Tips on throwing a big party

[Bibble]

My roommates and I decided to have a big Halloween party at our house. I have thrown parties before but never one where more than 30 people were expected to show up. We were generous in our invitations and some 250 were sent out. So far 94 have RSVPd as confirmed and 35 as maybe. For past parties the turn out has always been less than what Facebook predicted. Another thing to consider though is that guests are allowed to bring friends so we could have much more than the # of confirmed guests on Facebook. Right now, I'd guess that 100 people might show up, but it could be anywhere from 80 to 150.

Just to provide some other background information before I ask questions:
It is a costume party on Halloween at a university.
Location is an off-campus house very close to downtown.
We are on somewhat of a main street just outside of downtown.
10pm-1am.
We will serve booze (plan now is a gin bucket/cauldron and 300 beers or 2 kegs)
Half of the house will be drinking game oriented and the other half will be dance party oriented.
Black, orange, and possibly strobe lights will be utilized.
Nine people (myself, 3 roommates, and 5 of our best friends) will be supervising/working the door.
Only the front doors of my house lock, meaning back, bedroom, bathroom doors do not.


Questions:

What are some general tips for throwing large parties?

What are some general tips for throwing Halloween parties?

How do you deal with cops if they show up? (our music isn't going to be super loud and you won't be able to hear it unless you are within 10 feet of our house, but the sidewalk is 10 feet away)

How much booze is needed for 100 people? (mind you that they will likely be drinking at other parties before ours)

Pros and cons of kegs vs. cans? (note: kegs are against my lease so we will only use them if we anticipate they provide a good amount of benefits over cans)

Is it worthwhile marking the hands of 21+ year olds even if I have no intention of restricting younger people from drinking? (maybe about 20 or so people on the guest list are under 21)

Any recommendations for Halloween songs?


Thanks for your help guys. If you need more details just ask and I will provide them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Boose, lots of boose. And toilet paper. Maybe some matches too. It's common practice to burn a couch at university parties.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Bibble
Is it worthwhile marking the hands of 21+ year olds even if I have no intention of restricting younger people from drinking? (maybe about 20 or so people on the guest list are under 21)

I'd be worried about this one. If a cop wanted to be a dick about it, I'd imagine you could get in a lot of trouble.

Also, as a peace and quiet freak, thank you for trying to keep your party fairly quiet.

 

[sjwaste]

Here's a practical tip: Strip the bathroom of everything you want preserved. Get rid of everything in the shower, the shower curtain, any rugs, toothbrushes, etc. Put them in your bedrooms. Lock your bedrooms. Put a stack of toilet paper on top of the toilet tank.

For as much as women are the fairer sex, they will destroy your bathroom and use anything to wipe if there is no TP. So get rid of everything in there except the TP.

As for underage kids, maybe just tell them to stay home. Yeah, I realize it's college and everybody ends up drinking. But if the cops do show up, that's one less thing they can hit you with.

Speaking of police. They'll probably come out on a noise complaint. One of your neighbors will complain, it just always happens. Or, the security for your apt complex will call it in themselves. Be respectful and do what they tell you to do. Unless you really are unlucky, they'll just tell you to keep it down, or to send some people home, or to keep it inside, etc. Don't make them come out again, or the party's probably breaking up and you're getting a noise violation. YMMV, as police are local, and I don't live where you live.

 

[CRXican]

You can put caution tape/tape over doors you don't want open, clearly it can be removed but it makes people think twice. If it's gone, you know it's time to go in and regulate.

 

[xanis]

You need to party-proof the house. Anything of value and anything that's not heavy or bolted to the walls/floors should be removed and locked in your bedroooms.

Also, I'm glad to see you're having plenty of booze. :thumbsup:

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Boose, lots of boose. And toilet paper. Maybe some matches too. It's common practice to burn a couch at university parties.

Better yet, get some booze. I hear it is popular at college.

 

[mesthead21]

Originally posted by: Xanis
You need to party-proof the house. Anything of value and anything that's not heavy or bolted to the walls/floors should be removed and locked in your bedroooms.

This.
I would definitely tell your neighbors you are planning on throwing a party and to come to you before they call the cops. It usually helps if your on good terms with your neighbors

 

[her209]

Lots of lube.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Bibble
Questions:

What are some general tips for throwing large parties? Remove valuables and put them in a safe place. Clean the bathrooms of stuff you don't want ruined. Block off areas of your apartment you don't want people to go into.

What are some general tips for throwing Halloween parties? Decorations are always good. You could have a theme to the drinks.

How do you deal with cops if they show up? (our music isn't going to be super loud and you won't be able to hear it unless you are within 10 feet of our house, but the sidewalk is 10 feet away) Have the most sober person that is on the lease talk to the cops outside of the unit. The rest of the people - quiet down the partiers, maybe start funneling people out the back if necessary.

How much booze is needed for 100 people? (mind you that they will likely be drinking at other parties before ours) IIRC, a keg is something like 160 12oz servings, but if you're using Solo cups, figure more like 100. 100 people can easily finish a keg if that is all there is to drink. Get a few handles of hard liquor for those that don't drink beer, etc. You may want to talk to people that have thrown larger parties to get a better idea of how much stuff to have. You can make the keg more efficient by having one of your roommates handle the distribution of beer from it.

Pros and cons of kegs vs. cans? (note: kegs are against my lease so we will only use them if we anticipate they provide a good amount of benefits over cans): Pro Keg: cheaper than cans overall, no cans to clean up (really good if people have a habit of walking outside and littering their cans all over; Cons: Slower distribution of booze, need lots of cups.

Is it worthwhile marking the hands of 21+ year olds even if I have no intention of restricting younger people from drinking? (maybe about 20 or so people on the guest list are under 21) If the local cops are understanding (ie: know that there is a college nearby), it shouldn't be too bad. But always be ready to funnel under 21 people out if the cops somehow do get inside your unit. How would you restrict it to over 21 anyway? Are you going to check IDs at the door? It might draw less of a crowd if you do, since many people in college have friends that straddle the 21 barrier.

Any recommendations for Halloween songs?


Thanks for your help guys. If you need more details just ask and I will provide them.

 

[weflyhigh]

When we have a party in our apartment, we will get 8-10 cases (30s) and around 2 handles. We don't like making a facebook event for it, but if we do (make sure its a private event!), we will invite around 100-150 people (mostly girls). 60-70 will say they are attending, 30-40 will say maybe and the rest decline. We'll invite our neighbors and people we care more about through text. It's hard to judge how many people actually show up (seems like a lot more) though
Our alcohol amount will usually be perfect, and if anything is left, we'll finish it the next day pregaming

hope that helps

tips: stock up on TP, kick out random kids (dudes who think they are sweet), in a house: have one door entrance and one exit, make sure people don't take beer with them (underage kid takes a beer, cop stops him, asks where he got it, says your house, etc), if a girl gets sick.. get her the FUCK out ASAP (know a few taxi numbers), make sure you have a good playlist for the dancefloor (play popular shit and ONCE during the night play miley cyrus party in the USA, girls will go fucking nuts) and keep it dark, don't mark hands that's dumb, have a good time regardless of what else is going on (keep a handle in your room of like skyy or something in case you need to invite a girl up there to take shots)

can vs keg: cans are MUCH faster, more sanitary, less spillage, but people waste a LOT more (set down a half full can and then go get a new one) and they are more expensive. With a keg, it is slower, but people need to finish their beer to get a new one and you have to worry about how many cups you need
cans win hands down, overall

 

[RichUK]

Whores.

 

[matas]

am in

 

[PCTC2]

Get two kegs and lots of party cups. And rent a carpet steamer for the next morning if you have carpet. You need to get the stuff out ASAP so it doesn't stain too permanently.

 

[heymrdj]

Make sure that this is all ok with your Apartment/dorm land lord/RA. They can crash your party within minutes should they so feel. I have a feeling what you're doing does not abide by the rules.

 

[Bibble]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Bibble
Is it worthwhile marking the hands of 21+ year olds even if I have no intention of restricting younger people from drinking? (maybe about 20 or so people on the guest list are under 21) If the local cops are understanding (ie: know that there is a college nearby), it shouldn't be too bad. But always be ready to funnel under 21 people out if the cops somehow do get inside your unit. How would you restrict it to over 21 anyway? Are you going to check IDs at the door? It might draw less of a crowd if you do, since many people in college have friends that straddle the 21 barrier.

We will not check IDs but probably will ask if they are 21. Those of us working the door will have a good idea who is not 21 because in many case we will know who is not a senior. I just thought it might cover my ass a little bit if I made some superficial attempt to prevent younger kids from drinking.

Originally posted by: heymrdj
Make sure that this is all ok with your Apartment/dorm land lord/RA. They can crash your party within minutes should they so feel. I have a feeling what you're doing does not abide by the rules.

My lease does not say anything about not having parties. The only relevant thing it says is that we're not allowed to have kegs on the premises. My landlord is never around and therefore I do not anticipate him seeing any kegs if we do decide to get them. My house literally shares a driveway with the place that sells kegs, so even delivering them will be a snap.

 

[villageidiot111]

Invite your neighbors so that they won't complain about the noise.

 

[The_Dude8]

take a lot of pictures and post it on here.

 

[Train]

Best party me and my college friends ever had, we had a "duty schedule" sounds stupid, but it worked, and tons of people said it was the best party they ever went to.

Duties, rotated every hour to keep it fun:

- 2 guys on the door, just having someone at the door tells people they not going to get away with doing stupid shit.
- 1 or 2 guys on the keg(s)/jungle juice, etc.
- 1 or 2 guys on the balcony/back/side door, this was huge. We kept a limit of 2 people on the balcony smoking at a time, with no drinks. Usually people would pack thier balcony with a bunch of stupid drunks. This is like a beacon to bring cops in. If cops roll by and only see two people smoking with no drinks, they dont know there is a party at all.
- Cop lookout. This is typically the same guy regulating the balcony, but depends on where the police would be coming from.
- Know your neighbors. If all of them are present, you can tell the cop who shows up with a noise complaint he's full of shit. Tell him your'e pre law and you're going to use the freedom of information act to obtain all calls from that night, and if there isn't a noise complaint prior to the time he showed up, you'll go after his badge. This could backfire though as he will find ONE person underage and use it as an excuse to ruin your life, so use legal power as a last resort.
- Bribe the complex security guard. If your in an apt, sometimes they have a guy there at night who's job it is to call the cops when there's a party. Ours was an old vietnam vet. Me and my roomate walked up to his truck, gave him a carton of reds, and let him tell a few war stories. We then told him we had a party going on that night and it'd be cool if he left us alone. He actually kept the cops away from our building for us.
- 1 guy on DJ duty. Dont let random drunk idiots fuck with the stereo. Get someone who knows a good party/dance mix and keep him in charge of it. Bring him drinks so he doesnt have to leave the DJ station.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Originally posted by: Train
Best party me and my college friends ever had, we had a "duty schedule" sounds stupid, but it worked, and tons of people said it was the best party they ever went to.

Duties, rotated every hour to keep it fun:

- 2 guys on the door, just having someone at the door tells people they not going to get away with doing stupid shit.
- 1 or 2 guys on the keg(s)/jungle juice, etc.
- 1 or 2 guys on the balcony/back/side door, this was huge. We kept a limit of 2 people on the balcony smoking at a time, with no drinks. Usually people would pack thier balcony with a bunch of stupid drunks. This is like a beacon to bring cops in. If cops roll by and only see two people smoking with no drinks, they dont know there is a party at all.
- Cop lookout. This is typically the same guy regulating the balcony, but depends on where the police would be coming from.
- Know your neighbors. If all of them are present, you can tell the cop who shows up with a noise complaint he's full of shit. Tell him your'e pre law and you're going to use the freedom of information act to obtain all calls from that night, and if there isn't a noise complaint prior to the time he showed up, you'll go after his badge. This could backfire though as he will find ONE person underage and use it as an excuse to ruin your life, so use legal power as a last resort.
- Bribe the complex security guard. If your in an apt, sometimes they have a guy there at night who's job it is to call the cops when there's a party. Ours was an old vietnam vet. Me and my roomate walked up to his truck, gave him a carton of reds, and let him tell a few war stories. We then told him we had a party going on that night and it'd be cool if he left us alone. He actually kept the cops away from our building for us.
- 1 guy on DJ duty. Dont let random drunk idiots fuck with the stereo. Get someone who knows a good party/dance mix and keep him in charge of it. Bring him drinks so he doesnt have to leave the DJ station.

Depending where you are, do not try that. If I pulled that in Irvine, you bet they would have pulled everyones asses out and ticketed me for being an asshole. Theres nothing more that cops hate than some drunk college student acting like hes the shit. You'd be surprised with what you can get away with if you're polite and understanding to them. Just listen to them, apologize, turn the music down and if necessary kick the idiots out.

We wouldnt let underage people party with us period, no if ands or buts. It was too much on us to let it happen, plus if you get caught you're fucked. (500 dollar ticket per resident on lease + sharing blame for anything stupid they get caught doing)

You're right about the apt security dudes, ours came and partied with us

 

[Bibble]

Originally posted by: Train
Best party me and my college friends ever had, we had a "duty schedule" sounds stupid, but it worked, and tons of people said it was the best party they ever went to.

Duties, rotated every hour to keep it fun:

- 2 guys on the door, just having someone at the door tells people they not going to get away with doing stupid shit.
- 1 or 2 guys on the keg(s)/jungle juice, etc.
- 1 or 2 guys on the balcony/back/side door, this was huge. We kept a limit of 2 people on the balcony smoking at a time, with no drinks. Usually people would pack thier balcony with a bunch of stupid drunks. This is like a beacon to bring cops in. If cops roll by and only see two people smoking with no drinks, they dont know there is a party at all.
- Cop lookout. This is typically the same guy regulating the balcony, but depends on where the police would be coming from.
- Know your neighbors. If all of them are present, you can tell the cop who shows up with a noise complaint he's full of shit. Tell him your'e pre law and you're going to use the freedom of information act to obtain all calls from that night, and if there isn't a noise complaint prior to the time he showed up, you'll go after his badge. This could backfire though as he will find ONE person underage and use it as an excuse to ruin your life, so use legal power as a last resort.
- Bribe the complex security guard. If your in an apt, sometimes they have a guy there at night who's job it is to call the cops when there's a party. Ours was an old vietnam vet. Me and my roomate walked up to his truck, gave him a carton of reds, and let him tell a few war stories. We then told him we had a party going on that night and it'd be cool if he left us alone. He actually kept the cops away from our building for us.
- 1 guy on DJ duty. Dont let random drunk idiots fuck with the stereo. Get someone who knows a good party/dance mix and keep him in charge of it. Bring him drinks so he doesnt have to leave the DJ station.

Thanks, this is great advice. I live in a house, not an apartment complex, so that part doesn't apply to me at all. I will definitely organize things such that guys are at the doors and managing the stereo. My neighbors on two sides are students and they certainly will not have a problem with us partying. Across the street is a laundromat that will be closed by party time. The only variable is the neighbor to the right of us who never answers his/her door when we try to introduce ourselves (he/she may not be home). I will try and get in contact with that person asap. I don't think I will invite him/her though as it is a townie who is likely much older than us.

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: PhoKingGuy

Originally posted by: Train
Best party me and my college friends ever had, we had a "duty schedule" sounds stupid, but it worked, and tons of people said it was the best party they ever went to.

Duties, rotated every hour to keep it fun:

- 2 guys on the door, just having someone at the door tells people they not going to get away with doing stupid shit.
- 1 or 2 guys on the keg(s)/jungle juice, etc.
- 1 or 2 guys on the balcony/back/side door, this was huge. We kept a limit of 2 people on the balcony smoking at a time, with no drinks. Usually people would pack thier balcony with a bunch of stupid drunks. This is like a beacon to bring cops in. If cops roll by and only see two people smoking with no drinks, they dont know there is a party at all.
- Cop lookout. This is typically the same guy regulating the balcony, but depends on where the police would be coming from.
- Know your neighbors. If all of them are present, you can tell the cop who shows up with a noise complaint he's full of shit. Tell him your'e pre law and you're going to use the freedom of information act to obtain all calls from that night, and if there isn't a noise complaint prior to the time he showed up, you'll go after his badge. This could backfire though as he will find ONE person underage and use it as an excuse to ruin your life, so use legal power as a last resort.
- Bribe the complex security guard. If your in an apt, sometimes they have a guy there at night who's job it is to call the cops when there's a party. Ours was an old vietnam vet. Me and my roomate walked up to his truck, gave him a carton of reds, and let him tell a few war stories. We then told him we had a party going on that night and it'd be cool if he left us alone. He actually kept the cops away from our building for us.
- 1 guy on DJ duty. Dont let random drunk idiots fuck with the stereo. Get someone who knows a good party/dance mix and keep him in charge of it. Bring him drinks so he doesnt have to leave the DJ station.

Depending where you are, do not try that. If I pulled that in Irvine, you bet they would have pulled everyones asses out and ticketed me for being an asshole. Theres nothing more that cops hate than some drunk college student acting like hes the shit. You'd be surprised with what you can get away with if you're polite and understanding to them. Just listen to them, apologize, turn the music down and if necessary kick the idiots out.

We wouldnt let underage people party with us period, no if ands or buts. It was too much on us to let it happen, plus if you get caught you're fucked. (500 dollar ticket per resident on lease + sharing blame for anything stupid they get caught doing)

You're right about the apt security dudes, ours came and partied with us

right, note that I said "use legal power as a last resort"

As for not allowing underage kids... easier said than done. If they can get into bars with fakes, they will get into your parties with fakes. And if the cops are determined, they WILL find one.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Hide all your valuables in the vehicles you own. Remove all of your car keys and house keys from the house - pockets are fine.


Expect your party to be shut down within 1hr of it starting unless you have a giant frat sized basement.

 

[Kirby]

I love Halloween parties. I'm throwing one this year too. The year before last, we sorta merged with another party and had at least 300 people. Charge people more if they don't wear a costume.

 

[Rebasxer]

As someone who has been throwing 300+ person parties for two years now, I'll give you the advice that I have learned.

1. The people that live there need to be relatively sober, you need someone who can talk to the cops, they're generally a lot nicer when a sober guy is talking to them then some drunk kid spitting on himself
2. Keep people out of restricted areas, we don't let people go upstairs because the party is downstairs.
3. Hide everything valuable that could get stolen. All of our gamesystems, laptops (except the one playing the music), ipods phones and even our plasma get moved upstairs and locked away.
4. This is the most important thing of controlling any party, control the smokers. There will be hordes of people in your backyard all smoking or standing, while this is inevitable, make sure smokers go back in as soon as they finish thier cigs, nothing attracts cops more like 200 people all screaming in a back yard.
5. If your're playing music, don't use an ipod, use a laptop, and make sure the laptop has a password so people can't change the playlist.
6. Get less alcohol then you really need. Usually people will be so smashed by the time they show up, they don't need to drink that much anyhow. The average party starts at around 10pm and should run to about 1 or 2. It takes 300 people roughly 45 minutes to kick a keg, but realize that the party won't get big until around 11-1130 when word gets out. The best way to make sure a party stays under control is to make sure there is enough beer in the kegs for about 2 hours of solid beer flowing, and after that give it an hour before people finally finish their last cups and head home. Make sure you have a few back up 30's stashed away incase you and you're buddies, or girls want to stay and keep drinking.