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Theme Party
Just as it implies, these parties are driven by a theme, but unlike dinner parties, the number of guests is unlimeted. These parties would include
birthday parties, New Years, Christmas, or any holiday parties, as well as specific themes: Tropical Paradise, Pirate Party, Cinco De Mayo, or any
theme you want to invest your time and money in. Theme parties are mostly about the decor - and that's where your creativity comes in. Choose a budget
and go for it or just pick a color scheme and work around that.
 The neat thing about theme parties is to involve the guests in the menu -- you create the basic ambience and a very basic table and let them bring
what they want to showcase. All you need to do is to provide some dips, maybe a vegetable platter, crackers, breads and something to drink (most likely
punch of some kind -- one alcoholic, one non-alcoholic). I usually choose a special dessert that becomes the centerpiece of the table.. it might be a
cake decorated for the theme, or a tower of cupcakes in the color palette I'm using. For a summer party you might want to just cut a watermelon in half and
fill it with a fruit salad and use that as the centerpiece and dessert.
With theme parties, the decor and the guests make the party and since all of the food and decorating takes
place well ahead of time, you get to have a good time too. It helps to have room in your refrigerator before a theme party because you can never be
totaly sure of what people will bring -- and that's the fun thing about it!
One think I learned about theme parties seems a bit strange, but it works: decide on how many guests you are having and make sure that there on only
1/2 of that number available seats. If everyone has a seat they don't walk around and get into the social aspects of the party. With only a limited
number of places to sit, people walk around and have a much more enjoyable time.
The second thing I learned about theme parties when you have lots of quests is to remove whatever you don't want those guests to see in your bathroom medicine
cabinet because they will look... odd but true.
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