How to Have the Best Lip Sync Battle Party

A few Friday nights ago was my lip sync battle themed 30th birthday party. To say it was fun would be an understatement. Of course in all the excitement I didn't take the time to take proper pictures of the set up (just me and my friends rocking it out), but I still wanted to share with you what I did to pull off this fun party. 

First things first, most importantly you need music! What I did was have as many friends as possible give me the songs they planned to sing at the party and created a YouTube playlist but I also left it open for friends to sign up for songs the night of since many of them saw how much fun it was and wanted to participate. 
I was lucky enough that I had a friend who was a DJ and I borrowed her equipment for the party BUT there are so many other options if you don't have DJ equipment or want to spend the money on a DJ. For example, speakers like this one project amazing sound as well and can be set up for Bluetooth so you can just use your phone!

The next important item on your list is props. You can't have a lip sync battle without microphones (I purchased a pack of toy ones off of amazon)  but you also need fun props for your lip-syncers and the crowd to have too. I went to the dollar store and just walked around and grabbed random items like bead necklaces, glow stick bracelets, glow stick clappers, noisemakers, crowns , feather boas and so much more. I also purchased a 12 pack of sunglasses for everyone to grab while performing or taking pictures. 

The biggest hits of the night were definitely the glow stick hand clappers I bought from the dollar store. If you can't find them, these would work out good too, since my friends just seem to like to make noise. I encouraged everyone to grab some kind of noisemaker at the start of the evening and made sure to make noise after each lip-syncer went so that everyone encouraged everyone else on. 

Lastly, what's a party without party favors? Everyone got one of these  party favors, because everyone participated, those who chose not to lip sync got to be the judges to determine who won the award that I bought for the winner, which wasn't the greatest of awards but it was still pretty fantastic. 

Throw in some good food and drinks, fun friends, and good music and I promise you will have the best lip sync party ever! 

I Had a Simpson's Themed Wedding

Based on this title, I know what some of you are thinking....EW who has a cartoon theme for their wedding?!? And that's fine, having a unique theme like The Simpsons isn't for everyone. Our wedding was, in my opinion, still elegant and classy, but with a touch of fun because that's what we are, fun. I didn't want a hoity-toity wedding, I wanted my guests to feel comfortable and have enjoy themselves. 

I've watched The Simpson's my entire life. I literally can't remember a time where I didn't watch them. They've always been one of my favorite shows (Squishee is even named after the drink from the show!). Luckily for me, Dave is also a fan and has been since he was a kid too, so for us, it was the perfect way to incorporate a little bit of us into our wedding. 

We didn't have a full blown nothing-but-Simpson's wedding. We had a few touches of Simpson's theme, along with a color theme, which was royal purple. 

I found a cake topper on eBay that was Homer and Marge in wedding attire, which sat atop our cake:

For seating table cards, my mom, mother in law, and I all searched high and low for Simpson's Pez dispensers and taped the guest's name to the body of the dispenser. 

Each table was named for a Simpson's character and each table had a picture along with a figurine. The table cards had a picture of the character and then the guests name, followed by the character's table name. So for example, you'd have a card that would say Joseph Smith followed by Moe Syszlak's Table. 

My mom, who is ridiculously talented, painted a pretzel tin to look like a Duff beer can, where guests could deposit cards. 

Finally, when Dave and I were introduced, they played Green Day's version of The Simpson's theme.

And that my friends is how I had a Simpson's themed wedding! 

Unique Graduation Party Ideas

This past Sunday, Dave and my mom threw a graduation party for me. My mom went all out with this party and came up with some really great ideas for the graduation theme that I wanted to share with you!

First, for dessert, my mom had a cake custom made that was made to look like books. The "subject" for each book was my major and minor. 

She also made cupcakes since she wasn't sure if the cake would be enough to feed everyone (it was and then some!). On top of each cupcake she decorated it with graduation themed toppers. 

She also had a candy table with bags that guests could fill up and take home as a goody bag. She made homemade chocolate hats in the shape of graduation caps in the colors of my school as well as regular chocolate. She used a mold very similar to this. She also placed most of the candy in empty boxes (similar) that are shaped to look like books, it was really cute! 

She also made chocolate covered pretzels in my school colors too!

She also had an assortment of candy in my school colors as well as "Nerds" and "Smarties"...get it? Ha ha!

For cards, my mom made (MADE!) a card box that was shaped to look like a graduation cap. She is so creative, it's insane. 

My mom also created little tags with keys attached to them, to act as the "guest book". Guests were instructed to write their own "keys to success" for me to read. I have to say this was probably one of my favorite things about the party, my friends and family's suggestions ranged from inspirational to hilarious. 

I hope this suggestions come in handy if you ever have to throw a graduation party!