So, Halloween is over and you had so much homework that there was not enough time to ‘go out’ for more than one of Halloween’s – minimum, obligatory – three nights. What if you still want a reason to dress up? What can you do with all of the awesome costume ideas that you didn’t have the time to execute? What the hell is November for, anyway? Solution: theme parties. A lot of them. Go.

I held an informal poll** among like-minded, twentysomething Montrealers of both genders (students, professionals, Montreal natives and visiting foreigners alike), asking for the best and most unique theme party ideas they had. The results, as expected, were equal parts inventive and ridiculous. In this city, there are only two things to do when the cold weather hits: hibernate and drink – and you may as well be dressed as mayonnaise (see below) to do it. Enjoy!

Some ideas from the girls:

“Love/Hate is a good theme. I’ve been to a party like this before, where everyone dresses up as something they love, or something they hate. For instance, I went as a picture of cats-in-hats (I love them). One friend went as mayonnaise (she hates it) and another friend went as knitting (she also hates it). You get the idea.”

“How about a food group party? You need a space with at least five rooms. Each room represents one food group (i.e. meat, grains, etc.) Everyone dresses up as some type of food and sorts themselves into their respective rooms accordingly. In order to navigate rooms and ‘mingle’ you must find a food item to which you are complementary. For example, if you are dressed as cereal and thus are in the ‘grains’ room, you can enter into the ‘dairy’ room if you go find someone dressed as milk. Just so everyone knows why you are there though, you should probably make sure to link arms with your food-partner.”

“What about those parties where everyone wears a mask of someone’s mum?”

Some ideas from the boys:

“We did a prohibition themed party once where we decorated the house with 1920s trinkets and had everyone dress up as flappers or fancy suit whipper-snappers. Alcohol was banned of course so everyone had to hide their drinks in inconspicuous containers. We played music from the twenties all night and tried to learn how to dance the foxtrot!”

“Everybody wears a mask, but most importantly, no one can talk, thereby turning it into a ‘body-talk’ themed party. If you want to communicate, it must be done through your body … or other innovative matters.”

“Golf pros and tennis hoes are the only real parties!”

Need costumes? Check out some local costume stores and vintage sales!

**A really long G-Mail thread and some text messages.

~ Tyler Yank