Valentine’s Day Party Idea: Stoplight Party
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So it’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. You want to throw a fun, themed party but don’t know what to do different besides signature Valentine’s Day cocktails, heart-shaped candies, and decorations. It goes without saying that a party rental Miami company can help you out with all that. But if you’d like to get even more creative, you can throw a stoplight party, also referred to as a traffic light party, which is a great way to play cupid for your friends.
A stoplight party is where all the guests wear either green, yellow, or red indicating their relationship status. So for instance, green means “single”, yellow means “it’s complicated”, and red means “taken or in a relationship”. Here we cover some tips and guidelines on how to throw a proper spotlight party. And of course, if you need any help with logistics, you’ve got a fantastic party rental in Miami that can help you with that.
Make sure your guests understand the rules (and their relationship statuses)
It might seem simple but the easiest part to comprehend of a stoplight party (green, red, yellow) can often be the most complicated to your guests. Explain to your guests that they understand “where they are” with a potential date they intend to bring or meet up with.
For instance, you don’t want a “couple” to meet up at your party with one guest wearing a green shirt and the other wearing a yellow or even red shirt! Not only will that be embarrassing for both your guests, it might look bad on your part as the host that didn’t explain the rules properly.
Leave an option for people to show up in regular clothes as well. That way they don’t feel the pressure of having to identify their relationship status and can feel more comfortable.
Green, yellow, and red drinks
Often a good icebreaker for shy people is to head over to the bar area, grab a drink and mingle for a bit. Something that would make that process even easier and more unique is to have specific themed cocktails based on the drinks themselves.
For anything green, we would consider apple or kiwi martinis/margaritas. For the color yellow, pineapple or orange as a mixer would work nicely. And for red, cranberry or bloody marys typically would go along great. Here are some more ideas for festive cocktails if you’re looking to serve something more sophisticated. If you want to get even more detailed and creative, you can name them something clever. The green one could be “Cupid’s Arrow”, yellow could be the “Caution Potion”, and the red cocktail could be “Shot Through The Heart”. Just throwing ideas out there!
People would feel more comfortable if they see the effort you put into the party, and the drinks would be an easy talking point that could transition into something deeper and more meaningful for your guests.
Valentine’s Day Decorations, Music, and Snacks
Valentine’s Day decorations are a must for a Valentine’s Day Stoplight Party! Make sure you have plenty of streamers and heart-shaped decor throughout your setting. Have a lot of pink throughout, with some green, yellow and red to mix in with the theme. Napkins, plates, balloons, cups…they should all have some sort of color and some sort of vibe going on with them.
For good Valentine’s Day music, you wanna mix in some slow jams and romantic music with regular pop hits. Don’t make it too sappy or steamy, you want your guests to feel at ease and loose, and too many slow songs might imply that their mind should be somewhere it doesn’t necessarily need to be at that moment.
As for snacks, Hershey’s kisses are always a staple of a good Valentine’s Day party. Heart-shaped candies with messages in them could serve as great icebreakers or tools for conversation, and maybe even throwing some silly/dirty ones could make the interactions a bit more interesting.
Have fun and don’t take the party too seriously!
More so than anything, your job as a host is to create an atmosphere where all your guests are comfortable and having a good time. We know Valentine’s Day can be stressful, whether you’re single or taken, depending on the status of your romantic life. While one of the party’s purposes is to help people find someone, the main purpose should be for you all to spend time with friends & good people and not be alone for the night. So long as your guests feel that vibe, everything should go well!