20 Ridiculously Cool Theme Parties You Haven’t Thought To Try Yet

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Chances are, most of us have been to our fair share of typical theme parties: The Toga Party, the Ugly Christmas Sweater party, the Halloween Party. No matter how much you love them, you can only wear a sheet as a dress so many times before the prospect makes you reflexively respond “Not Going.” But that’s no reason to trade in themed events for boring, non-costumed gatherings for good. In partnership with Perrier–the perfect, sparkling refreshment for any kind of celebration–we bring you 16 ideas to bring your hosting game from basic to advanced.

1. Thrift Store Challenge

Before the party, everyone starts at a thrift store and gets exactly 10 minutes and $10 to find an outfit. Whatever they find, they have to buy and wear the entire night.

2. Rubik’s Cube

Everyone comes wearing as many colors as possible and switches pieces with each other in attempts to be a solid color. The first one to have a monochrome outfit wins.

3. Blacklight Party

Wear a white shirt, and be prepared to dance the night away under blacklights. Write and be written on with neon markers and look absolutely dashing.

Chris Waits Via / CC BY http://2.0 / flickr.com/photos/chriswaits/6879002011/
Chris Waits Via / CC BY http://2.0 / flickr.com/photos/chriswaits/6879002011/

Chris Waits Via / CC BY http://2.0 / flickr.com/photos/chriswaits/6879002011/

4. Grown-up Summer Camp

Head out to a park and do all the games and crafts everyone loved as a kid, but with an adult spin—for instance, DIY dream catchers or jewelry you can wear back in the real world. Pack a picnic of sparkling Perrier, fresh baguettes, and an assortment of sandwich fillers for people to make themselves.

5. Pun Party

Get rid of all the chairs. The party is for one night. It’s a…one-night stand. (Okay, fine, didn’t find that…punny enough?) In addition to having people dress up as their favorite puns, host timed contests in which people think of as many puns as they can within a given theme.

6. Classic Art

Everyone picks a famous painting and then chooses their clothes based on the color palette and design style. Everyone else has to guess which piece or artist inspired their outfits. If they guess wrong, they take a drink!

Stacie / CC BY http://2.0 / Via flickr.com/photos/35754040@N04/6590809549/
Stacie / CC BY http://2.0 / Via flickr.com/photos/35754040@N04/6590809549/

7. ‘Find The Alcohol’ Party

Bear with me for a moment and imagine this. You’re with your fellow partygoers. The host is nowhere to be seen. On the table where’d you expect to see drinks is a note with a clue. It leads to other clues scattered around the house for you to discover the hidden location of the alcohol. And where it’s hidden, well, that could be the secret party location.

8. Music Party

Either pick an artist (like Drake) or a genre (like classic rock) and have everyone dressed as a different song title within that category. Bonus points if they do karaoke to their song.

9. Dream Party

Come dressed as a representation of your most recent dream.

10. Mug Shots

M Yashna / CC BY http://2.0 /  flickr.com/photos/yashna13/16402298551/
M Yashna / CC BY http://2.0 / flickr.com/photos/yashna13/16402298551/

Bring your favorite mug–that’s the vessel you drink from the entire night. Take mug shots (you know, shots of liquor from your mug), or have your mug shot taken with a polaroid camera (as in, a photo with your mug). Add each photo to a wall after it’s taken.

11. Emoji Party

What’s your favorite emoji? Share it with the world! Heart sunglasses could substitute for heart eyes, or you could partner up and be the dancing twins.

12. Meme Party

Have everyone come as their favorite memes. They might have to do some explaining, but that’ll just give people more to talk about.

13. Dress As Your Drink

Everyone picks a different drink and comes dressed as the personification of that drink (so red wine might be a velvet dress and red lipstick, a whiskey drink might be an old-timey cowboy).

14. Witches And Wizards

Cast spells with glitter and concoct ‘potions,’ with dry ice. The person to come up with the best potion (ie. most delicious) wins.

15. Dear Diary

Lucia Luna / CC BY http://2.0 /  flickr.com/photos/lucialuna/16171573325/
Lucia Luna / CC BY http://2.0 / flickr.com/photos/lucialuna/16171573325/

Bring a diary or old essay from your younger days. Go around the room and read it aloud. It’ll be cathartic to laugh about it together.

16. Commodities Party

Everyone dresses as a different commodity (aluminum, copper, gold) and the host sets up games that determine each person’s value in the ‘stock market.’ To add an extra element, classic party fouls like knocking something over can contribute to your stock going down.

17. Pajama Party

It’ll be the most comfortable night anyone’s ever had. Pop popcorn and make hot cocoa to roll with the sleepover vibe.

18. Andy Warhol’s Factory

Channel the famous artist’s parties and cover every available surface with tinfoil. Play Warhol’s short films in the background and take some of your own.

19. TV Party

Have people over to watch a popular show, but go all out with the theme. Serve food that they eat on the show, have guests dress as characters, and do a around of trivia before the episode.

20. Double Trouble

Not quite ready to part with your favorite classic themes? Combine any two of them for one that’s much more interesting. Eighties Prom + Classic Westerns? Sure, why not. Celebrities + Zombies? Perfect! Thought Catalog Logo Mark

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