An Essential Guide to Throwing the Perfect 20th Birthday
To me, life is lived in decades. You learn how to crawl in the first ten years of your life. The next ten teach you how to stand up so that you are ready to walk in the following ten years of your life—here come your twenties!
As college students, the most terrifying notion is the fact that one day, not far from now, all this will end. The time to figure things out is coming to an end and you now need to do something in life or live in shame. Nothing, arguably, encapsulates this fear more than turning twenty.
The end of your teenage years is an occasion not many look forward to. It is the most obvious indicator of your mortality, reminding you—incessantly—that you are not a kid anymore. The voice in your head makes you rue your last day at age nineteen. It will make you want to relive your entire childhood in those final moments, make more mistakes, be completely stupid, go out late, dance until your feet ache, drive until your ass is sore, and just be your unapologetic self because all you can think of is how the fun part of life is over. In all this internal chaos, however, you end up forgetting the most important part: the final day of your teenage life is also the first of your adult life, so celebrate it—and begin with a bang!
Here are your essentials for throwing the perfect funeral for your teenage self!
Now, I don’t have to tell you how to throw the party itself—you know better. Do the lights, drinks, and speakers… and you have yourself a college party. Nevertheless, there are some essentials that, if you choose to, can enhance your party experience more than you care to believe.
- Theme: Everyone wants a theme for their party. It adds an element of fun and uniformity. However, not many college students care to follow the theme, because they do not have the means to go shopping every time there is a new party. Therefore, make sure that whatever you pick is an easy-to-follow dress code. That is, make it more color-centric, pattern-centric, or accessory-centric than an elaborate costume. Some inspo for your theme could be “‘til Death Do We Party” for a black and white party, “celeBRAT” for a green party reminiscent of Brat Summer, and “Decaying” for a fall-theme colored party; the options are endless!
- Music: Make a playlist. I cannot stress enough. In the middle of everything you will not have time or the presence of mind to queue up banger after banger, so make a playlist. Start with something like summer house music to settle everyone in, move on to the 2010s pop hits or Travis-like rap, always ending with Britney Spears classics!
- Invite: Make an invite, on a design site such as Canva, that incorporates elements of your decor. Essentially, If you are going to have red lights at the party and the theme is to wear black, make the invitation black and red!
- Snacks: Normally, no one keeps snacks around at a college house party unless it’s a gathering of friends. That being said, I would recommend keeping 2-3 bags of party-size crisps or any other snack out next to the beverages for the first hour of the party. This will allow your guests to mingle over snacks before the real party sets in.
- Lock up: It goes without saying that aside from one bathroom, lock every room or cabinet in your apartment when throwing. Get a bag of Zipties and close all your valuables in your cabinets. Never lose a fork or clean up puke from your air fryer again!
- Recovery: Finally, do not forget a healthy stash of liquid IV or Gatorade to stay hydrated the morning after!
The tradition of crying on your birthday is long and historic, but, like all bad things, it must come to an end. After two long decades of waiting to stand up, you are finally allowed to walk into the world. So do it. Happy Funeral!
