New Year’s Party in a Bar

If you’re celebrating New Year with your friends, why not consider going out and enjoy the party hosted by a bar? Large cities often celebrate their New Year with concerts and there are bars that will be open for the New Year party. Instead of spending on decorations at home, you and your friends can have fun with everyone else in a New Year party.

Sparkling Themed Party

For those who will be celebrating New Year at home with their family, think of a sparkling or a light theme.  New Year should put everyone on a light or happy mood so any dark material should be removed. If you will not have a theme for the party, focus on the light colors so there would be fun atmosphere for the party.

Food and Drinks

Compared to Thanksgiving where there’s Turkey as traditional food, you’re given an open hand on what to prepare for New Year. But make things a little special on the food by baking or ordering a cake that would commemorate the New Year. There are also foods believed to bring good luck for the New Year: pork, fish, legumes, greens and grapes are only some of the food that you can prepare as a sign of good luck.

New Year parties always involve alcohol. This is natural for adults but parents should make sure that their kids will not access this type of beverage. If you’re having kids in the party, prepare two separate places for drinks so that the alcoholic beverages will be separated.

Cleanup

Cleanup is always ignored by hosts and they end up their New Year cleaning up. Avoid this problem by preparing utensils that can be easily disposed or cleaned. Also, seek help for cleanup so that you can rest early on the first day of the year.

Sports Events

Watching a professional sports event could be an exhilarating experience and very simple to plan as professional events in large cities are very common. All it requires is advanced reservations and transportation in case the game is a bit far from the bachelor’s location. After the game, everyone could just proceed to the nearest bar and enjoy the night with drinks.

If attending sports events is already a regular event for the bachelor, make it extra special by booking a special transportation. Another idea to make it more interesting is to travel by plane to watch the bachelor’s favorite team on the road.

Bar Hopping

Another great idea for stag night with friends is to go on bar hopping. Rent a limousine and visit at least three or four bars in one night. Get in touch with the bars in advance so that a place would be reserved for the bachelor. You don’t want to arrive in a bar only to find out that’s already packed.

Since the party is expected to be drinking a lot, the driver should be familiar with the guests’ addresses. An option would be to inform the driver about the drop-off point or the place where everyone could stay for the night before going home the next day.

Surprise Stag Night Party

This requires some coordination with the bachelor’s friends and fiancée. Hold the party in a bar and ask his fiancée to reserve a date where you can surprise the bachelor. The rest would be easy as everyone could have fun drinking or playing a few beer games for the rest of the night. Just remember to have a designated driver or have someone in charge of calling the cab at the end of the night to prevent accidents.

Party Invitations

Avoid any boring design for your invitation by personally designing your invites. Here’s one idea: place the logos of every team your friends support. Print it out in a bookmark-shaped invitation to make it look like a ticket for a basketball game. Make sure you use high quality paper when printing the invitation or else your invitation will look really cheap. Distribute them at least two weeks ahead so that your friends could accommodate your invitation.

Party Decorations

Keep your decorations for your party simple but that doesn’t mean you’ll never have anything on the walls. Look for posters and banners of different NBA teams and strategically place them in different areas. Complement the decoration with some small basketball hoops. You could even have a game where you have a shooting contest using the small hoops you installed for the party.

You could also set-up your television so that you can show basketball videos. This is very ideal if your goal is to have your friends around to watch the game. This is even better if you have two television sets so that you have two televisions playing the same video. This will allow your friends to enjoy the game anywhere.

The Right Time for Party

Here’s the tricky part: since the game usually starts early in the evening, you also have an option to have a dinner party. But you can simplify things by letting your friends know that they bring something for everyone to enjoy. It could be beer, food or any other drinks. This will help cut costs without disappointing everyone.

With the right preparation and little creativity, you can have a fun NBA theme party with your friends. It doesn’t have to be expensive as you and your friends gather to enjoy the sport with little food and drinks on the side.

Favorite Sport and Activity

Popular party favors for adults in a retirement party are often based on the retiree’s favorite sport or activity. A good example is personalized golf balls, caps or small fishing rods. Personalization is simply done by engraving the retiree’s name on these items. Don’t worry about the rate – there are party providers that specialize on these items and they often provides discount on bulk orders. Engraving would require additional fee so you have to haggle a bit to get a better rate. You can also consider the favorite activities of the couple (if retiree is married). For example, you can give out passport holders if the couple is very interested in traveling.

Food and/or Drink Package

Don’t worry if you’re on a tight budget but still would like to give out some party favors. Instead of items, consider handing out food or drinks as party favors. Create a small gift basket and neatly wrap them as gifts. To make it personalized, choose the favorite food and drinks. You could give out tea or coffee packages or small bottles of wine depending on the retiree’s preferences. The only tricky part is on gift wrapping as you have to carefully arrange the gifts before wrapping them and handing them out to guests.

If you have some extra funds to spend on party favors, a good idea is to have these packages personalized. Don’t just limit yourself to some tea and drinks; have them personalized with customized pack. A popular party favor for adults are lemonade, tea or any drink packed with the name of the retiree. This can be used for different types of celebrations including retirement parties.

Add more life and memories to the party with the right party favors. The options are almost endless as long as you make sure these gifts will provide good memories for the retiree.

Variety is the Key

When you’re considering food carts, be sure to bring in a good variety of food, snacks and sweets. As much as possible, combine something to eat as snacks with sweets or dessert. For example, look for food carts for hotdogs, potato fries and cotton candy. Many food cart companies have extensive selection on what you can serve in your party. For example, if you want to have Mexican flavor you can have Tacos or Quesadilla.

Compare Rates for Food Carts

This is the tricky part when you’re considering food carts for your party. Talk to as many food cart companies as you can so that you can properly compare rates. The following are the questions you have to ask to these companies:

• Rate per cart – this includes how many servings they will provide per cart and their rate per hour.
• Rate for additional serving – when you have additional guests
• Transportation
• Personnel – the rate they will indicate might not include the person who will man the cart. Know this before agreeing to their terms so that someone will handle the cart while everyone enjoys the party.
• Decoration – as much as possible, the food cart you’ll rent for the party should have additional decoration so that it would coincide with the occasion.

Visit their Headquarters for Taste Test

You don’t just talk to the manager or owner to determine if they can provide the service you expect. As much as possible, have a taste test to make sure they prepare the food well. Also take a look at the cart to make sure they look clean and safe especially for kids. It’s a little precaution but ensures that everyone will enjoy the party.

What is LAN?

For the non-techies, LAN is Local Area Network. It’s not online connection but a network is set-up so that each computer will be part of the same network that could send and receive data. There are many LAN-based games which often pits two or more groups against each other.

A LAN Party?

A LAN party is basically a more detailed version compared to parties that revolve around console games. Instead of using a single console, those who come to the party show up with their laptops so that they can be part of the game. Others who didn’t have the required gadgets can also come but they are just spectators of the game.

The best part about LAN party is that guests would often end up sitting in front of their laptops and would not move much. As a host, all you can do is to set-up the necessary ports where they can connect. This is where it gets really technical but it doesn’t mean you need to have to be an expert in computers. An average computer gamer is familiar with this concept and can set-up the network fast. As a parent, you can also get instruct your teenager to contact their guests to help set-up the network. Aside from configuration, it’s also important to take care of the power source. Never allow a power set-up with octopus connection or too many interconnections of power cords.

Recommended Food and Beverage

Food and drinks during a LAN party is not the biggest concern of the guests but it could create a better atmosphere where there is food. There is one thing you have to remember though: the guests would be on their computers so they need to have a drinking cup, glass or bottle that will not spill fast or food that will not stick to their hands. As much as possible, prepare bottled water or sodas with containers that can be resealed.

Music is not even a requirement in this type of party unless there are guests who are just there to watch the games. The sounds of their computers should be more than enough to create a fun atmosphere in a LAN party. The players will practically set-up the party – you just have to bring out the right food and beverages.

The Food, Atmosphere and Set-up

Grilled food is always popular in a backyard party. But think outside the box since there are always salads and some sandwiches and even some home cooked meals for everyone to enjoy. Think of it as an afternoon snacks – anything that you have prepared in the past could be prepared but only in large numbers.

To properly set-up the food, it’s strongly suggested to have it placed in a shaded area. Although the food will just stay there for a few hours, it’s important that you keep it as fresh as possible. If you have veggies on the table, it could be easily ruined with too much heat.

Thinking of After Party Clean-up

But a successful backyard party is not just on what you have started – it is also based on how you end and clean after it. As a party, it is expected that there would be some mess left behind. However, too much mess after the party takes the fun away for the hosts. Instead of reminiscing to the events of the party, you end up thinking on how to fix or clean things in your backyard.

In the backyard set-up, have a place for the guests where they can place their utensils, bottles and garbage. They should be placed in a strategic area where everyone can see them. You have to make sure that they do not bother your guests or else they will lose their appetite.

Night Backyard Party – Survivor Style

You can also use some of the already mentioned ideas for a night party in your backyard. Add some pizzazz to the party by setting up at least four tall torches distributed in four corners of the backyard. Of course, the exact number still depends on the size of the backyard.

So go out a bit when you’re planning to host a party. You and your guests can have fun in the backyard and have an easy clean-up after the party.