21st Birthday ideas
A 21st birthday party in full swing
What’s special about the 21st?
A person’s 21st birthday used to be one of the most important. It marked “coming of age” when it was possible to vote and to get married without parental consent. Symbolically, this was marked by presenting the “keys to the door” and some 21st birthday cards still use the key symbol.
21st Birthday Party themes
“Retro” themes are really popular. You could celebrate using a theme of the birth year. You could get ideas from a website which contains information about that year, such as the BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1988/news.shtml
You could have a theme based on 21+21. 2010 will mark the 42nd anniversary of the running of the last mainline steam passenger service in Britain in 1968. If you live close enough to a railway preservation society, you could hire a steam train for a party.
You could even go back 100 years. That’s what Princess Beatrice of York did for her 18th birthday party in 2006. Her party, which reputedly cost £500,000 to stage, was based on the year 1888, a century before her own birthday. You could use a similar theme at much less cost.
The Number 21
For a fun theme, what about asking everyone attending your party to come dressed using the theme 21. They could wear a t-shirt with the number 21 on it; they could pin 21 brooches to their dress; they could use a “21″ transfer on their arm. Leave it to their imagination. One thing you probably won’t see is someone wearing 21 pairs of socks. Have you ever tried it?
How about playing the card game “vingt-et-un”? (That’s the French for 21.) You could invite just 21 guests, although that might be difficult. How do you decide who to include and who to leave out?
A Chinese Banquet with 21 courses
Chinese Banquet - a meal with 21 courses
Another idea would be to have a meal with 21 courses. This need not be as intimidating as it seems. When the Chinese provide a 100 course banquet, this does not mean that everyone is given 100 full plates of food. Chinese food is served on the basis of a buffet and there are merely 100 different dishes from which to choose. Finding 21 different dishes should not be too much of a challenge. You could include some small light things such as a bowl of peanuts or crisps as part of your buffet.
If you want to give favours to people leaving your party, you could use the 21 theme. It need not cost a fortune. You might give them a bag containing 21 sweets.
General Themes
Other themes could include basing the party around a film such as Grease or Mamma Mia, or if you are looking for a film from 21 years or so ago, Crocodile Dundee. You will find other ideas elsewhere on this web site.
Venues
A small party could be held at home. In the summer putting up a marquee or gazebo in the garden can provide extra space, but you need to think about acess to toilets, and (given the unreliability of the weather) what you will do it is wet or cold. To avoid complaints from the neighbours if the party will be going on into the night, it is sensible to check with them first. What about inviting them?
For a larger party you could use a hotel, sports clubhouse, or village hall. If the birthday boy or girl is a football fan, most football clubs can provide hospitality suites or party venues. Some venues will be able to provide catering as well.
Why party at night?
Instead of having an evening party, you could organise an afternoon or all day outing. This could include:
- a day at the races - organise transport to a racetrack and arrange refreshments either at the venue, or on the way back
- a trip to the cinema for a good film, adjourning afterwards to a nearby pub or restaurant for a meal
- an activity event such as paintballing
- a day sea fishing - the boat operator may be able to provide catering, and if not, will generally allow you to bring your own picnic.
Cakes
This is probably the last birthday that you can put one candle for each year of age on the cake without hiding the cake completely. Go for it! Don’t forget, as well, the tradition of the “key to the door”. You could use this as a decoration, or even bake a cake the shape of a key.
21st Birthday Idea – What’s best for you?
The twenty first birthday party is the one where you make your real big statement to say that you are now an adult. The only problem is that at 21, most people aren’t earning enough to live and to throw a big party. So, if you have any brains, save the money and do something memorable without spending too much money. This is the first real test of being an adult. Knowing what’s best for you!
If money is not an issue, then there’s no problem. Let the creative juices flow and decide how many of your friends you want to treat for your special party. Large numbers look impressive, but it’s not a great idea. No one really has “large numbers” of friends. It’s best to have a party on a scale that you can give special attention to each guest to make them feel important and well looked after. When you see their eyes light up with the entertainment and surprises that you’ve arranged, it will give you an adrenaline rush like never before. The success of the 21st birthday party will influence your relationships with those people for 9 years until the next great party. That is, unless you throw in a wedding in the middle somewhere.
Having entertained guests at over 800 different parties, it is easy to speak about the ones that were a huge success. If you would like to find out more about my successful party band, please visit http://www.bigsand-steelband.co.uk
Dress up in eighties gear (complete with 80’s makeup)and dance round your garden whilst belting out your favourite Wham hit!
If you were born in the 80’s do a mullet party!!
Silly Games Day-head down to your local park n have a silly games day, include games like the egg & spoon race, sack race, bean bag throwing, three legged race etc. charge people to enter
Launch 21 Sky Lanterns.
They are amazing and it will a party to remember.
I Like night party on the beach while playing guitar.
It must be very pleasant.
Custom made coin medallions. Your face, your name and a message 3D machined onto solid metal and presented in a luxury wooden box. This is truly a unique gift.
so ur 21 =)
you want to start your evening of, about 6pm with a nice evening, go to the cinemas with your friends, adn put the flash on and annoy the other people watching the film by taking LOTS AND LOTS of picture (memories) come out laughing and try to sneak into another movie if u get caught GREAT it’l b halirious.. next go out to eat at about 9-10oclock sumwhere nice again take MORe pictures, the last thing to do is go to a stripclub with your friends, take picturessss, and then BRING ON THE SHOTS, join in with the strippers and have fun, get ur friends to take pictures
(do u understand why i said take lots nad lots of pictures, becuase your probably not gonna end up remembering half of it when u wake up the next morning)
Or jus stay at a hotel andd then go to a theme park..