DEBUTANTES AND GEEKS© A PARTY GAME FROM MRS. GOTTROCKS

By Mrs. Gottrocks

©Copyright 2000; all rights reserved

Looking for an interesting idea for your next party? Several years ago I had a blast creating a "theme" party I called Debs and Geeks (Deb for Debutantes). Careful consideration should be given to the invitations for a theme party, as your guests will want to know what they are getting themselves into and what is expected of them. Provide a brief outline of the Storyline and a description of what the party will be like - for instance, in the case of Debutantes and Geeks, I told my guests that there would be a costume contest for best Deb and Best Geek, Worst Deb and Worst Geek, and Most Surprising Costume. I also told them that all they had to do was arrive, put on a name tag, and party down like always, but if they wanted to they could get into the character description on their name tag and become that character. Here's more information on my theme party invention - you can use a variation of this or make up your own!

Debutantes and Geeks Storyline:

A local society for the well-bred (or at least very monied) is having a reception to honor some aristocratic muckey-muck who is arriving from some distant land. The invitations are sent out to only the finest cream of society, but alas, the local postman is ill that day, and the mischievous temp who replaces him delivers half the invitations to the local technical residential college (I think I called mine The Saint Swithins Polytechnic Institute of Higher Learning - Lower Campus). The party starts out well, but the black-tie only affair is suddenly overrun by acne-faced, greasy-haired, pocket-protector wearing Geeks wearing taped-glasses and badly matched out of date polyester and plaid outfits. Too well bred to cause a commotion, the society folk merely endure the antics of the Geeks, and naturally, chaos ensues.

Party Games Suggestion: Have a trivia contest (use the HARD cards from your Trivial Pursuit game) between the Geeks and the Debs - but don't tell the guests who came as Debs that you have given the questions and answers to the guests who came as Geeks ahead of time so they will appear to be all-knowing (as every Geek should be)! Have a batch of prizes you can award - prizes like pocket protectors, calculators, pencils, pens and rulers, and tell the Geeks to be VERY competitive about wanting to win these "Fabulous Prizes". Then, when the Debs catch on to being had, have a good laugh and let the guests randomly draw numbers to win the REAL party prizes.

Attire and Attitude:

Those who want to be Debs come in Black Tie and Evening Gowns and stay on their best behavior, while those who want to be Geeks come dressed as their idea of what a Geek would wear (mismatched clothing, bad hairstyles, socially backwards mannerisms). Everyone is given a name tag, chosen at random from His and Hers boxes, depending on which attire they are wearing. My girlfriends were thrilled to turn those bridesmaids outfits and old prom dresses into the exaggerated kind of black tie frillery a party of this type calls for. We all had a ton of fun shopping the thrift stores for old hats, gloves, shoes, and gaudy imitation rhinestone jewelry.

Name Tags:

One of the best parts of making up all the details for Debutantes and Geeks was making up the names and the occupations to go on the name tags. Give yourself a lot of time to come up with these. Be creative and don't be afraid to go "way out there" - the more absurd they are, the more fun it will be for your guests.

Use lots of fun names like "Sir Vincent LaFoof" , "Lord Farley Putnam the 11th", "Mr. Upton Bemused", and for the Geeks, "Clarance Drab", "Oswald Dribblemuch" and "Delbert Hogg". Under each name, write a brief description of who they are or what they are about, such as the ones on this list:

* High Lord Chancellor of the Masonic Lion Temple Society

* Given to Sudden Outbursts of Heavy Snoring

* Out to Break Mother's Record For Most Marriages In A Single Year

* Lost Entire Fortune Gambling On Zambwe-bwe Riverboat

* Permanent House Guest of Lady Millbottom and Her Ugly Daughters

* Warning! Boring War Story Zone

or

* Won the "Most Computations With A Slide Rule During A Re-run of The Brady Bunch" Award

* Gets Lost Repeatedly at Star Trek Conventions

* Still Sleeps With Teddy

* You Can Call Me "Teddy"

* Thinks Brie Cheese is a Girl Singer on MTV

Have enough of each type of name tag so guests will be able to pick from whichever type they want without fear of running short.

Preparations:

Food and decorations can be almost anything, but it helps to have some "high toned" chamber-style music playing when the Deb guests first arrive. Ask a core group of friends, especially couples, to come as the Debutantes and their Escorts so you are sure to have at least a few. Ask a single man you know to come as the mucky muck everyone is there to honor. Ask him to arrive late, to give everyone else a chance to arrive first. Also, if you are going to play the trivia game mentioned above, then be sure to prepare your game well in advance and mail a copy to the people who are going to come as Geeks so they will know all the answers. Buy some pencils, pens, rulers and other "Geeky" but useful items to use as gag prizes during the game, but have other, better prizes standing by to give out by random drawing.

Invitations:

Ask everyone to be prompt. Detail the Storyline of the party, and ask them to RSVP and to tell you whether they are coming as a Deb, an Escort or a Geek (guys and girls can be Geeks). Give guests at least a month, if not six weeks to put their costumes together. Ask anyone who is coming as a Deb to arrive on the hour, Geeks on the half hour, and the person playing the Guest of Honor to arrive fifteen minutes after that.

It was amazing to see who went to the trouble to rent a tux, and just how Geeky the Geeks could really be. Whoopee cushions, pocket protectors and Tiaras abounded, and we all had a wonderful time. Hope your guests have as much fun as mine did!