Party Tips
Just a little page for listing good ideas for parties - Most of these I have tried or am going to try. Can't wait till my next party!
P.S. If you are going to have alcohol at the party, be a RESPONSIBLE host. Arrange rides for those who are obviously 'impaired'. Thank You!

***A lot of these links have been taken from the Ameritech page - just more condensed. So if you want their whole deal, go to the first link if it's still working.***

links | invitations/cards | food | decorations | themes | activities | toasts | gift ideas| etiquette | responsibility

Links

The "You aren't allowed to hate me for this" contract. For Designated Drivers who love their friends. (in .pdf format)

Invitations and Cards

Great quotes to use when signing birthday cards
(Isn't this great? It's much better than "Hope you have a fun birthday! Love, Jane")

Humorous Birthday Quotes:
There is still no cure for the common birthday. -John Glenn

Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake. -Unknown

Why is a birthday cake the only food you can blow on and spit on and everybody rushes to get a piece? -Bobby Kelton

As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two... -Sir Norman Wisdom

Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. -Unknown

Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life. -Daniel Francois Esprit Auber

The first hundred years are the hardest. -Wilson Mizner

Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else. -Ogden Nash

You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. -Bob Hope

You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M.D. after them. -Arnold Palmer

Age is a number and mine is unlisted. -Anonymous

Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternatives. -Maurice Chevalier

Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese. -Billie Burke

You're only young once, but you can be immature forever. -John Greier

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed. -Charles M. Schultz

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. -Lucille Ball

To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age. -Thomas B. Aldrich

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. -Les Brown

Grow old with me the best is yet to come. -Robert Browning

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old. -James A. Garfield

Don't just count your years, make your years count. -Ernest Meyers

A true friend remembers your birthday but not your age. -Unknown

To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eye'd,
Such seems your beauty still. -William Shakespeare

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art. -Garson Kanin

Food Ideas

Decorations and 'Extras'

They can be bought at Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart and other department stores really easily and cheaply (2.99 for 2) during the halloween season. Stock up then and store for parties throughout the year. Otherwise, check Spencer's, Mr. Fun's or Radio Shack. Not as cheap there, but easy to find.

Themes

*** Star gazing parties could turn into very romantic couples parties. Think about having sleeping bags and camping out overnight. Stars are always romantic. (Even better, how about a party for two?)

Find nice dishes, and nice teacups. You don't always have to have matching teasets, but definitely have saucers for under the tea cups. You want a place to set the tea bag after you are done using it. Also, make sure that you boil the tea nice and hot on the stove - I don't know why, but making hot water in the microwave JUST isn't the same. Make sure you have a nice teapot to pour from so that you aren't spilling hot water on your guests.

Don't boil the tea with the tea bag in it. Give each person their own tea bag, or choice of a variety of teas. It's much nicer that way, and the tea is a much fuller flavor.

Make little finger sandwiches and some plain cookies. Or make real fancy cookies - but the idea is not to overpower the tea. Tea parties are very relaxed and soothing.

A nice accent to the table would be to buy actual sugar cubes. They look so cute in a little frilly porcelain bowl.

A great idea is to ask people to dress up for this. "Church clothing attire". It is always nice to see your friends dressed up - especially when you don't always have a reason to dress up. And then you have the perfect opportunity to take a picture of your friends at your pretty table. We don't get pictures of our friends in pretty clothes nearly enough. It will be something you and your friends will treasure later. (See if anyone has those big pretty ribbony hats that they used to wear in the 50's! Kind of like "My Fair Lady".)

One might say that a proper tea party has to have a lace table cloth on the table. But I personally think that sometimes too much lace is overwhelming for the senses. I think it is much better to have a nice doily, or table runner in the middle to set the tea pot on instead. It's nice to have pretty things to look at on the table, but let's not get crazy with it.

One last idea... READING TEA LEAVES (Tasseography). It might seem silly, but for those who just can't possibly see what the point in a tea party is, or are worried about running out of things to talk about, then this is perfect for you! Loose leaf tea is great for making a robust tasting tea, as well as being a great 'reader' of people. There are numerous ways to read tea leaves, but mostly it is all knowing what to look for. The process is outlined at this link, and takes enough time that you could spend an afternoon JUST having tea! http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/tealeaves/tealeaves.html

Also, for more information on teas... http://www.afternoonteaparty.com/

Activities and Games

Just remember - when the music stops, usually, so does the party... No one likes to talk in a room where EVERYONE can hear. Music is a nice white noise filler, even if you didn't plan on any dancing. Just make sure it's not so loud that NO ONE can hear...

• MAO
• Grandma's House
• The cup game, or cupline
• The question Game

Also try: http://www.bluepineapple.com/partygames/ and http://www.eventwise.co.uk/asp/PartyAnimals.asp for some more ideas...

• Obviously, any game can be turned into a drinking game - simply drink when you loose! (try some of the ones I just listed above)
• Think while you drink
• spoons
• flip cup
• beer pong
• alcoholic outburst
• quarters

Go to www.barmeister.com for a great list of drinking games. I don't know that many, so you are better off looking there... there's some GOOD ones there... like "sex master"...

One other neat nametag idea is to have them come up with a name using some kind of goofy system. You know, like pig latin, only here are a couple other suggestions: Captain Underpants names  or  Ya-ya names  or  Gnome names! Or, if you are having a game with lots of 'playa's, then go here to get your pimp handle....

Toasts

"May you live as long as you want to and may you want to as long as you live."

An Irish Toast:

May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings,
Slow to make enemies, Quick to make friends.
But rich or poor, quick or slow, May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward

Throughout history, whenever wine flowed, words were sure to follow. Though Ulysses drank to Achilles in Homer's Odyssey nearly 3,000 years ago, the first known toast in English was recorded in 450 A.D. Said the beautiful Rowena of the Saxons to Vortigern of the Britons: "Louerd King, Waes Hael!" (Lord King, be of good health!).

The term "toast" itself comes from the 17th-century custom of placing a crouton in the drinking vessel to absorb impurities.

Thankfully, some traditions are extinct, such as Scandinavians drinking from the skulls of their fallen enemies—thus the toast "Skoal!" Also quaint today is "Here's mud in your eye," which originally expressed the wish that farmers would find soft earth easily turned by a plow.

But some toasts never lose their flavor, such as Humphrey Bogart's to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca: "Here's looking at you, kid."

Brief, heartfelt, and to the point, Colonel Sherman Potter of M*A*S*H made a toast that was everything a toast should be: "To long lives and short wars!" And who could forget Tiny Tim's magnanimous toast in Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol: "God bless us everyone!"

• Try for Cary Grant's sophistication and Tom Hank's warmth—but not Steve Martin's cleverness. Too much wit and you'll seem a nitwit, says Paul Dickson, author of Toasts (Crown Publishers, 1991). Silence would have been preferable to a toast in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral," in which a friend congratulated the groom on lassoing his bride, since "all his other girlfriends had been such complete dogs. Let me say how delighted we are to have so many of them here this evening."
• Be brief. As Mark Twain said, no toast except his own should last longer than 60 seconds. The more you meander, the deeper in trouble you get.
• Think before you quip. The toast "Bottoms up!" at the launching of a boat race is sure to sink. And don't introduce the governor of the Virgin Islands as the "Virgin of Governor's Island," as a Washington dignitary once did. President Reagan once toasted the people of Bolivia while in Brazil, and President Ford nodded his glass to Israel while visiting Egypt.
• Don't put too much roast in your toast—or you may burn the host and leave the rest of the audience singed. Also, take care not to upstage the host or hostess. It's his or her right to make the first move.
• Avoid three topics: sex, money, and bathroom behavior, suggests Letitia Baldrige, author of Letitia Baldrige's New Complete Guide to Executive Manners (Rawson Associates; 1993). At best stick to double entendre, as did her father in his favorite toast: "May you live as long as you want to and may you want to as long as you live."
• The less liquor in you, the better the toast.
• Don't propose a toast if everyone's glasses are empty, Baldrige says. This imposes on the host or hostess who must bring out more. Instead, make your toast soon after you notice that the glasses have been filled, or refilled.
• Stand up and raise your glass if speaking before a group larger than nine.
• If you're the one being toasted, don't take a drink. Instead, smile and offer thanks.
• The best toasts are tailor-made. The New Year's toast Baldrige most fondly remembers addressed each of 20 guests individually. "It was so wonderful. We all toasted each other and felt so good."
• Never arrive without a script if you're expected to give a toast. Otherwise, you may be as flustered as the groom who said at his wedding, "Ladies and gentlemen, I, I don't know what to say. This thing was forced upon me."
• Make sure the object of your toast is present. Blinded by a spotlight, Baldrige once gave what she considered to be a clever yet romantic toast to Jacqueline and Aristotle Onassis at their fifth wedding anniversary bash. "When I then asked for everyone to join me, people called out from the dark, 'Tish, they're both out of the room!'"
• If you must give a New Year's toast, relax. Expectancy and optimism electrify the air. You can't go wrong on this amateur night for toasting. So go forth, and toast before you tipple.

'Nollaig faoi shéan is faoi shonas duit.' A prosperous and happy Christmas to you.

May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, and happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.

Irish New Year's Toasts
 'Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís.' May we be alive at this time next year.

'Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit!' A prosperous New Year!

In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship but never in want.

Irish Saint Patrick's Day Toasts
Saint Patrick was a gentleman, Who through strategy and stealth, Drove all the snakes from Ireland, Here’s a toasting to his health. But not too many toastings Lest you lose yourself and then Forget the good Saint Patrick And see all those snakes again.

'Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!' Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Irish Wedding Toasts
'Sliocht sleachta ar shliocht bhur sleachta.' May there be a generation of children on the children of your children.

Health and long life to you, land without rent to you, a child every year to you, and death in Old Ireland.

May the roof above you never fall in, And those gathered beneath it never fall out.

Here's to health, peace and prosperity. May the flower of love never be nipped by the frost of disappointment, nor shadow of grief fall among your family and friends.

May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies and quick to make friends. And may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

May I see you grey and combing your grandchildren’s hair.

'Sláinte go saol agat, Bean ar do mhian agat. Leanbh gach blian agat, is solas na bhflaitheas tareis antsail seo agat.' Health for life to you, A wife of your choice to you, Land without rent to you, A child every year to you, And the light of heaven after this world for you.

Here's an Irish toast to your wedding: May the roof over your heads be as well thatched As those inside are well matched.

An Irish Toast for a Bachelor
May you have nicer legs than yours under the table before the new spuds are up.

Irish Birthday Toasts
May you live to be 100 years, with one extra year to repent.

We drink to your coffin. May it be built from the wood of a hundred year old oak tree that I shall plant tomorrow.

May God grant you many years to live, for sure he must be knowing, the earth has angels all too few and heaven is overflowing...

May the doctor never earn a pound out of you.

May the good Lord take a liking to you... But not too soon!

May you die in bed at 95, shot by a jealous spouse.

Irish Toasts to Drinking
A bird with one wing can't fly. —said to encourage someone to take a second drink

It is better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money!

That the tap may be open when it rusts!

My friends are the best friends Loyal, willing and able. Now let’s get to drinking! All glasses off the table!

Here's to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold pint-- and another one!

Here's to a temperance supper, With water in glasses tall, And coffee and tea to end with-- And me not there at all!

When money's tight and hard to get, and your horse is also ran, When all you have is a heap of debt, a pint of plain is your only man.

Here's to being single... Drinking doubles... And seeing triple!

I drink to your health when I'm with you, I drink to your health when I'm alone, I drink to your health so often, I'm starting to worry about my own!

Here's to women's kisses, and to whiskey, amber clear; Not as sweet as a woman's kiss, but a darn sight more sincere!

Irish Toasts to Friends & Family
May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door.

There are good ships, and there are wood ships, The ships that sail the sea. But the best ships, are friendships, And may they always be.

May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.

Here’s to you and yours, And to mine and ours, And if mine and ours ever come Across you and yours, I hope you and yours will do As much for mine and ours, As mine and ours have done For you and yours!

To live above with the Saints we love, Ah, that is the purest glory. To live below with the Saints we know, Ah, that is another story!

May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load. May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road... And may all your friends remember all the favours you are owed!

Here's to the land of the shamrock so green, Here's to each lad and his darlin colleen, Here's to the ones we love dearest and most. May God bless old Ireland, that's this Irishman's toast!

I have known many, and liked not a few, but loved only one and this toast is to you.

Irish Everyday Toasts
May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows your dead.

May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.

May your heart be light and happy, May your smile be big and wide, And may your pockets always have a coin or two inside!

Always remember to forget The troubles that passed away. But never forget to remember The blessings that come each day.

May you always have a clean shirt, a clear conscience, and enough coins in your pocket to buy a pint!

May the face of every good news and the back of every bad news be towards us.

May neighbours respect you, Trouble neglect you, The angels protect you, And heaven accept you.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, The foresight to know where you are going, And the insight to know when you have gone too far.

May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.

May those that love us, love us. And those that don’t love us, May God turn their hearts. And if he doesn’t turn their hearts, May he turn their ankles, So we’ll know them by their limping.

May misfortune follow you the rest of your life, and never catch up.

May you have food and raiment, a soft pillow for your head. May you be forty years in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead.

May your mornings bring joy and your evenings bring peace... May your troubles grow less as your blessings increase!

May you get all your wishes but one, so that you will always have something to strive for!

'Lucky' Irish Toasts
May the luck of the Irish Lead to happiest heights And the highway you travel Be lined with green lights.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

If you’re enough lucky to be Irish... You’re lucky enough!

May you have all the happiness and luck that life can hold— And at the end of all your rainbows may you find a pot of gold.

May your pockets be heavy— Your heart be light, And may good luck pursue you Each morning and night.

Everyday Toasts in the Irish Language
'Sláinte!' (pronounced 'slawn-cha', meaning Health! A common toast in Ireland, the equivalent to ‘Cheers’)

'Sláinte chuig na fir, agus go mairfidh na mná go deo.' Health to the men, and may the women live forever!

'Faol saol agat, gob fliuch, agus bás in Éirinn.' Long life to you, a wet mouth, and death in Ireland.

Gift Ideas (more coming SOON)

Everyone has that moment where they suddenly freeze and think "Oh great... now I have to go shopping for a gift...". So below I'm going to include some great links to help spur on place you can search for that perfect gift...

Etiquette (coming SOON)

The RESPONSIBILITY of being a host (or a friend)

Vocabulary: 
Killjoy = a lame_ss who steals the fun from others (without a good enough reason).
DD = Designated Driver (the one who has the most fun - because he gets to mess with the heads of the inebriated people in his car).
Inebriated = DRUNK.
Breaking the seal = this is when you are out drinking, and you go to the bathroom for the first time since you started drinking. 
            (it's called breaking the seal because after the first time you go pee, it seems like you have to go every 15 minutes after that.)
Shuttle = same thing as a car pool, only with a predetermined driver.

A good game idea for the Leaky Pitcher is to make everyone repeat a tongue twister, or recite something they were told when they arrived, or to strike some kind of pose that requires balance. Do this at _:20, and _:50 so it's harder for people to watch the clock. 

HOSTS: Always make sure those who need a ride, get one, and those who need to stay over are safely tucked away. Make sure women are able to sleep over in a room with a lock. If you have people who have been drinking, it's probably best to keep an eye/ear on them. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of someone waking up drunk (or sleepwalking) and walking straight into the wall (or mirror in some cases - hey, it looked like the front door) - or peeing in what they THOUGHT was your toilet. Trust me, you can't predict it all. Try to make sure your guests are safe.

The "You aren't allowed to hate me for this" contract. For Designated Drivers who love their friends.
in .pdf format