I Want to Have a Party

At some point over the weekend, something triggered a need to have a party. I have no idea why I suddenly want to have a party, but I do. I don’t know what would happen at this party. I don’t know who I would invite. But I want to have a party.

But, do I really? Parties are incredibly difficult. I mean, I’m past the age now where a party consists of a keg and my favorite CDs on shuffle in the CD player. If I were to have a party, I’d have to buy wine and bottled beer – and a variety of each. Red wines and whites. Dark beer, light beer. Water and soda for the non-drinkers. I would probably have to pick up some vodka or some sort of alcoholic mixer for the people who like those drinks.

And that’s just for drinks. When you go to parties with people my age, you have to have food. Not just chips and dip. You need cool finger foods that people can rave over. You need homemade guacamole and hummus. Fancy fruits and veggies. Dessert trays. Something no one has tried before. Planning the food is incredibly stressful.

But, let’s say you get all the food and beverages perfect. Then what? Will people even show up? You send out your Facebook invite to the selected guests and each day (okay, let’s be real, several times a day) you check to see who has accepted, who has maybe’d themselves, and who – gasp – has declined. You watch the declines double in numbers from the accepted. You fear that the people who you are still awaiting replies from will see these declines and think the party will suck. You wonder why they can’t just say whether or not they are coming because you need to make sure you have enough of those awesome foods and beverages. But, secretly, you also fear that they might all show up and that even though you want your party to be a success, you mistakenly couldn’t whittle the guest list down and you really don’t want 200 people at your house. Or do you?

Because, once these people show up at your house and you’ve handed them the drink of their choosing and they’ve sampled the food menu, what are they going to do?

Parties these days require some sort of theme – a purpose. The last party I threw was for my CD release. I had bands. The party had a reason to be. I don’t want to have bands at my new party. Well, I wouldn’t be opposed to that, but that’s a whole other logistical issue that I just don’t know if I want to deal with at this time. So what would we do? Stand around and talk to each other? That seems weird, doesn’t it? Why is that? What is so strange about a group of adults having drinks, eating foods, talking, and listening to the awesome playlist I spent weeks putting together for the party? Because, I would have to make an awesome playlist.

I’ve always entertained the idea of having a game night party. I know people have game nights all the time. But I wanted to have one that consisted of many games being played throughout the house. Trivial Pursuit in one area, Twister, Rock Band, cards in another. People would then have something to focus on. An icebreaker. I understand it’s awkward to go to a party that you might not know a lot of people and walk in and try to find a place to park yourself for the night. You only ever end up talking to the person you came there with. Mingling is impossible.

But, at the same time, forcing people to play games all night seems a little cruel. So then what? What would be the purpose – besides a group of people getting together in a non-bar and enjoying each other’s company?

This is the stress of a party and why I probably will not have one.