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Facts about throwing good parties

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Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#111

Post by com2kid »

mingus88 wrote: post #25
johnsillings wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds way better that way

They are called potlucks or cookouts in the U.S. and they happen all the time. In fact, they are probably a lot more common than having a huge party (so large that you have to invite people in batches of half a dozen at a time) completely planned and executed by a single person. This article is good, don’t get me wrong, but this type of event planning is not really representative of how folk in the U.S. get together

Some summers I plan on BBQing every weekend and I throw invites out on Thursday. People typically bring something and we all have a good time.

For the parties as described in the article, I maybe go to one or two a year tops. Before I had a kid I used to host large parties like the kind described (~15 people tops though), now I just attend and contribute.

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#112

Post by crm9125 »

ssl-3 wrote: post #70
ibejoeb wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were the parties every the same, or did he bring the wild?

I'd like to write about the party where my friend showed up with no clothes at all (neither on him, nor with him) aside from t set of Playboy Bunny ears on top of his head, but I'm out of time for storytelling right now. Perhaps another day.

"neither on him, nor with him"

This is definitely jointly directed by Rogen and Tarantino and I will be watching all 3 hours of it.

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#114

Post by cvoss »

> The biggest problem at many parties is an endless escalation of volume. If you know how to fix this, let me know.

Ideally, a guest breaks a cheap glass. The sound is heard across the house. The helpers immediately spring into action, leaving their conversations behind, looking for towels and a dustpan. The people nearby go mute with sympathetic embarrassment. Much ado is made of finding every shard. Meanwhile you are laboring over a replacement drink for the guest, which you graciously present in protest to their apologies. The party resumes at 70% volume.

Also happened with a lamp on one occasion.

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#115

Post by possibleworlds »

buildsjets wrote: post #7

I sure miss the kind of parties where they have to get an emergency court order to cut power the building at 3am. I learned everything I need to know about throwing parties from Dave Barry. If you throw a party, the worst thing that you can do would be to throw the kind of party where your guests wake up today, and call you to say they had a nice time. Now you'll be be expected to throw another party next year. What…

> If your party is successful, the police will knock on your door, unless your party is very successful in which case they will lob tear gas through your living room window.

I threw a party (illegal, on the beach, with great music) so successful the police just provided security at the parking lot entrance 1km away because they didn’t want > 400 wasted people roaming the affluent neighbourhood if shut down. Oh there were also nudists at the beach when we were ferrying in our gear at sunset who stayed for the whole thing and ended up on the dancefloor in their birthday suits at 2am.

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#116

Post by jkaptur »

"Couples often flake together. This changes the probability distribution of attendees considerably"

It's interesting to consider the full correlation matrix! Groups of friends may tend to flake together too, people who live in the same neighborhood might rely on the same subways or highways...

I think this is precisely the same problem as pricing a CDO, so a Gaussian Copula or graphical model is really what you need. To plan a great party.

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#117

Post by henry2023 »

zie wrote: post #53
buildsjets wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say a different era rather than a different reality. The Dave Barry quote is obviously humor. But back from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, I was genuinely at numerous house parties, basement concerts, and un-permitted raves which where broken up by authorities, including some where the power was cut, (or worse, where the music was cut and lights flipped on full bright) and the cops forced everyone to pile int…

> I don't hear bumping bass from the neighborhoods on Saturday night like I used to. You obviously just moved neighborhoods :)

https://www.derekthompson.org/p/the-death-of-partying-in-the...

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#118

Post by henry2023 »

zhivota wrote: post #66
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Posts like this really make me feel like I'm living in a completely different reality from some people. I can't tell how much of this is exaggerated for comedic value and how much of it is genuine.

Both honestly. For the guy who wrote it, it was comedy. But people do live like this. It just doesn't usually end all that well for them.

I’d say is not different to having a hobby. If you spend so much time on any hobby such that you neglect your work or your family then yeah it’ll lead to trouble.

Re: Facts about throwing good parties

#119

Post by semitones »

dyauspitr wrote: post #97
nicbou wrote: post #15

I prefer to invite people individually, and create a group chat with those who confirmed. Nothing is more demoralising than 24 hours of people saying they won’t come, in the group chat, right before the event. My flake rate is close to zero, mostly because people personally told me they’ll join. It doesn’t hurt to get the group chat hyped up on the day of the event. The activity is enough to get people excited. I als…

This is ridiculous. When I throw parties I tell a couple of my friends and tell them to tell others and people just show up. Americans are living in some sort of parallel dimension.

There are certain kinds of styles of gatherings that do much better when there are 40-50 people present, rather than 10-20. If you are going for a low pressure hang and want 10-20, it's easy enough to just tell friends and tell them to tell others, you'll hit those numbers easy. If you are trying to do something a bit more memorable and you want to guarantee a higher turnout, you have to invest more effort into ensuring attendance. If you can get 50+ people to "just show up" without putting effort in, that means _someone_ (one of your friends) is putting the effort in, you're in college, or you're just super hot and famous
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