The Importance of Bling

Well, our order of blue faux flower leis for the Blue Hawaii party arrived yesterday from Oriental  Trading Company, so that previous post where I made a possibly cryptic reference to leis, and the notion of decorating one's guests being preferable to decorating one's home, came drifting back to mind.

So ... Ok - sure, you're having a big party, and there will be some house and/or yard decorations. However, consider this: If instead of lashing out the big bucks at, say, your luau, on one or two big fresh tropical floral arrangements for the table, what about instead putting the same money towards adorning your guests? Real flowers would cost too much to do this for all of them, but my contention is that decent quality fake flower leis is a better investment than those fresh, impressive-looking floral arrangements on the buffet table. Why?

1) Putting stuff on your guests helps them relax, let go, and get in the party mood. I already noted this in an earlier post -- it works wonders for livening up an event. Greet each guest at the door (in this case) with a lei and a kiss on the cheek, and you have just washed away the workaday world, and admitted them to a much better one.

2) Using the same example - floral arrangements vs. leis on your guests -- consider this. A floral arrangement on the buffet table is static. If your guests are in a space other than the room or portion of the yard containing that table, the investment in those flowers is temporarily nullified, because the party is happening somewhere else.

Personal decorations that your guests can wear, and that you have cleverly distributed as door prizes, on the other hand, are probably on the people you gave them too -- so if you have put leis on your guests, the decor is literally moving with the party . Wherever the party is really happening, there will also be the highest percentage of your decorating dollars. From a host's standpoint, what could be more effective than that? I'm using leis at a tropical party as an easy example, but any number of items could fill this role. For instance, an exuberantly garnished drink is not just a drink, its a decoration and a conversation piece too,  as long as the imbibing guest is walking around with it -- so bring on those paper parasols, plastic monkeys, orchids, and fruit kabobs! Clip-on handlebar mustachios, felt pirate hats ... the list is practically limitless.

3) Back to those leis. For many decorations - not so much big floral arrangements, as they eventually die, become unseemly-looking, and have to be thrown away -- after the party, you're stuck storing them, and may never use them again. Not the case in our lei example -- instead, each guest has a fun memento of the party that they get to take with them. So after the party, the portable decor you gave your guests to wear is STILL working for you -- it started by helping break the ice and create a party mood, it continued during the party to decorate whatever place at your event your guests were hanging out ... and now that the party is over, its reminding them of the great time they had -- and who knows, they might use it again themselves for something else.

Decorating your guests is an excellent investment, any way you look at it.

There's nothing like quite like wearing something unusual on your head for kickstarting that party mood!