College Party Themes

There are two primary activities that are part of many (but not all) people’s college experience: studying and partying. Since no one wants to here about fashion for studying, let’s talk about fashion at college parties. Now I don’t mean the general party fashion; I mean the themed parties. Many frats and regular house parties have clothing themes that many party-goers abide by (not all do, but that’s okay… we won’t talk about them). Here are a few of the party themes I have participated in, as well as some tips for the outfits you wear to them.

Ugly Sweater Party

Now that Halloween is over, it’s time for the greatest holiday of all time – Christmas (Thanksgiving is all fine and dandy, but let’s be honest, the culture around Christmas is much too exciting to wait until Thanksgiving is over to celebrate). At these parties you occasionally have the Christmas music mixed in with the normal party music because the hosts sometimes want to be somewhat festive. If the hosts want to go all out, there may be a tree and some garland around the house, too. The decorations can definitely put you into the Christmas mood, along with the ugly sweater you wear. These parties are pretty common outside of college as well, so if you don’t have an ugly sweater to wear, you can stop by your nearest department store and they will definitely be selling some. I have worn two different sweaters to these kind of parties. I don’t have the typical ugly sweater that looks like it’s made by your grandma. In fact, your sweater does not have to actually be ugly in order to wear it to a party with this theme (it just has to be Christmas-y). Anyway, one of my sweaters has a reindeer and a target on it. It came with Velcro balls that people can throw at the sweater to try to hit the target. This was a pretty big hit at the party I went to. The other sweater I wore had the abominable snowman from that old Christmas movie (if you don’t know what I’m talking about look at the picture, and if you still don’t know then you’re too young). Overall, these parties are generally very fun, and obviously more common during this time in the semester since it’s closer to the holiday season.

Jersey Party

This party theme is very popular throughout the school year (also, a very common boy Halloween “costume,” but let’s not get into that mess). It’s especially common at frat parties. I personally own no jerseys or if I do, they are outdated (the player is no longer playing) or I left them at home since they are not a staple of the wardrobe. However, I can almost guarantee any boy you have come into contact with at college has at least one, probably more, jerseys in their closet. So, for any jersey party I go to, I simply borrow a jersey from a friend. People never address this kind of theme at the party, so you don’t have to worry about people asking you about the player you are wearing. If you don’t know anyone who owns a jersey you can borrow, you can also go to your nearest Goodwill to look for one or department stores near college campuses may have some, too.

70s Party

This is probably one of my favorite party themes that I’ve participated in so far. This theme is less common. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a frat party have it; however, since more 70s and 80s clothing styles are coming back into style, I could see it becoming more and more common in house parties (it may make it to the frat scene, but who knows). I actually went shopping for an outfit for this party since asking my sister to borrow some clothes did not work out. I knew Rue 21 at that time was selling some flared, legging-type pants that definitely look like they could be from the 70s. So luckily, I was able to easily find some 70s styled pants. When deciding which pair to buy, though, I thought about what tops I already had in my closet that would match so I wouldn’t have to buy one of those as well. I decided on the pants you see in the picture below. I also had a 80s jacket that I stole from my dad that is not pictured and some circular, orange glasses that are also not pictured. My biggest tip for finding an outfit for a 70s party theme would be to ask your parents! Mine lived in the 80s, but the styles are very similar.

Overall, party themes can be whatever you make of them. They can be awesome if you dress up, but they can also be fun if you decide you don’t want to dress up. Some other common party themes you’ll see at college that I didn’t mention include toga, denim, band shirt, and western. All in all, if you have to find an outfit for one of these parties, ask to borrow clothes or look at local thrift shops.