Waltz check list:
1. Waltz “Save the Date page" created on Facebook -Check
2. Facebook invites sent out to every person you've exchanged at least one sentence with, or a drunken bathroom heart to heart with -Check
3. WALTZ theme? Torn between 8 different ideas, mainly because you don't know if you want a scandalous/ratchet Waltz or a “cutesy" Waltz.
4. WALTZ outfit? Haven't looked into it.
5. Pregame location? Little's place. Or maybe that one guy in that one fraternity that that one girl introduced me to will hold my pre game at his frat.
6. Stressed? Absolutely.
Welcome to Planning the Perfect WALTZ for Dummies.
You're turning the BIG 2-1. Your Waltz night is your one and only opportunity for all your sorority sisters to finally bow down to you as “The Waltz Queen", to pop bottles, dress up in ridiculously scandalous costumes, rally and celebrate your big day. You finally have a free pass to stop playing babysitter for the night, and you have a chance to use your 21st birthday as an excuse to do whatever you feel like doing without being judged. It's your night to miraculously end up in the Westcott fountain, with your glitter dipped champagne bottle in hand, to shout to all of College Ave and the drunken freshman stumbling back to Jennie Murphree, “It's MAH BIRTHDAY, Betchez!!!" The thought of your Waltz is all rainbows and butterflies until you realize… “Oh wait, I actually have to plan this thing."
Picking your Waltz Theme is the most stressful part of planning your perfect Waltz. You don't want your Waltz theme to be cliché, but you also don't want it to be too “out there." You want a scandalous theme, but not “too scandy", and your theme must be easy for sisters to dress up for, but you also want your Waltzin sister friends' outfits to stand out, so they can be labeled as “your people", when you're all out at the bar.
In order to finally decide on a theme, go on a brain-storming shopping trip with your little. Not only does your little know you better than you know yourself, which comes in handy when you're indecisive about decisions concerning your waltz, but she is also bound to have suggestions and ideas you can collaborate with her about. Forever 21, Party City and the Halloween store on Tennessee Street are great stores to start sifting through for you waltz outfit and theme ideas. Finding the perfect waltz outfit could potentially be your inspiration piece for a specific theme.
Log onto your Pinterest and type “21st Birthday Waltz" into the search bar. There are endless amounts of adorable Waltz related pins that will help kick your creativity into gear.
Your Waltz sign is the first thing that catches every peasant's attention when they watch you “enter the gates" of the club of your choice and make your grand entry as you hop down the bus stairs and then face plant.. obviously because of your overwhelming soberness. With that being said, your waltz sign MUST be flawless. Go to Michael's and buy a vibrant and colorful ribbon to tie your sign around your neck, cardboard to cut and shape your sign into something that will flow with your waltz theme, a basket full of glitter, rhinestones, paint pens, paint and mini crafts such as glue-on flowers, gems, beads and feathers that will add pizazz to your sign. A decked out waltz sign will instantly notify everyone in the club that its your big 2-1, which will cause them to shower you with attention.
The sound of the words “Waltz Banner" gives every soon to be 21st birthday Queen a mini heart attack. This banner will eventually hang front and center from your very own sorority and will be the back drop of every picture Instagramed at your pregame. But don't fret, there is bound to be a sister with inhumane abilities to make your sign look like a masterpiece. Lots of glitter, pops of vibrant color and a pre-drawn replica of the exact image of the banner of your dreams are key elements for designing a kick a** banner. Before you leave your house to buy the paint, glitter, banner sheet, etc., draw out your visual of what you want your banner to look like on a sheet of paper. Your sorority is bound to have a projector that you can use to project your pre-sketched image onto the banner, so that you can trace your exact drawing, enabling you to have zero room for mistakes.
Drinks are the only thing on your mind the morning you wake up on your Waltz day and Pinterest will save the day, yet again, due to all of its genius alcoholic beverage ideas. Type in “Alcoholic Beverages" in your Pinterest search bar and a rainbow of mouth-watering pictures of savory, fruity drinks will await you. If you click on a couple of drinks that look appealing to you for your waltz, the recipe will instantly pop up for you to follow. Do not be that girl that buys club soda and 3 bottles of Skol. Leaving out delicious hunch punch at the pregame will ensure all of your guest's drunkenness and you will be sure to have at least a quarter of the hunch punch left over (which you will probably end up drinking the day after due to post Waltz blues), once the busses arrive. Jello shots, moonshine cherries and liquor soaked pineapple are also fun “party favors" to offer as well. Don't forget to buy at least two champagne bottles to pop, because champagne is absolutely necessary for your big day and you have every right to make it rain alcohol. Baking brownies and cookies will have all of your drunken sister friends literally bowing down to you.
Ultimately, splurge a little for your Waltz. Allow yourself to be Queen for a day, because you deserve to feel like royalty on your special day and YOWO- you only waltz once. Fifty years from now when you're sitting on a rocking chair with your little, you're not going to want to remember your waltz as a cliché waltz with a cliché theme with your half a**ed sign and your boring pregame that only had Skol with club soda.
HAVE A HAPPY WALTZ AND A HAPPY 21st! XOXO