How I did it: Well I love to put on fancy dresses but aside from Halloween, or conventions and SCA events (which I've never actually attended) I don't really get the opportunity.

So a friend and I decided to throw a costume dinner party for Christmas.  We rented a hall where he had had some family event before, and put up decorations and had about 20 guests.  It was amazing, and I had never been to a party like that. 

We decided to do it again about 6 months later, and keep throwing them every 6 months or so.  As time went on, we had better themes for our parties so more people came in costume, and at our largest one so far we had about 80 people.

Lessons & tips: If you want people to dress up, make sure that you have a theme that will encourage the kind of costumes you want.  We had a Regency theme at one event, and only a few people dressed up because it's not an easy theme to dress for.  A lot of people came to that event just for the free food.  We learned our lesson though, and since then have chosen easier themes (Roman games, Steampunk, Vampires, 1940s, Fairies and mythical creatures.)

We also learned that once you reach about 40 people or so, a sit-down dinner is not as practical as a buffet.

Resources: We documented the struggles of each event at www.fabulousparties.org.

The local parks department is a great resource for finding less-expensive banquet halls to rent.

Feeding 30+ people is not so daunting when you shop at a restaurant supply store like Cash and Carry, but Costco works well too. 

Sep 23, 11:12PM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer