By Laura Rancie.
You either love to be invited to a party, or you love hosting a party - I’m in camp B. I LOVE the planning process, from creating imaginative ways to invite friends to the small details that come together on the night. Read on for some of the most memorable parties I’ve hosted, how you can recreate them at home and my top tips:
COACHELLA MUSIC FESTIVAL:
Let’s start with the Coachella Festival party for my birthday, where I hired a live musician, made VIP lanyards for all guests as they walked in, had a frozen Margarita machine churning out cocktails, talked my husband into making a teepee out of leftover bamboo on our property, created a cutesy ‘venue map’ as the official invitation and made sure every single guest knew they had to dress up ‘music festival’-style.
It was going to be epic. The hair and nail bar set up in the lounge for guests to get their glitter on was looking amazing and the tapas bar was ready! So, how did it go? Well, precisely 30 minutes after said start time, the Gold Coast's largest storm to hit in years smashed its way through our property, forcing on-the-spot changes. It was still a great night.
TOP TIPS:
I researched a lot of festivals, created a vision board and tried to get the essence of what a festival would feel like, at home. Festivals are fun, bright and vibrant - people have lanyards. VIP sections and live music. I then had direction on what was needed to pull this off.
COCKTAIL AND GAMES:
Another fun party was a couples-only cocktail and games night.
With so many great cocktail accessories available, I wanted a fun night off without the kids. I headed to the shops and got an assortment of liquors and non-alcoholic varieties, dried orange and lemon slices, mini paper umbrellas and a new set of cocktail shakers.
I found a bunch of great recipes on the AGFG website (thanks to our brilliant Editor) from a fruit daiquiri to a lychee martini, pomegranate potion and my favourite, a limoncello Margarita. In the leadup, I had asked every couple to privately message me two fun facts about themselves that no one else may know. It was really fun getting to know my friends in this way.
I then collated a 'Guess the Friend' quiz for the games night. Given the age demographic of our friends, I also put together a collection of 1-second clips of all our favourite songs from growing up in the 80s where even though you may intimately know every lyric to the song, hearing it out of context for a short interval, you’ll seriously be thrown off.
There were a few more games on the night, but it was a great way to get to know friends better and see their competitive side.
TOP TIPS:
Having both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options is a great idea these days.
VAMPIRE MURDER MYSTERY DINNER:
This one has gone down as the favourite. Each guest received a hand-delivered paper box with a small glass vile of ‘blood’ and a dagger as the invitation. Included in the box was their character description for the night. Depending on their role, they were to dress up as a vampire or a mere mortal.
In the leadup, I ordered empty plastic ‘blood’ bags that look like they’re from the hospital but are intended to be filled with cordial. I remembered I had a skeleton lying around from past Halloweens, so ordered a fabric pop-up coffin and laid him out on it on the dining table.
The house was full of smoke from a smoke and light machine and I had a lot of fun downloading ‘vampire-themed’ songs on Spotify. Seriously – it’s a thing! Look it up.
As guests arrived, I turned off all lights, lit up what seemed like 100 tealight candles, put on the creepy organ vampire music and pumped up the smoke. We had so much fun with a long dinner by the pool and ancient-looking paper menus on everyone’s plate. The table decoration was set up with black petals, a burgundy tablecloth and lots of vampire paraphernalia.
A total success that I’d like to recreate, albeit with a different murder mystery theme, each year.
TOP TIPS:
For a murder mystery, go all out! Hire props, borrow decorations and make things. You can never have too much for this type of party.
HOW TO PULL IT OFF:
- Plan ahead really well. There is so much available on the internet regarding weird and wonderful decorations and things to hire - but these take time to find and get delivered.
- Think out of the box for the invite. If the invitation is creative, mysterious or fun, guests will be more inclined to be super excited in the leadup.
- Research. Research. Research. The attention is really in the details. Think of music, what theme is your party and how can the music match? Do your guests know each other and how long have they known each other? Can you create fun ways for interaction?
- Food. Everyone loves eating and drinking, so plan that portion well. Create a theme around the food or assign each person a certain dish so it all fits together. Create mini versions of your fave dish (i.e. individual nacho cups) if tapas style, or bring a few tables together for a sit-down dinner and decorate the entire table with ornaments that fit your theme. Your centrepiece can be as imaginative as you let it.
