Six Popular Adult Party Themes

It doesn’t matter how busy your life gets, you always have to remember to take time to relax ad unwind with your friends.  Right about the time the adult world hits and work bogs you down and perhaps even college classes take their toll on your sanity, that’s when you need to step back, request a day off, and plan a fun get-together with your friends. (You might want to tell those friends to request a day off work, also.)  While there are many themes to choose from for your party, here are six great, popular party ideas for you to start with.

1. Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Party:  With Cinco de Mayo rapidly approaching, start planning a fun fiesta for you and your friends!  Display cute fiesta candles all around your house or backyard, wherever you’re throwing your fiesta party.  If you choose to decorate your backyard, pick up a fiesta decorating kit to make your party planning that much easier.  Plan on serving chips, salsa, and salsa con queso for your guests to snack on.  Also, would it be a Cinco de Mayo party without drinks? Pick up margarita mix and daiquiri mix, but add fruit juice rather than alcohol for a fun, fruity summer mocktail—this way, your guests get the feeling of margaritas, but everyone stays safe for the entire day.  Serve those delicious mocktails in bright-colored margarita glasses to add to the fiesta-feeling of the day!
2. Poker Night Party:  Who doesn’t love a nice, relaxing poker night?  It’s a night for you and all your friends to dress down, get away from work, and play some cards to relax.  While it doesn’t seem like something you really need to decorate for, the decorations are usually half the fun of a party.  Place a sign in your yard so friends who haven’t been over in awhile know right away which house is yours.  Decorate the game room with clear bulb lights to give the room a relaxed, fun feeling.  Designate a table to the side of the room as the snack table—cover it with a green tablecloth and then sprinkle it with blackjack confetti.  Invite your guests to partake in a potluck and have everyone bring a snack for the group to enjoy.   By the end of your relaxing poker night, hopefully everyone will have won some fun prizes and enjoyed some great food.
3. Movie Night:  Make some popcorn, call your friends, and pick a few movies to watch!  Conduct a small survey of your friends prior to movie night to find out what genre everyone wants to watch—this way, you’ll know what extra funky decorations you can add, like cardboard standees of Marilyn Monroe, plus you’ll be able to pick out a few movies for your guests to choose from.  Offer up the following genres: horror, comedy, old Hollywood, and musical.  That way, the guys you invite won’t hear “romance” or “romantic comedy” and back out.  The next step is to put together little snack bags filled with candy for your guests to enjoy during the movie(s).  Finally, plan on providing soda and popcorn for your guests (hey, it gives you a reason to buy popcorn containers).
4. Football Party:  Take a Sunday or a Monday off and plan a football party!  Get all the classic game day snacks: pretzels, potato chips, salsa, queso, and maybe even cook some hot dogs and hamburgers!  Set up a table with a serving tray so your guests can easily pick and choose what they want to snack on—and place some mug-shaped candles in the center.  Also, set up an inflatable mug-shaped cooler for your guests to grab beverages out of.  Give your guests foam footballs to toss around during commercials—but make sure any breakables are out of the room!  Place football-shaped mylar balloons and bunches of colored latex balloons around the room to give it that final, finished touch.
5. Girlfriend Party:  Get all your girlfriends together for a girls’ night in!  A great way to relax with the girls is by putting in a romantic comedy, kicking back on the couch, and diving into some popcorn, chocolate, and girl talk.  Just remember, you can’t have a girls’ night without a lot of candy—chocolate lollipops, candy bars, and other types.  This also sets you up for adorable favors, like compacts, coasters, and mint tins.  Make the night memorable for your girlfriends!
6. 80’s Party:  Create a fun, throw-back party by decorating around an 80’s party theme!  You can have all sorts of fun, dress up in 80’s attire and blast Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper on your stereo.  It’s all about neon colors, so bunch bright balloons together all around the room.  Hang a door cover on your front door to help set the mood for your guests.  This blast-from-the-past party is sure to make your guests feel like they stepped into a time machine, but a dance party will definitely help them relax!

Whatever theme you might choose, the main thing to remember is to not stress about the party planning.  Your guests will love to be able to just have a time to get away from their crazy, hectic, adult lives and have a little fun again.

Top Five After-Prom Party Themes

Keep the After-Prom Party Going With a Theme!

Many schools create some sort of after-prom celebration for their students.  Some schools create an after-prom breakfast for their students, too.  If your school’s prom has a theme, the theme for your after-prom has to be completely different.  There are a wide variety of themes you could choose for your school’s after-prom party—everything from Casino Night to Mardi-Gras to Hollywood. 

The Top Five After-Prom Party Themes

1. Casino Night After-Prom Party Theme: This is a great way to kick back and relax after a great prom.  You can set up a ton of tables and create a casino atmosphere with a wide variety of games (Texas Hold ‘Em, Blackjack, a roulette wheel, etc).  You can even work favors in—personalized poker chips are a great way for guests to remember not only their prom, but also their after-prom.  Also, as your guests enter their after-prom, hand out raffle tickets and create a few giveaways.
2. Mardi-Gras After-Prom Party Theme:  Make your guests feel like they’re on Bourbon Street in New Orleans!  Use gold, green, and purple balloons in every corner and along the walls to help transform your after-prom party.  Hand out green, gold, and purple beads and feathered masks as favors; you can also use the raffle ticket idea for this after-prom party.  Blast jazz music and let your guests continue to dance the night away while they get a chance to experience a different culture—you can even serve Creole-based or Cajun food and let them try something new!  Your guests probably haven’t had much to eat since dinner before prom, so offer jambalaya, beignets, or a variety of other foods.
3. Hollywood After-Prom Party Theme:  What better way to relax than with a fun movie night?  Send out film roll invitations ahead of time that your guests will turn in when they enter—then, as they enter, put each guest’s name into a raffle for giveaways before the movies start.  After they turn in their invitations, give each guest a bottle of water (with a personalized label), and a bag of popcorn as they enter your after-prom party.  Then, after all the guests have arrived, raffle off personalized candy jars and personalized cookie tins filled with movie snacks!  Finally, let your after-prom guests take pictures with Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Pressley standees—then give them Hollywood-themed picture frames when they leave!
4. 1950’s Sock Hop After-Prom Party Theme: This is a great way for all your guests to get some fresh air after a stuffy indoor prom.  Light up your school’s parking lot and get a few grills fired up!  Blast some old 50’s rock and roll and let your guys show off their cars while all the girls gossip.  Cook burgers and hot dogs to serve with chips, pretzels, and root beer floats. 
5. City After-Prom Party Theme: Set up little stations around your after-prom area to represent different clubs and different restaurants found throughout big cities—you could even make a few hot dog carts!  Put all this against a city backdrop or wall hanging and make your after-prom guests feel as though they’ve been transported!  At each different “club” station, create a different punch or juice combination for your after-prom guests to enjoy.  While most clubs have matchbooks as souvenirs, give your after-prom guests personalized mint tins and personalized lollipops.

Whatever you choose for your prom, there are many themes to choose from for your after-prom—you can either make it match your prom theme or you can make it a completely different theme! Whichever way you choose to go, remember to make your after-prom a fun way for your guests to relax and unwind after prom night.

Shindigz Party FUNd Helps 5 Year Old Give Back

When the Shindigz Party FUNd was created on the Shindigz Facebook page, it was a way for Shindigz to give to those who give back. The goal of this fund is to “fun it forward” by asking customers what they would do to make life more fun for someone else. And Shindigz is granting those wishes.

When little Sarah Mason began planning her 5th birthday party with her mom, Sallie, they decided to give back. Sallie states, “We are a US Marine Corps family with my husband, Major Kirk Spangenberg serving almost 15 years.  Each year, we teach our children that birthdays are about celebrating life, counting our blessings and using that time as a chance to bless others.  In the past we have chosen local non-profits, Ronald McDonald House, food pantries and crisis pregnancy centers to give donations in lieu of presents.  This year, we have chosen the Semper Fi Fund (www.semperfifund.org) as they serve a population close to our hearts.  Marines who are wounded face many challenges that are not covered by medical insurance.  Semper Fi Fund stands in the gap to make sure the Marine and his/her family are given every opportunity to heal, recover and re-enter society and live full and productive lives.  While our Marine has returned unharmed from his multiple tours, we feel a deep sense of obligation to help those who have not.”

In honor of her fifth birthday, Sarah Mason asked her friends not for Barbie Dolls, stuffed animals, games or toys, but rather that they bring $5 to donate to Semper Fi Fund to help other families.  Sallie posted her birthday idea on the Shindigz Party FUNd Facebook page and Shindigz granted a $250 gift certificate to buy thank you gifts and decorations for the party.

Sallie and Sarah decorated their local theater to the hilt with movie and popcorn decorations. They also received mini film tin canisters, favors for their guests and Movie Night Decopics for their adorable movie cupcakes!

According to Shep Moyle, Owner and Shindigz Party King, “We’ve spent a lot of time here around the old popcorn popper thinking about how our customers can help us make life more fun. This program is designed to bring a smile to someone who needs a bit more happiness, some laughs to folks who may be sad, and by making random acts of fun a part of everyday life. There’s no hook or catch. We aren’t selling products or marketing what we do in the world of party supplies. We want the world to know our ‘why’. The why we do what we do. Making life more fun.”

Shindigz is asking anyone with an idea for how to make life more fun for someone else to post their Party FUNd idea on their Facebook page. Shindigz has dedicated $25,000 to helping others make life more fun! Simply post your idea, ask for your friends’ support by voting on your idea, and Shindigz selects at least one idea per week that will come true.

Ideas for Your Awards Night Party Theme

Celebrate with a Red Carpet Party Theme

You’re already planning for your college mixer, school prom, adult cocktail party, corporate event, or kids birthday. We’re here to open the brainstorm with a few themes and supplies to get those creative juices flowing.

Awards Party Themes Take Center Stage

Note these dates on your social calendar and build your next theme party around a Bollywood party or Hollywood theme party.

• Zee Cine Awards- Sunday, February 5
• The Grammys- Sunday, February 12
• The Oscars (Academy Awards 2012)- Sunday, February 26
• Academy of Country Music- Sunday, April 1
• Cannes Film Festival- May 16- 27
• MTV Movie Awards- Sunday, June 3
• Tony Awards- Sunday, June 10
• MTV Video Music Awards- Sunday, September 9

Movie Theme Parties

Pop popcorn and snuggle in with the fam for movie night or dream big and snuggle up to a Marilyn Monroe party.

Film Festival Theme Party Decorations

Whisk your intellectual crowd into a sophisticated night of wine, International party supplies, and the sultry, Abhi Mujhe Mein Kahin or organize France party supplies throughout the banquet facility of your Cannes Film Festival event.

Country Music Party Theme

Celebrate country music in our cowboy party store. Show them city slickers that your tableware party supplies don’t have to be fancy because a Dirt Road Anthem surrounded by NASCAR party supplies is the party theme to remember. Invite military families to your event and open the welcome home theme party with We Take Care of Our Own.

City Theme Party Decorations

Go downtown and dance away at a sweaty, city theme party. Continuously play music videos and movies on wide screen TVs. Promote fresh, theme party faces like pop’s Asher Monroe,

soul’s Adele,

or Bollywood’s Vidya Balan.

Political Theme Party Supplies

Want to shake it up? Times are changing. Make a statement with your theme party supplies and political rally decorations. Anjulie will turn heads and so will Occupy party supplies or national debt party supplies peppered throughout your theme party decorations.

College Theme Parties

There’s time to coordinate a frat party, toga party, or birthday with the MTV awards night. Just add a few props, cocktail accessories, and rock star party supplies to go.

Corporate Theme Parties

Let music loosen up the execs. Invite Taylor Swift to your private concert or just watch her perform at the Grammys along with Coldplay.

Give guests a few elephant hats and decorate with baby elephant standees, safari decorations, and other mascot costumes to get in the spirit of Coldplay’s Paradise video. Paul McCartney will be honored at this year’s Grammys. Celebrate the successes of yesterday, while your company presses ahead into 2012. These retro theme party supply or Wizard of Oz party stores can help you emphasize both achievements and goals.

Funny Theme Parties

Laugh it up with clips of Billy Crystal going Off the Grid for the Academy.

Dress up as your favorite nominee. Send party invitations and decorate with party favors, party tableware, and party decorations (such as Money Ball baseball party supplies) that revolve around your picks. Give awards night male statuettes or awards night female statuettes to the most creative or funny, theme party costumes.

Awards party themes spice up winter dull drums and celebrate successes. Host your own Academy, Grammy, MTV, Bollywood, or Hollywood theme party!

Boys Birthday Parties and Movie Themes

Boys love movie nights and those deliciously fun parties that Mom or Dad create.  Jump into an adventure and plan your guy’s next b-day bonanza.  We’ve compiled a list of top, boys birthday party ideas for 2012.

Angry Birds Birthday Party for Boys

Invite the red, blue, and white birds to collide with the pigs at your son’s Angry Birds, boys birthday party.

Just about every retail store sells these cross plush toys .  Use them as decorations and as part of a dodge ball game.  Go nuts placing solid color Kit-N-Kaboodles and streamers in red, yellow, and green on your party’s tables.  Buy extra solid color dinner plates to create bird and pig faces with craft pom poms,  googly eyes, and crafting feathers. At another craft station, leave birthday party dough in red, yellow, blue, and green to entertain your creative clutch.  Take a picture of your angry bird with his bird friends and create a personalized banner as a forever keepsake.

Hero Boys Birthday Party

He’s all action and he loves to save the day.  Give your guy and his buds their own hero status.  Ask them to come to the party dressed as their favorite career hero.  Honor those fire fighters, police men, soldiers, and astronauts.  Watch an episode of the 1970′s Emergency movie or series.  All six seasons are now on dvd and are still a find for elementary-aged, boys sleepover parties.

Bake a cake with your son the night before his party and enjoy decorating it with fire truck cake decorations.  This fire truck craft kit could be just what Mom needs to keep the party’s early birds busy as the budding heroes arrive.  Hang a police car piñata over your dance floor.  Start and stop the music or red police light when playing the “freeze” game.  Only the boy who freezes the fastest remains on the floor.  He wins first dibs at whacking the piñata.  Dress the tables with an American hero party pack and write thank you notes to actual soldiers, policemen, fire fighters, and others.  Place military shape bands in the soldiers’ letters and your guests’ favor bags.  Take pictures of the boys by a doctor photo stand in or a personalized jet standee, a personalized spaceship standee, a personalized space shuttle standee, and/or a personalized fire truck standee.

Spy Boys Birthday Parties

Drive your older boys to see Mission Impossible (rated PG-13) and get ready for fast action.

Afterward, direct the gang to a party room with pizza, snack, and cake tables slickly decorated with spy party supplies, black paper tablecovers, and silver plastic tableware .  Include baskets of fortune cookies or Tootsie Rolls.  Pull out Clue or another solve the mystery game.  Hang spy murals or spy personalized banners with special agent birthday messages.

If your agents are too young for Mission Impossible, a Phineas and Ferb pack will delight Disney fans ready for adventure.  Hold your very own secret agent Phineas and Ferb Wii tournament!

Boys Car Birthday Party

Push it into overdrive. Younger boys are sure to love Hot Wheels or Cars 2.  Bring out the red color scheme!

Set the scene with a Disney Cars 2 party pack, car spirit items, and a field trip to a car dealership, race track, and/ or repair shop.  Your party area comes to life with race car standees for the boys to drive in one of your homemade racing games.  Fill goodie bags and stock car pinata with boys party favors.

Throw a set of real keys to your older boys- or… maybe just the key tags.  Create personalized key tags.

Barrel of Monkeys Boys Birthday Party

Your little monkies are ideal for the monkey party pack! Usher the tail swingers to your favorite playground or bouncy house to burn off that excess monkey cake energy.    Decorate any party space with the monkey arch & tree and monkey piñata.  Then, play pin the tail on the monkey.  For a quiet break, slip in a Curious George dvd or take the boys to see Chimpanzee.

For your teen age primates, pop in King Kong or Planet of the Apes.  After ringing neighborhood door bells for a treasure hunt of monkey items- bananas, combs, yellow hat, etc send the boys home with monkey favor packs.

Wimpy Kid Boys Party

Greg and Rodrick rule and so does this boy favorite series.  As guests arrive, place the name of one of the Wimpy Kid characters on each boy’s back. Encourage them to mingle by asking each other about their characters.  The scene is set for a cartoon party in black and white.  Hang black and white balloons with red streamers.  Let the boys create a Wimpy kid cartoon storyboard and homemade movie together.  Keep your computer screens on these Wimpy kid games and serve plenty of chocolate ice cream.  Watch the Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2.

Fill miniature back packs with plenty of school-themed party favors.

Underwater Boys Birthday Party

Based on a true story, Big Miracle is the ideal boy’s birthday party theme for arctic buffs, swimmers, divers, and all around water and ice lovers.

These dazzling under the sea invitations welcome your boy’s deep sea adventurers to a magical birthday party.  “Believe in the power of one” or “We accomplish together” could be the messages on your ocean murals.  Turn your basement into an under the sea party that truly takes the boys to new depths of fun.  Ocean creatures, including whales, swim in the air as helium-filled, sea balloons. Place your whale-shaped cake in the middle of Bermuda blue tableware.  Say goodbye with mini fish bowls filled with ocean favors.

War Horse Boys Birthday Party

The soldiers of World War I fought for country with a cavalry of horses.  War Horse chronicles the devotion of a boy for his steed:

Invite your son’s best buds to see War Horse (rated PG 13) and then come home to a western party or head to a rescue horse stable for a tour.  Colorize your snack bar with green plastic tableware and serve soup in an old army pot.  For the taste of France, add grapes, cheese, and crackers.  You might even add a misty woods photo backdrop here and there. Place dollar party favors in a handkerchief to give to the boys at the party’s end with a galloping brown horse balloon.

What are your favorite boys birthday party ideas and movie themes?

Our Favorite Movie Theme Parties

Movie theme parties are a breeze to plan because you can easily dress them up or down, and make them any size at all. Here are a few of our favorite theme ideas for movie theme parties.

Movie Theme for a Milestone Party
Theme ideas: “A Star Power Party for Susie,” “Joan is the Leading Lady”

Put your favorite diva under the spotlight for a milestone event using movie party supplies. Decorate:

• Personalize a “Now Showing” theater marquee banner for the entrance to a baby shower

• Set up a Walk of Fame™ star for a graduate or new retiree

• Surround the entrance of a Sweet 16 or other milestone birthday party with paparazzi silhouettes

Purchase a tiara for the guest of honor, and plant a “Celebrity Limo Parking” yard sign near the driveway entrance.

Family Movie Night/Afternoon for School
Theme ideas: “Family Night at the Movies,” “The Not-So-Late Show,” “Mid-Term Matinee”

We like lots of kid-pleasing primary colors for this movie theme event. Try an eye-popping, reusable popcorn arch from Hollywood Entrances at the doorway. Provide red-and-white striped popcorn bags for treats and a roll of tickets as snack tokens – and oh, yes: be sure to stock up on fundraiser candy.

Movie Theme Premier Fundraiser
Theme ideas: “Red Carpet Affair,” “When the Stars Come Out”

Picture it: a twilit Hollywood Hills backdrop, exotic palm trees, long aisle runner and stars of gold and silver: a perfect red carpet entrance!

Customize Ticket to the Stars or Shimmering Stardom invitations and mix movie party supplies with Hollywood theme decorations to set the stage for glamour.

Marathon Movie Night Get Together
Theme ideas: Take your cue from the movie series you plan to show; add “Movie Marathon” to the title.

Make a movie theater out of your media room with movie night cutouts, popcorn plastic boxes and strategically placed decorative filmstrip. Then, “raid” party decorations that best go with your movie marathon: pirate party supplies for Pirates of the Caribbean, Halloween decorations for horror flicks, and so on.

Check the Standups department for cardboard cutouts of characters and celebrities that match your movie marathon. We have Disney™ to Star Wars™, Sinatra to Elvis, Harry Potter to the Wizard of Oz and more.

Movie Theme for a Dance
Theme ideas: “Reel Romance,” “Hollywood Dreams”

Reinvigorate a fall formal with a movie theme. The movie premier idea would work here, and so would building a movie set! Use a movie camera prop and a Tinseltown lighted 3D clapboard as entrance pieces or photo setting for this theme.

Place movie camera piñatas as centerpieces and Hollywood clapboard tin boxes filled with edible favors on tables.