When Lillith and Taylor came into my life we had a kitty-warming party where people brought over toys for the new cats and we had a big party.

Tonight, we will have a party to celebrate how wonderful it was to have Lillith in our lives.

But I still imagine that people are trying to explain this to their friends... "Well, it's a wake for a cat. Like an Irish drinking party for the dead. It'll be fun. No, she's not weird. Well, a little weird..."

What strange parties have you attended?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 1999

Answers

I once attended a Dorothy Parker party. I was recruited to make the invitations, which I made into little booklets filled with choice Dorothy Parker quotes. We watched 'Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle', then sat around drinking, eating brie, and making witty comments.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 1999

Well, I guess it's considered a "party", but I attended a wedding some months ago and it was the weirdest I've ever been to. The bride and groom are part of a local Cacophony group and thus, they are goofy people. They encouraged everyone who came to their wedding and reception to wear costumes (anything was acceptable) and bring instruments!

It was weird and wild. This one couple in particular kind of weirded me out though. They were dressed normally, but wore those leather s&m masks. So you could only see their eyes and a small portion of their mouths.

Other people dressed like they would to a Rocky Horror Picture Show movie outing.

It was a wild, wild, party!

-- Anonymous, August 20, 1999

I think the wake is a wonderful idea. I'll have a drink to Lillith tonight, too.

As for weird parties, I'm supposed to be going to the Last Prom of the Millenium party tomorrow tonight ...

-- Anonymous, August 20, 1999

The strangest party I attended was one I threw, out of desperation.

Every week, every Sunday, I went to brunch with a big group of talented and funny and bright women, and every week I had to listen to the same two topics discussed endlessly...."there are no decent single straight men left" and "ohmygod the bridesmaid dress I have to wear is so ugly I can never wear it again." I was sick of it!

So I threw the Wedding From Hell Party. All the women got to wear the ugliest bridesmaid dresses they owned, and they had to bring a single, straight man, one that they had never dated, and never wanted to date...the ubuquitous "guypal". The men were asked to wear tacky tuxedos (hands down best was the man in the Lavender one).

We drank copious amounts of bad, cheap sparkling wine, and ate hors d'oeuvres all night, and danced the chicken dance, and the hora, and all those great wedding dances, and everyone got hosed, and the pictures were priceless. A few of the divorced women wore their dynasty inspired 80's wedding dresses, and at one point we had an impromtu fashion show: "note the delicious detail on THIS dress...that burgandy stretch lace panel, and the matching fingerless lace gloves...this bridesmaid is a real catch!"

It was a night to remember....a lot of people paired off that evening, and at least one couple got married. Plus, we started discussing better things at brunch, like vicious office gossip and who had fake breasts.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 1999

A friend of mine once held a "Patron Saint" birthday party. He rented a local cafe for a night, and everyone who came to the party had to be dressed in a way that identified them as the Patron Saint of something. One girl wrapped herself in electrical tape and was the Patron Saint of Electrical Tape. One guy dressed in black and wore a black beret and was the Patron Saint of Pretentious Poets. Some people wore elaborate costumes, some kept it very simple (the Patron Saint of Beer probably had the simplest get-up). I wore an old werewolf T-shirt and called myself the Patron Saint of Werewolves. Definitely the most memorable party I ever attended.

Wish I could go to the wake. Sounds like fun.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 1999

When I was about 6 years old, my mom threw a wake for her 30th birthday. She called it the Death of My Youth party, and everyone wore funeral outfits, and she even got the local mortician to rent her a child's coffin, which she used as a punch table. I didn't actually "go" to that party.

And a few years ago some friends and I threw an "It's the End of February" party... it was 1996, leap year, and the beginning of the presidential primaries...

-- Anonymous, August 21, 1999

Oh, I completely forgot, some friends of mine threw a So Long, Sweaty Betty party when a very annoying, long time local TV news person finally got her walking papers. Meanspirited, yes, but man was she annoying.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 1999

When Otis Redding died, my mother and her best friend threw an Ode to Otis party. It is still being talked about, more than 30 years later. Although this happened before I was born, I was reared on Otis and now have a dog named Otis.

I think that Wedding From Hell Party sounds excellent. I am inspired.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 1999

i went to a "the film masterpieces of mike myers" party once, complete with lots of cheap wine and bad beer. there's nothing like 30 drunk actors and actresses headbanging to "bohemian rhapsody."

besides, i wouldn't call them film masterpieces.

and my birthday is in march, and usually falls around primary election time. i once threw a patriotic election party. i was 16 at the time. i was precocious and pretentious. sigh. =)

-- Anonymous, August 22, 1999

In college we had a wake party complete with eulogy and coffin, I actually played the corpse. Took a couple beers to not freak when they lowered the lid. Such a hit that I heard from a friend a couple of months ago that it is still held annually (the first was 14 years ago).

Once threw a Zorba Stout party where we watched Zorba the Greek and tasted various stouts. Unusual but fun.

A good friend of mine had an annual "Eat the Worm" party  you guessed it, lots of Mezcal. That lasted about 10 years until we had the cops and paramedics there at the same time about 3 years ago.

A woman I work with is from Texas and misses the barbecue, so every year she has Brisketfest around the 4th of July. Some staples of that party are jello shooters and fireworks. This year's highlight was the fireworks with an Elvis impersonator satanding in the middle of the field with explosives going off over his head while he sang The America Trilogy. Cars were actually pulling over and stopping. Surreal and wonderful.

Another party in college was in the middle of winter when it had been freezing forever. We turned up the heat in our dorm room real high, brought in a bunch of sand, turned all the lights on, sawed coconuts in half and made piqa coladas.

I'm sure there are others I'll think of and send later.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

My friend, Ed, is a writer and once had a cat named Bingo. Bingo enjoyed trolling Capitol Hill (DC) and one day, unfortunately was hit by a car, although not seriously hurt. Ed and his room mate decided to throw a "raise money to pay the vet" party and raised over $150 that night (even framing the first dollar raised). Bingo was replendant in black tie and pretended to ignore all guests as he sauntered through the party.

Our little gang also use to throw "Grunch Bunch" parties and rotate around different houses with theme dinners -- even to the point of honoring garlic (garlic ice cream!). I was destined to throw a Mideast party -- unfortunately, the weekend Iran took hostages back in the 80's. My guests (in full Mideastern garb -- turbans, robes, sunglasses, etc.) had to drive through DC to get to my party and were honked at and chased for blocks. But the party was a success and my crazy cohorts lived on to serve another meal.

Hope this gives you some smiles during this difficult period, Pamie.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

We had a Pearl Harbor Day Party one year. The costume possibilities ranged from Hawaiian, Military, Japanese...It was very off color and everyone had a BLAST!

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

On the morning of Princess Diana's funeral, a small group of us gathered together and had a "Princess Di's Dead Party (this sounds truly tasteless and off color, perhaps it was, but it was ALSO a lot of fun). We first stopped at Englands Embassy to see the piles of flowers and well wishes that were left in her behalf. We then ran around a 24-hour Food Emporium to buy all the ingredients -- we ended up with little cucumber sandwiches, English Tea, and sparkling apple cider (it was too late to buy champagne). We even baked an angel food cake (because, as my friend Josh said, "She's an angel now.").

Michele

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

The first one that comes to mind is a wedding that was held at a tattoo parlor. Instead of rings, the bride and groom got matching tongue piercings. There was a leather and scottish tartan theme happening throughout. The reception was a fetish party, complete with a professional branding and a bullwhip demonstration. Ouch!

I didnt know the couple, and am still not quite sure what to make of the male friend who invited me along...

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

Every year my great lovely friend Kristen throws an Oscar party called the Buffy Bash. She starts with the guest list, then creates characters for the guests. One year I was a Spanish contessa working as a publisher in New York who'd had an affair with Antonio Banderas. Unfortunately, I was in Norway that year. The next year, I was a Norwegian exile living in Tibet, daughter of a famous judge, and rather Amazonian by her description. I missed that one, too.

I've never actually gotten to go to a Buffy Bash. However, this last year, I was in Paris during the Oscars. And Kristen was with me. :)

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

Yesterday I went to a "Naked Leo Party" which was a pool party celebration for those with Leo birthdays. You guessed it - we were skinny dipping.

This isn't really a party, but: every once in a while in college my girlfriends and I would go for a "Bra Walk" where we'd strip down to our bras and march around campus. It was sort of a quiet "take back the night" sort of thing. The coldest bra walk ever was -15 degree F...yes, we had our coats on over (though open).

Heather

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

This doesn't really count as a party, but my cousin and I would hold "Jerry Springer" parties every week-night. Basically, we felt guilty for watching the Jerry Springer show in the middle of the night, so we'd force ourselves to exercise while we were watching it. The exercise part lasted about a week, I think. Then we went back to eating oranges and watching....

-- Anonymous, August 24, 1999

My friends and I once threw a Peak Freak Party and the theme was, duh, Twin Peaks. We all sat around and drank gallons of coffee, black, and slice after slice of cherry pie. We quoted every line we could think of and each of us got to "be" a character. I got to be Nadine Hurley. It was really a lot of fun for us Peak Freaks, but everyone else thought we were real weirdos for going all out because of what they called "a dumb show".

-- Anonymous, August 24, 1999

The strangest party was at my house, but I didn't plan it that way. It somehow migrated from my neighbors' house and before I knew it, my living room furniture had been carried onto the front lawn so the band would have room to set up indoors to take advantage of the electrical outlets for their speakers and instruments. My house was instantly filled with a band and swarms of people I didn't know, and my husband was out of town. I had to cope with this intrusion alone. No easy task, as I'm quite uncomfortable with crowds of drunken strangers. In my home.

Two attendees had driven from Galveston to my house in College Station after their last class of the day. Wanting to indulge in drinking beer on the trip but also wishing to avoid delays from frequent relief stops, they took advantage of their medical student status and attached urine collection bags to themselves via catheters. Presto! They could pee into their bags anytime along the way, never having to slow down. (Kids, don't try this at home.)

I discovered this the following morning when I went into the shambles of my bathroom and found two full bags of urine hanging from my shower curtain rod, the tubes dangling into the tub. It's a party that remains vividly in my memory, and though it occurred 16 years ago, I've been told it's legendary.

The most unique party I've attended was the Annual John Lennon Birthday Party, begun by friends while they attended Austin College in Sherman, TX, before Lennon's murder. The parties were continued in his memory after his death. The hosts moved to Texas A&M, where I met them and began my annual pilgrimages to the J.L. Birthday Party, held on his birthday, 9. October, no matter what day of the week it was. Their friends traveled for miles, often from other states. Reunions of old friends, new romances, skinny-dipping, increasing numbers of kids each year, lots of dogs roaming about, only Beatles/John Lennon music was played, around the clock. Everyone brought food and inebriants to share. Tents were set up, people slept in cars, in heaps, in chairs, on the floor, in the yard. The party lasted two days, and people often lingered three days.

John Lennon's Birthday Party followed the hosts wherever they lived and finally settled in Austin. They split up a few years ago, and I don't know if the party continues now.....

-- Anonymous, August 25, 1999

a friend of mine invited me to a Mad Hatter's Birthday Party. the idea was to go dressed as a character from alice in wonderland, but some friends and i settled on wearing odd hats. the party was awesome--the owners of the house had fire-dancers! these 3 women would hula-hoop with a fire hoop, did a synchronized dance with these chain-bracelets on fire, and a metal bra with fire on the ends. they had cleared out the backyard for the fire dancing. there were tons of people there, supposed to be donating so the fire people could travel around doing there fire-act. it was much more impressive than it seems here, but it is hard to describe the look of flames everywhere, people all kinds of separated from reality, all in some costume.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 1999

I've always prided myself on having good parties. In college it was easy as we had a hot-tub in our apartment. It got to the point where my faculty adviser would brew special batches of beer for them. Sometimes we'd dress up for no reason at all, and they usually ended with me stripping while running to the hot tub to begin the naked hot tub time (which everyone knows is when the faint of heart leave). Unfortunately, I don't remember a good bit of them, but once we did set up a video camera in the living room so we could make fun of everyone later.

After college the parties have become more infrequent, but much better. Last weekend, we had a going away party for my roommate, Cody, and in his honor everyone was to come in costume as a cartoon or comic book character. Cody was Wolverine, I was the Silver Surfer, Courtney was Jem's little sister from Jem and the Holograms. Some people made up their own heroes-- Transvestite-Crippled-Crackwhore-Man was the most original. It was even cool for the few people that heard about it at the last minute and combined it with another party, and luckily it didn't turn into a prop-burning party like a previous incident. Of course, I passed out pretty early as I was leaving on a plane the next morning, so I don't know what happened to that one drunk lady that pissed everyone off.

Oh, I've also been to a wedding where the guests came in costume, and to a Death to my Youth party (we all wore black and had to bring an item symbolizing childhood to burn).

-- Anonymous, August 31, 1999

I hang out with weird people. We don't usually have theme parties per se, but something bizarre happens at each party or event.

I suppose the Cheesy Movie Party with all-cheese-snacks and "The Forbidden Zone", Ed Wood movies and etc. was a theme party. We just ate a lot of bad food and mocked bad movies and laughed a lot.

We have Vodkopoly Tournaments. You play Monopoly but add shots of vodka to GO and a double shot to "Free Parking" (we play with the "Free Parking" bonus money rules). Ta make it weirder, we only have a very out-of-date Atlanta-opoly game and a weird Star Wars set to play with (we always pick the Atlanta one). Richest person or last person still coherent and standing at end of game wins.

We throw monster house parties where we mix people who shouldn't get along together and they do anyway, despite the odds.

We used to have Steelmill Raid events, where we'd go sneak over to the abandoned steel mill and take light-paint photographs at night. Naughty only because it is private property, not because we ever took or hurt anything. Well, some people posed nude, because they felt like it and you can't actually see nudity in a light-pain picture most of the time. We'd have to play dodge the cops, etc. They're tearing it down now. It was like Metropolis in there, or a Harold Lloyd movie. Now it's a huge uninteresting pile of rusty crap.

We've had combined David Bowie and Elvis b-day parties. I think that'd be January 8th. You make composite pictures for decorations. Velvet Bowie paintings or Bowie with a donut and sideburns, Elvis with Alladin Sane face paint, Ziggy costumes. Jelly donuts are de rigeur.

Last NYE party I went to, people were scrawling chalk drawings and words and pithy little poems and graffiti on every surface of the venue (it was allowed), a woman danced with fire and a sword, there was a fashion show starring lots of little rubbery grommitty lame'- and-glitter-covered dresses and a stuffed alien doll named Helga, people shot off fireworks (illegal in our state, woo), there was body painting and spontaneous beer-induced interpretive dance and, er, at about 3 am, four to six women (some of whom had just met hours earlier) got naked and made out with each other (and more) on the stage. There was also massive (in some cases this was the best way to describe it) nudity and some recreational drug use going on. This was all a little more wild than normal, I admit, though I've happened to be in some weird places while weird stuff is going on in my day. This particular night, my BF at the time and I felt that this was all way out of our league and we went home. :)

M

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000

my friend bill threw another friend a birthday party a couple of weeks ago; it ended up being in the locked tunnels under a locked academic building after hours. totally illegal, and we managed to throw a fantastic party and not get caught. everyone got ripped off their asses and then got naked and lined up to kiss another friend of ours, who is reputed to be the best kisser on campus. (i think so, but i'm biased...) just the thrill of being somewhere we weren't supposed, drinking and dancing and celebrating a birthday was fantastic.

and i took some great photos; not just blackmail, but really good quality well composed pictures.

it was a lovely time. no theme, but lots of danger and fun.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000

I went to a Pirate Party once in Berkeley; it lasted from Friday night through sunday. People stayed up late watching pirate movies and playing pirate board- and computer-games; on Saturday, we had a scavenger hunt (driving around the east bay from clue to clue, with a final box of treasure buried on the beach, arr); that night we went to a 19th centure-theme bar near Sausalito and startled the first singer mightily when we began singing along with him... he peered out past the lights and saw the entire audience dressed as pirates.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2000