It's My Party, And I'll Rage If I Want To.

January 22, 2011 5:06 PM

Any tips on the art of throwing a hotel party?

So, I'm turning 23, and after a year of incredible ups and downs, I'm ready to ring in my birthday with a celebration. I normally don't throw parties (small get-togethers, more like) but I'm thinking about getting a nice suite in Vegas, entertaining for a bit, and then hitting the town with a smaller group. (I'm actually originally from Vegas, but live in California now...just have never done the "Vegas" birthday.)

The thing is, I don't really know how to throw a party -- especially at a hotel. How the heck do you entertain a bunch of twenty-somethings in a tiny room, anyway? Any tips, ideas, warnings? Thanks guys!

posted by themaskedwonder to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

This is a pretty fabulous post covering exactly that.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:08 PM on January 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

Be sure to leave a big tip for the maid(s) who have to clean up the next day. At least $20, more if there are a lot of spills or other big messes.
posted by Jacqueline at 5:47 PM on January 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

One thing to do is to is to be certain that the hotel is OK with a party. It's seems pretty obvious and you are going to Vegas but something that many people seem to forget is that not every hotel is going to be OK with you having a party in your room. I'm not saying that you have to get the hotel management to sign off on the drunken revelry before hand but don't chose a hotel stuffed with businessmen that have to up at 7:00 the next morning.
posted by rdr at 5:47 PM on January 22, 2011

Don't forget music! Music makes a "room party" feel like a party when you walk in, particularly in those first moments when conversation is light. And fortunately, even if your suite doesn't come with speakers, it's likely small enough that travel mp3 speakers can do an adequate job. (Alternately, some friends have wired their music through the TV, but I don't personally know how to do that.)
posted by synapse at 8:28 PM on January 22, 2011

As a person who sometimes has to stay in hotels as one of rdr's "businessmen visiting contractors that have to be up at 7:00 4:30 the next every morning," I'll say:

You might want to have a backup plan for what you're going to do if the guy next door comes over in pajamas with a homicidal look and asks you to keep it down. Especially if the guy's employer is paying the hotel 5 digits more for his visit than your group is for yours.
posted by ctmf at 11:26 PM on January 22, 2011

Hopefully, though, a business visitor would be smart enough to not book a hotel on the strip.
posted by ctmf at 11:46 PM on January 22, 2011