Not Just Your Average Entertainment

Hosting a party usually involves more than just providing food and beverages, there is often entertainment involved.

Traditionally parties may have bands or disc jockeys, but there are other ways of providing entertainment that can be much more interactive and much less costly. These forms of entertainment are often music or dance themes, but can also include games, performances, art and even specific themes. Using your imagination and coming up with unique and original types of entertainment for your guests will help to make your event memorable and fun for all involved.

One of the keys for determining unique and original types of entertainment for you guests is to determine what the interests of your guests may be. If you are hosting a party for a specific age group, workplace or family you may be able to be very specific on the interests that the group will have. For example, if you are planning a party for coworkers there will be a common interest in the work that is completed in the office. This can sometimes lead to a natural theme for entertainment that everyone will have some level of knowledge about. Parties that have a wide variety of guests, such as birthday parties, weddings or anniversaries may need a more general theme so that everyone can participate and enjoy the entertainment.

There are several different unique and original types of entertainment that can be modified and adjusted to fit in with almost any style of party. Each one is relatively easy to plan for and require little, if any, preplanning by the host or hostess.

Air Band Competitions

Similar to karaoke, air band competitions get the whole group participating. To host an air band competition all that is required is a stage or band area and a tape player or CD player. With the invitations let people know that you will be hosting an air band competition at the party. You can choose to give prizes for best-dressed band, most authentic looking band, and best overall performance. By allowing guests lots of time in advance they can get their "band" together as well as prepare costumes. You may even want to give categories of music to help guests get the idea of what you are anticipating.

Plan to have some prizes to give away to the winners in each category, or even have a small thank you prize for each participant. You may want to consider giving away small, personalized gifts like key chains with the name of the party engraved on the fob.

Skits

A great way to get people involved in the festive atmosphere of a party is to have guests participate in skits. Either the skit topics can be given out in advance or they can be given to guests at the party. Since there is usually a limited amount of time to plan and practice, consider using well-known stories, fairy tales or movies as the start to the skit, and just have the group come up with an alternate ending. Set a timeline for the groups to work on the skit, and then allow time for the presentation. It is always a good idea to set a time limit on the skit to avoid groups from over planning their alternate ending. A good idea is to have the introduction to the skit written out in very brief form just incase some members of the party aren't familiar with the stories.

Experts

If you are having a party that will have a specialized audience consider having an expert come in and do a presentation. For example, if you were having food as the central theme of the party consider having a chef or professional caterer do a presentation on preparing a special dish. If you are having a small group it may be possible to do this in your own kitchen and make your own version of a TV cooking show with the caterer or chef acting as the guest performer.

For a group of all ladies why not consider having a "Pamper Yourself Party". Invite cosmetologist, beauticians, massage therapists and even hair stylists to come to the party. The guests can spend a day at the spa right in your own home as the entertainment. Many of the professionals that you ask may be willing to do this for a very small flat fee or a per person charge. Be sure to make up a gift bag for each guest that includes brochures and advertising for all the professionals that are involved in your party.

Games

Most people love games of all sorts. For your next party you may want to have a casino game night or a board game night. People that come to the party can take turns playing the various games or you can hire staff to act as dealers and casino workers. A games night can be done relatively inexpensively if you shop around at garage sales or ask friends and family for games. Since some board games take longer to play than others you may want to have a bell that rings every 30 minutes or so that allows people to change games. You can set up a casino or games room and even give out your very own party bucks that you can print out on your own home computer. At the end of the evening have prizes that their money can be traded in for. A great idea is to have the prizes all wrapped in brown paper or gift wrap so that they are also mystery prizes. Some of the prizes can be gag gifts and some can be more serious gifts.

Regardless of the type of original entertainment that you plan for your guests remember to ensure that you will have time to enjoy the evening yourself.----------------------------------------------If you are a business owner get listed at Best Entertaintment Site, part of Localwin Network.