Party Planning - What’s It All About

You now know who the party is for, so the next big question is, “what’s it about?” If it’s a particular occasion – birthday, graduation, Superbowl party – you already know the answer to this question, so your work is partly done, and you can probably move right on to execution.

On the other hand, if you just want to have a party, large or small, and there is no particular holiday or specific occasion – then really you are creating your own occasion from scratch, and you will need to flesh it out, if only a little.

For instance, for our summertime Elvis-Blue Hawaii tiki party – we know our theme, we have a rough idea of what the food and drink should be to match that theme, and that we want to entertain 50-60 friends. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out a few of my earlier blog entries!)

So what’s important here? Our house is a bungalow with a galley kitchen, so obviously we don’t want a shindig this size indoors – we can safely say that we want to throw most of this party in our back front, and side yards. With the kitchen limitation, we know we will not be cooking for 5 dozen people in there, so we will be 1) Making the party into a BBQ, and 2) Pulling cooking help and food contributions from friends who will be there, as well as ordering out a dish or two.

We have a bar in our basement, and the basement communicates with the backyard, so the needs to be cleaned out beforehand, as it will clearly see use. What else … well, we’ve already established that we will be making vintage tropical libations, so a whole lotta drinkin’s going to happen. Our bar is well-stocked, but do we have enough booze for 50-60 people? Not bloody likely; we know how our friends drink – so for those not helping in the kitchen, we’ll need to ask people to bring bottles to contribute to the bar. And, we'll have half a dozen or so cots ready for those who need to crash.

Given our party idea, we will also need a few special things to set the tone. The basics include:

• 50’s-early 60’s music, preferably rockabilly, and laced with plenty of songs by The King.
• This is a Hawaiian-themed party, so decent quality, polyester flower leis will really help set the mood here. I’ll discuss a few more of the benefits of interactive party decor in an upcoming post.
• To draw the guests into the theme, we will have a costume contest, with attractive, but not-too-serious prizes. Wearing something special does alot to set the tone, build excitement, and break the ice among the guests -- if most of them are dressed up in a way not usual to them, and then you drop a lei over their heads, odds are the make-believe element of the occasion will take over to some extent, and they will be more open and engaging socially, even to other guests they do not know so well.
  
  
  "When pompous people squelch me
  With their regal attributes
  It cheers me to imagine
  How they'd look in bathing suits.
  

  
  

But I diverge -- suffice it to say that whoever invented party hats was a freakin' genius. 

Anyway, hopefully it is apparent that answering the basic questions up front – who’s it for (us and our friends), and what’s it about (Elvis/retro summertime tiki party) has allowed us, with a few commonsense questions, to quickly establish to a very great extent what the party is going to look like, and what provisions we need to make. 

Enough for now - I'm thirsty.

Blue Hawaii (recipe from Beachbum Berry Remixed, and scaled up for a large pitcher or punchbowl)

24 oz unsweetened pineapple juice

12 oz sweet and sour mix (storebought tastes like lemon furniture cleanser smells - recipe to follow)

18 oz vodka

9 oz blue curacao

1 oz heavy cream

Chill ingredients before mixing,  then let sit in the punchbowl for an hour with a large block of ice (not crushed ice or cubes, they'll melt too fast and the punch will become watery and unappealing). Stir again well, and serve.

Sweet and Sour Mix (from the el paso chile company margarita cookbook, by W. Park Kerr)

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar, and gently heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Transfer to a glass container with a tight fitting lid, and let sit open until the syrup cools. Stir in the juices, cover tightly, and refrigerate to chill before using. This drink base can be kept 1 week in the refrigerator, or about a month in the freezer.