It has been a very long time since the failsafe formula for organising and hosting a party was to simply assemble a happening playlist, prepare the buffet, and make sure the chosen venue (whether a gleaming corporate venue, or even just someone’s home) looked the part.
Today, it probably feels to many of us like party planning has become a much more complicated and even specialised task, whether we are organising a wedding reception, the office Christmas party, or even a big bash to celebrate the launch ofour company’s latest product.
So, let’s take a look at a few routes to bringing your approach to party planning right up to date, with some distinctive, creative, and modern ideas.
Having a dessert-tasting party
A lot of articles about party planning that you can find online will tell you it’s a great idea to have an overarching ‘theme’ that helps tie everything about the party – ranging from the venue and the décor to the food choices – together. And they aren’t wrong.
But sometimes, you don’t even need to base a party around an obvious special occasion, such as someone’s engagement, anniversary, or birthday.
Even something as simple as a tempting new bakery opening down the street could inspire a ‘theme’ for your party! Yes, you know what we’re suggesting; get one of each of the most mouth-watering items from the bakery’s menu for each of your guest attendees, and make a bash out of tasting them all.
Hiring a modern photobooth
No, we aren’t talking about the kinds of unglamorous things that you might have used to take your passport photos in. Recent years have seen a big market emerge for dedicated party and event photobooths, which make it even easier to make (and capture for posterity) amazing memories.
Just ask the experts at Event Rhino, for instance, who present a number of options for those interested in photo booth hire for a London party.
The company’s Vintage Photo Booth is a reliable hit, combining a beautifully ‘old-school’ look with instant printouts, and the easy sharing of created images via email and text. This deceptively traditional-looking photobooth even allows for personalised messages to be added alongside party guests’ snaps in a photo guest book.
Arranging a cooking, mixology, or dance class
Throw your mind back to the first COVID-19 lockdown, and it seemed that everyone was only just getting acquainted with what ‘Zoom’ was. Before too long, though, many people were using such video conferencing software to join in with sessions or classes that it might have never previously crossed their mind to participate in.
Fast-forward to now, and some of that spirit has survived through many party planners deciding to incorporate an ‘edutainment’ element into their celebrations, such as dance instruction, or cooking or mixology classes.
The idea of such classes might be especially attractive to organisations looking to incorporate ‘quirky’ features into their next party… features that might also have the nice ‘side effect’ of helping team members to bond.
Having said all that, if you are considering classes like these for your next party (whether a personal or corporate party), you will need to think about how they are likely to be perceived.
For example, a mixology class might not be a great addition to your party if your guests are likely to include recovering alcoholics, people who refrain from drinking alcohol for religious reasons, or even people who simply don’t like alcohol. After all, you won’t want to risk people feeling “left out” of certain things you have planned for your party.
Making your party a truly ‘hybrid’ one
The coronavirus pandemic helped usher in – or perhaps it might be more appropriate to say, “force in” – the era of the “hybrid event”. This term refers to events that effectively combine both in-person and virtual elements – in other words, with some attendees being physically present in the given venue, while others effectively “join in” from home using video conferencing software.
Even now, when COVID-19 might no longer be the first thing that great numbers of us think about in our day-to-day lives, there may still be people who cannot easily get to an event in person – perhaps because of geographical distance or other commitments.
So, making your next party a fully-fledged hybrid event, with both in-person and virtual attendees participating in the fun and games, could be a wise idea. And there might be scope to go even further than that. For example, if some virtual guests of your party don’t speak English, live event translation software could be used to help them immediately understand what is being said.
As the above ideas show, there is a lot of potential for parties in the 2020s to take forms that might not have been imaginedjust a few years ago, drawing upon the latest trends and technology alike. So, why not consider a few of these ideas for your own next ‘outside the box’ bash?