Spice up your celebrations

Parties are an integral part of the celebration which revolves around welcoming the New Year. Some opt for a quiet gathering with their friends, many prefer going out to hit the dance floor and there are several others who like to head to a theme party because it comes with the excitement of following a “theme”.

Be it theme parties at home or outdoors, Delhiites plan to ring in the New Year with style and the icing on the cake is being an extended weekend, fun and fervour is to continue in the coming days.

Nidhi Arora, a 24-year-old PR professional, is organising a ‘pyjama party’ at her home for the first time on Saturday, but she had started preparing for it almost a month in advance.

“I usually celebrate New Year with my family, but it being a long weekend, I decided to throw a theme party at my place. We created a WhatsApp group to discuss the plan, adding all the people we wanted to invite. It was through these conversations that the idea of organising a pyjama party came along,” she says.

A small house party with friends and family is now a ‘pyjama party’, where everyone is supposed to put on their most comfortable pyjamas.

Theme parties basically revolve around something very popular, like Bollywood, or a popular TV series. This concept in many ways unleashes the fan in you and gives a person an opportunity to play the character he has secretly desired to be or is a great fan of.

Arora plans to offer 'welcome drinks' to everyone at the entrance door. Small shots of Long Island Iced Tea (LIIT), which she will prepare at home, along with a cake, will be neatly placed on a decorated table.

“Each drink will have the name of a person written on it. So as soon as they enter, they find their glass and start with the first drink of the evening,” she says.It is the feel-good factor of such parties that helps to break the monotony.

“Theme parties are ideal to make special nights stand out from regular nights. It gives you a reason to dress up and adds the energy. Patrons are happy when they get a little more than what they expect in terms of fun,” says Yasheel Anand Singh, owner Pamphilos Kitchen & Bar, who had organised a theme party based on “Sensational White”. “Everyone was dressed in white and even the interior of the restaurant was turned white,” he says.

For Rohan Gupta, co-partner The Hungry Monkey which organised a masquerade ball on New Year’s Eve, it’s the simple ideas that click with customers. “We try to keep the theme simple yet different from others. When there is something interesting yet easier to do, more people participate. Last time we had organised a “Game of Thrones” night. Not everyone followed the theme, yet there were some who played a sport and dressed up like their favourite character. This year the theme was simpler than that.”

So next time you organise a party to celebrate any special day, give it a twist with some innovative themes.