Throw a Theme Party

Entertaining expert Dana Christine shares great ideas for throwing theme parties to celebrate special occasions. Select an occasion for your party - birthday, anniversaries, graduation, engagement or even a religious celebration.

Select a theme and decorations such as western, tropical, sports or other ideas. Try to get napkins, place cards, balloons and other decorations that correlate with the theme. Create a guest list, send invitations and decide what type of food is appropriate for the occasion.

Tropical Luau

• Decorate with leis, mini palms tree, coconuts and tropical colors.
• Drill holes in fresh coconuts, insert straws and serve guests fresh coconut milk.
• Plan to do a Polynesian cookout featuring ham, pineapple and mahi-mahi.
• Have a sand pail filled with leis at the door so that when your guests arrive, they can put one on.
• Use key chains with little sandals attached as place cards.
• Line the buffet with a grass skirt.

Retro

• Pick your time period - '30s gangsters, '40s swing, '50s rock-and-roll, '60s hippie or '70s disco.
• For a '50s theme, set out condiments in classic diner-type squeeze bottles, and chromed napkin dispensers. Or serve old-fashioned cocktails and martinis for a Roaring '20s theme.
• Stick with the diner theme for the menu. Serve cheeseburgers, fries and shakes for the '50s theme or fondue for the '70s theme.

Movie Awards

• Cut out cardboard stars with black and gold ribbon and scatter them over the table.
• Have children and their friends act like paparazzi, using single-flash cameras. When guests arrive, they'll feel like real movie stars.
• Place televisions throughout the home so your guests don't miss a thing.
• Cut out decorative gold statues with cardboard or foam board.
• Hand out ballots to your guests and make a game of guessing the winners. Whoever guesses the highest number of wins gets free movie passes.