House parties at their best reign supreme as one of the best ways to socialise. Also widely referred to as a ‘shindig’, the typical house party involves lots of drinking, eating, dancing and hardly any sleep!

Choosing your venue: Think very carefully about where to hold your party. Consider the neighbours. It is really important to pre-warn them as it is no fun to be woken up by 100 decibels of ‘Mr Brightside’ post-midnight. Not everybody appreciates The Killers in the wee small hours, especially those neighbours over 65! When inviting your guests, tread carefully. Don’t send out emails or text messages as invitations as these can be forwarded to unwelcome gatecrashers. Please ensure your parents are out, however it really is a good idea to let them know of your plans to save yourself from utter humiliation in front of all of your friends. Also, ask your guests to provide their own beverages, this prevents anybody going thirsty.

The event: The party usually revolves around the kitchen and sitting room. The kitchen is the main source of food and drink for your guests. (Note-serve food that can be hoovered up easily. This makes life much simpler.) Often the most sociable place in the house, in the kitchen you can expect to find a variety of drinking games being played, with people at various stages of intoxication. Moving into the sitting room, here you will find the largest socialising area, usually accompanied by inappropriately loud music and subsequent crazy dancing!

The morning after the night before: All hands on deck to clean the house from top to bottom before the parents arrive home. Make sure you have within reach a huge supply of teabags, milk and sugar for a well-deserved break when the house is spotless. Hopefully your shindig was a huge success. Sit back, relax, make a huge pot of tea and decide who’s hosting the next one!

What are house parties like in other countries?

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Writers: Hannah M (sp06-02@park.se)
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