at­ing a link between your theme and your food and drinks, add fun details for your guests: 

  • Give names to your cock­tails, and add colour­ing to be com­plete­ly on theme — e.g. blood red for Hal­loween, rain­bow for a neon themed evening.
  • Get inspi­ra­tion from recipes on pop­u­lar YouTube chan­nels. Favour buf­fets because you will not have to man­age any ser­vice, and you can sat­is­fy every­one by offer­ing sev­er­al types of dishes. 
  • Involve your guests by invit­ing them to bring a dish each, while stay­ing with­in the theme. 
  • Add culi­nary dec­o­ra­tion when prepar­ing the table — food colour­ing, fruit pieces, coloured spices, etc.

6. Organise activities

Dur­ing a themed par­ty, activ­i­ties allow guests to meet and socialise. They will immerse them in the theme of the evening. It is also an oppor­tu­ni­ty to intro­duce them to new activ­i­ties. All the ele­ments men­tioned above can be part of an activ­i­ty: cos­tume com­pe­ti­tions, blind tests, karaoke, blind tast­ings… Be creative!

7. Manage attendees

Whether your themed par­ty is free or not, you can set up a tick­et office, even cre­at­ing a min­isite, spe­cif­ic to your event and cus­tomis­able. This will immerse your guests in the atmos­phere before the evening even begins… because it is nev­er too ear­ly to raise the temperature!

Thus, cus­tomise your tick­et­ing or reg­is­tra­tion mini-site by adding images in line with your theme. For instance, for a Hal­loween par­ty you can’t avoid pump­kins and spi­der­webs. Immerse your guests in your theme as soon as they reg­is­ter, and you’ll be sure they will play the game on the day of the event! 

Pur­sue your ideas by using your theme in your tick­et design! For a par­ty with friends, sur­prise and enter­tain your guests by print­ing their tick­ets as if it was a pro­fes­sion­al event!

Have you found your theme? Are you close? Start organ­is­ing your par­ty and dis­cov­er all the ben­e­fits of Weezevent’s solu­tions for tick­et­ing and reg­is­tra­tion, access con­trol, cash­less pay­ment and mar­ket­ing tools.

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