Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with partyplanning

Adult birthday ideas in the Seattle area

Safiya — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:09:52 -0800

My husband is turning 30 in about 2 months and I need to plan a party for him in the Seattle area. I have no idea what I'm doing. I informed my husband ages ago that if he wanted something more on his birthdays besides dinner and a movie with me, he had to plan it himself. I am not a person who cares much about birthdays, and am terrible at planning events/wrangling people. However, he has informed me that I am basically obligated to plan something for his 30th. I know he would prefer it if I was able to surprise him.

We don't actually live in Seattle, but I'm thinking about having it in that general area because it's convenient for friends and family. I don't have any idea of what to do in the city, and hope you guys can give me some inspiration. I would like to do something fun/adventurous/quirky, followed by a casual dinner. I don't have much money to throw at this, guests would be paying for their own meals, and I could pay a couple hundred dollars for the "event" at most (if it was something where each person was expected to pay a reasonable entrance fee themselves, our guests would be fine with that).

Guests will probably range from kids to his parents, who are pretty cool. We will also have our baby (ten months old) in tow, but Grandma can take care of him if I want to join in the fun. Due to said baby, it will be an early night. I don't know how many guests, probably about 8 - 12. It would be best if I didn't have to pin down an exact number ahead of time, because I know from experience that's nearly impossible.

Husband likes: running, movies, video games, books, outdoor activities, karaoke, casual but good food, having one or two drinks, rock music.
Husband doesn't like: watching sports, dancing, "partying."

So hit me with your ideas for fun, unique activities and restaurants!

apparently I am not the only person who likes tiny furniture.

nonasuch — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:17:12 -0800

So, I'm running a fairy garden craft workshop in the store I work at in April. I've done this activity before when I worked at an after-school program, so I pretty much know what I'm doing with the actual crafting. However, interest in the workshop has been high enough that I would like to try running private workshops for people, and already have two people interested in hiring me for this. How do I figure out what to charge them, what do I offer to provide, and how do I find more clients if I want to make any actual money? Basically, the workshop consists of me teaching participants to build dollhouse-sized furniture and houses out of natural, vintage, and recycled items. For materials, I collect a ton of twigs and seed pods and leaves and bits of bark, and I raid the thrift store for marbles and popsicle sticks and little flower pots and basically anything else that can be used for crafting.

I'm not actually expecting to make much money from the workshop at the store-- we mostly decided to do it to get some exposure. I'm only charging a $15 materials fee, and much of that will actually go to cover materials, especially since I'm going to have to buy some extra hot glue guns and twig clippers. But once I have those, I can reuse them for future workshops without any further outlay.

If I'm going to do private workshops, should I up my fee? I can do longer and more involved activities if I'm not using the store's space-- I could even offer the chance to put together a finished mini garden in a planter. But big planters are hella expensive, and I don't know if charging that much more per person is feasible.

For that matter, how do I find people who want to do this activity? I feel like it'd be good for kids' birthday parties, but that basically means hanging out a shingle as a party planner and I have no idea where to begin there. (I have planned a child's birthday party once before, and it went fine, but that was for someone I knew and I wasn't really in it to turn a profit.)

Honestly, this is something I do for fun that has turned out to interest a surprising number of people. It would be cool if I could make a little bit of extra money doing it, but I'm a bit intimidated by the logistics. If anyone has any resources or ideas, I'd much appreciate them, especially if they're local to me-- I'm the in the Washington, DC area.

Help me throw a cool Ms. Pac-Man party for 30-something suburbanites!

Duluth?! I Hardly Know Her! — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:38:01 -0800

For a charity auction, my family "donated" a Ms. Pac-Man party for 16 people. The winners are 8 couples in their mid- to late 30s who each paid a decent bit of money to come to our house and be entertained for a night. We have an old-school Ms. Pac-Man cocktail table and a tournament will be the centerpiece, but I want to put on a great party and give these good people their money's worth. What great ideas - whether general grown-up party ideas or specific Ms. Pac-Man ones - will make that happen? My budget is not unlimited but assume it is large. I recognize that I may be beanplating this, but I do not have much experience throwing a party for grown-ups (and particularly where the attendees have paid for an invite). Our attendees are all friends of ours but do not necessarily know each other. They are all fun people and I think will be up for the inherent silliness of the event. We all live in the same small community.

We are already planning to have pizza - we originally thought maybe Pizza Hut for nostalgic purposes but are thinking maybe quality trumps nostalgia - and to get trophies for each participant. Obviously we will have drinks and snacks. But I am hoping there are some "can't miss" things to include or some Pac-Man specific trinkets or touches that might make it fun. "Don't do this" ideas are welcome too.

Replacements for stone soup?

rapidadverbssuck — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 09:16:19 -0800

I need to organize six or seven meals for fourteen people. These meals are rather unique in that everyone needs to contribute something to the main dish. Think potato bar, salad bar, nacho bar, etc... Basically, I'm looking for ways to create a modern version of stone soup. Suggestions? Some parameters:

-We are not meeting in a facility with a kitchen, so everything must be cooked/prepared before the ingredients are combined.
-The lower the cost, the better.
-The easier to transport the better.

Thanks for your help!

Where can I have a party in brooklyn?

CharlesV42 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:59:10 -0800

Where can I find a relatively inexpensive venue to have a party (with alcohol) in Brooklyn, NY? A friend of mine is having his birthday this week and was hoping to have a sort of Iron Chef of cocktails party. The problem: we live in brooklyn, and even with our "spacious" Greenpoint apartments, probably couldn't fit more than 15 people in a room, and even then, you'd be shoulder to shoulder.

Is there any location that would allow for an inexpensive rental for a night? We could even provide our own furniture, and would clean up afterwards, so the ideal space would be an empty warehouse/loft. We'd like room for ~40-50 people, and the OK to have alcohol (and presumably some music, but not-so-loud).

Is this a pipe dream? Anyone have a warehouse lying around they'd let us use for some bucks?

Where to throw a party in San Francisco?

roxie110 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:03:30 -0800

Suggestions for birthday party locations to rent in San Francisco? I'm thinking about throwing a party for my 40th birthday in October and have been racking my brain for ideas for places to go or to rent. My best guess is about 30 people (could be less or more, probably depending on how cool the event is!), preferably an evening/night event, and those thousand-dollar-and-up uber-swanky places are definitely out. It's quite likely I'd want to have a couple bands I know play, and have some sort of music going (probably from an ipod playlist) the rest of the time. I could set up some sort of bar if the venue doesn't have one--quite a number of my friends are big drinkers, so availibility of booze would help grease the rails!

Every year on my birthday I just have friends show up at a bar (Zeitgeist, Casanova) so I don't have to bother with planning. This year I'm open to trying something a little more special--but ideally I'd like the venue to be cool enough that it will do some of the work of making the party successful. (I don't want a bunch of people standing around just *looking* at each other. Horror!)

Any suggestions would be gratefully welcomed. From looking at past Metafilter postings, it looks like art galleries are a possibility--does anyone know one or two in particular that might do the trick? I'm also open to suggestions for places or party ideas that are very cool but that are outside of what it seems I'm looking for.

Low Budge "Under the Sea" Dance?

cgs — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:31:07 -0800

Planning an oldies dance for my parents' wedding anniversary. Advice? Hey AskMeFi - my sisters and I are planning a dinner for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. I want to up the ante and incorporate an oldies dance into the celebration. Think "Under the Sea" in Back to the Future. Questions:
- despite the theme, is this just classic wedding-planning territory?
- aside from finding a good dj, can you think of any nice touches that would make it more fun + authentic?
- if we fore-go the DJ and I just make a playlist, do you know some definitive late-60s music lists?

Any general regular dinner + dancing organizing advice is welcome as well. Thanks for your help!

Braised rabbit, a la Fatal Attraction, ain't gonna cut it.

justonegirl — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:40:05 -0800

Need creative ideas for a high-end gala event with a decidedly low-end theme: the 1980s. I didn't choose the 80s theme, but I am signed on to plan one of my clients' gala event and am hoping for some creative inspiration. This event is for 600+ people and will be held at a really ritzy building in Washington, D.C. I need to pull off an elegant menu of dinner and hors d'oeuvres, decor, and some fun entertainment (i.e. interactive things people can do during the cocktail reception).

I am a child of the 80s and can rattle off pop culture references with the best of them, but I'm having trouble pulling ideas that will work well on such a large scale. I need ways to really incorporate the decade into this event and have it be very obvious (to a diverse crowd of just about every age group and nationality out there). Subtlety won't work in such a giant venue with such a big crowd. In addition, the food and decor don't have to be black-tie appropriate, but the event is high-dollar and so the kinds of things you'd serve and decorate with at a small home party wouldn't be sufficient. We're putting big money into this event to ensure that the theme really comes through.

Any ideas would really be appreciated!

You say it's your birthday? It's my birthday too yeah...but mine is more important. So help out.

rileyray3000 — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:57:56 -0800

I'm turning 35 in Los Angeles next week on Wednesday the 28th. What should I do for my birthday? And if anyone says Karaoke they're gonna have to remove my shoe from their lower intestine. Not that I have anything against karaoke. But I've done it three out of the last five years. And this year I want to do something else. Something memorable. Something...different.

But there are a bunch of caveats so let's just get to them:

1) Numbers. I know a lot of people. I invited 200 people last year. About 60 people showed when all was said and done. We were at a bar called "The Backstage" in Culver City and that seemed a decent sized space (if you know it). I'm inviting a few more this year but figure about 60-70 will come this year. Maybe more. So anywhere I do anything should be able to take on that many folks. AND have reasonable parking for them.

2) Some of my friends are poorer than others. So any 120 dollar hang gliding lessons (Which I looked into) aren't gonna cut it.

3) I don't want another dive bar. I ALWAYS end up at dive bars. I like em, but I think this year I want to shoot for something else. Don't ask me what, I don't know.

4) I don't want to do batting cages, mini golf or rollerskating. I thought about all three and the logistics get really complicated.

5) It's gotta be either on the westside, hollywood or possibly downtown. Anything else is gonna get people lost. Two people are still missing from the last thing I planned in Silverlake. But, again, in any of those areas, decent parking.

6) most important: At least three of my ex girlfriends and my current one are all planning on coming. So I need something with clearly marked and easily accessible exits.

Aside from that (har har - sarcastic laugh not pirate laugh), I'm completely open. And if anyone has any personal connections to places in LA that might want a lot more than the usual business on a wednesday.

Oh...and I need this info like right now. If you don't get an evite out a week ahead of time you might as well just forget it. So hop to it metas. Here's a chance to give me a present a week early and in a way that actually might pay off.

Three weddings, three states, in 30 days...are we insane?

weirdoactor — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:07:08 -0800

My fiancée and I need to have three wedding ceremonies in three states. Um, help? It’s that old story…I’m from Texas, she’s from Michigan, and we live in Chicago. We figure we should have a city hall ceremony, with just a few people, so that we are married in Illinois (wedding #1!)

She has relatives in Michigan who can’t travel for health reasons, much like my mom in Texas. So, we want to “re-create” the ceremony in Michigan (#2!), and then in Texas (#3!), about two weeks apart (at least).

Pros: I used to DJ weddings, I’ve produced theatrical shows large and small (size and budget), I’ve worked as a party planner, a business trip/meeting/conference organizer, and a bit for catering companies. I am also excellent with logistics and planning. My fiancée plans conference meetings, and is great with small details. We can probably use a relative’s farm for the wedding in Michigan. A friend of mine is going to “stage manage” for me (as opposed to DJing) in Michigan.

Cons: We’re not rich, or even well-off. Her parents are semi-loaded, but we don’t know how much we can count on them, without them trying to control things. They are religious, we aren’t.

Has anyone else in the hivemind ever done something this crazy? I’d appreciate any advice I can get, on any of the varied things I might not know about planning weddings. I’m not asking for a “how-to” (although I wouldn’t refuse one), I just want to know some of the pitfalls and landmines we should watch out for, and any tricks or tips that could help.

I’ll stop before I get too long-winded. If you have any answers that require the answers to specific questions, ask ‘em, and I’ll answer ‘em, if they aren’t too private. Thanks in advance.

A dreading party that's not dreadful (groan!)

arcticwoman — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:10:59 -0800

Help me plan a dreadlock-themed party. A very long party. My partner has been wanting dreadlocks for some time now, so recently we ordered a kit online and we are planning on doing the dreading ourselves. Since it is such a time-intensive process, however, we thought that we would have an open house all day where friends could drop by and help dread (two at a time) and otherwise watch movies, play games, visit, and eat. Is this feasible? How do you plan a party where you don't know how many people are going to show up, when they will arrive or how long they will stay? Can you help me plan food, games, movies, etc?

I do not want opinions on dreadlocks themselves. I have read http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/27624 and I understand the typical concerns. I am not asking if or how to get dreads, I am asking for help entertaining people while conscripting them to help with the work.