Toga! Toga! Toga!

Probably one of the most classic themes for a party is: Toga! Not only is this an easy theme, but it can also be inexpensive and is extremely fun! You can take some classic ideas and put a twist on them to make your party more creative. 

We had a Toga Party for a friend's birthday. Sheets, a keg, and a few dozen college kids and we had ourselves a party. But we made it even more fun than that!

You can have an "Animal House" style party or make your night a little more sophisticated. 

Follow these easy steps to make sure your Toga Party is a success. 

There are lots of ways to decorate for a Toga Party. Keep in mind things such as: Ivy, the colors white and gold, pillars, grapes, etc. Use tiki torches outside, lots of candles inside. 

There are a few online places that have very inexpensive decorations. Oriental Trading even has a Toga Party Theme Pack.  

For invitations:

Print them on your home computer. The outside can be a coliseum and on the inside can be a the party information (and rules). Herculanum is the best font for making your own. Here is an example:

Your presence is requested on the 15th day of May to celebrate with us for Cole's Birthday! We'll see you from 8pm until the keg gets tired, get started on your costume, Togas are required! 

There are several different ways (and styles) of making a toga. Good fabrics are lightweight and unless you plan on buying extra, not see-through! Cotton is the best fabric, the obvious choice if you plan on using an old bed sheet. The general rule when choosing a fabric is that it should be just as wide as you are tall, and two to three times your height long. So if you're a five foot woman, your fabric should be 5 feet wide and 10-15 feet long. If you go to the fabric store you would ask for 5 yards of fabric. 

Some suggested materials:

• Fabric (preferably cotton, or anything lightweight)
  
• Safety pins (gold if you want to stay in theme)
  
• Belt (colored rope cords)
  
• Gladiator shoes or sandals
  
• John Belushi style sunglasses
  
• Accessories (Ivy, gold ribbon, gold elastic, colored rope cords)
  

There are several YouTube videos on how to actually wrap your Toga. Once it has been wrapped, secure with safety pins and accessorize! 

Tip:

Use those safety pins! After a few drinks you'll be glad you did.

Get creative! A plain white toga, and you'll blend into the crowd. At our toga party we had people who used different patterns. We also had couples. Such as the farmer and the cow! The guy wore plaid fabric and a cowboy hat, while his date wore cowprint and had a bell around her neck. You can add another element to your costume and make it even better!

The birthday girl wore a purple toga since purple is the color for royalty and she wore a tiara.

Now I can't chug a bottle of Jack Daniels in 10 seconds... but maybe you can. To stick to the frat party theme just go with a keg. You can get pretty gold solo cups if you really want to class it up!

Finger foods, chips, and other typical party foods always seems to work best because they're tasty and cheap. 

Looking for a more sophisticated menu?

Beverage: Wine of course.

Appetizer: cheese plate with olives, hummus, stuffed figs, spinach and feta wrapped in phyllo dough.  

Dinner: Caesar salad. Roasted chicken with feta and olives. 

Game and Activity Ideas

• Costume contest
• Blindfolded musical chairs
• Tie Dye your Toga! 
• Make a Dart Board with Purple Balloons to Look Like Grapes
• Set Up a Decorated Beer Pong Table
• Have everyone decorate their own Goblets for the night, get paint, Sharpie markers, and cheap rhinestones and plastic Goblets from a party store

Tips

• Make a playlist for the evening, don't forget "Shout!"
  
• Prepare the food ahead of time
  
• The craft store will be your favorite place!
  
• Once the party gets going... booze & darts = disaster, so shut down that game at a certain point!