Variations on a party theme

Driven by success, competition, and a desire to conquer the world, Harvard undergraduates tend to leave their social lives in the dustbin. What often emerges is a stilted, stifled, or unfulfilling campus social scene.

What can be done to ameliorate weekend life within "the ivory tower"? Many students have come up with interesting and creative possibilities to spice up the standard, routine weekend party scene of keggers and cocktail parties.

Benna S. Haysom '00 and her first-year roommates hosted a Communist-themed party in Grays West two years ago.

"We were sort of reminiscent of the days of the high Cold War," Haysom says.

Guests came through the doors to find graffiti-decorated walls and "industrial squalor." One student came as Chairman Mao Zedong with a "Little Red Book" and another with a hammer-and-sickle head ornament, though most of the more than 100 party-goers came as "Russian Eurotrash" youth, Haysom recalls.

Drinks served included vodka and Molotov cocktails, Haysom explains that in her experience all first-years were "sort of desperate" for these types of parties.

"People are so psyched to have alcohol," Haysom says. "It was a really good party."

Tanzid Shams '99 of Adams House hosted an island party the first weekend of this month, in keeping with the "spring break spirit" of exotic ambience and tropical drinks. The event attracted more then 150 party-goers.

Guests wore hula skirts, sipped pina coladas, margaritas and Kahlua, and danced to Jimmy Buffet, Bob Marley and meringue tunes. One male student wore a bikini top and thong, Shams says.

"It was more fun to make an effort to do a different party" than to just "get trashed," Shams says.

Some students go all out in their zeal to host a good party. Soman S. Chainani '01 says he and many others worked for two weeks in preparation for a Studio 54 party he hosted in Quincy House on Halloween.

Chainani, who is Crimson executive says a total of $500 was spent ondecorations for the 100-invitee event. Glow-in-thedark stars filled one room, a disco ball was thecenterpiece of the "disco room," and the love roomfeatured a rose-covered bed and a wall covered inmurals.

Chainani also helped to throw a Mardi GrasParty in March. For this party, a "VIP room" wascreated for those who paid a $15 cover charge,Chainani says.

The Lowell House resident says the affair wasdifferent from a typical Harvard party of talkingand "schmoozing."

"It was almost like turning a room into a clubfor a night," he says.

A Christmas-season party started by Sarah D.Pershouse '99 and friends has also become anannual event. In 1996, they hosted a seasonalparty with a "touchable fabrics" theme in AdamsHouse.

"It was a fun idea," Pershouse says. "I thinkpeople got into the novelty of it."

People wore such tactile fabrics as leather,vinyl, velvet and silk. Pershouse says animportant feature of the event was the "suggestiveinvitation" that people could send to "theircrushes."

For two successive years, other Adams suiteshave carried on this tradition, Pershouse says.

Finally, there is always the possibility ofgetting creative with parties during theweek--namely, study breaks.

Jess S. Downs '00 and Alexandra C. Budabin '00hosted a Halloween study break in their CanadayHall room during their first-year. In preparationfor the event, they painted gravestones on theceiling and walls with Tide detergent, which glowsin black lights. Each gravestone was marked bypersonalized anecdotes representing each personin the entryway, says Downs.

"It was fantastic," Budabin says. She says onecross-country runner's gravestone read that he ranhimself to death, while a computer sciencestudent's tombstone read that he had "Quaked"himself to death

Chainani also helped to throw a Mardi GrasParty in March. For this party, a "VIP room" wascreated for those who paid a $15 cover charge,Chainani says.

The Lowell House resident says the affair wasdifferent from a typical Harvard party of talkingand "schmoozing."

"It was almost like turning a room into a clubfor a night," he says.

A Christmas-season party started by Sarah D.Pershouse '99 and friends has also become anannual event. In 1996, they hosted a seasonalparty with a "touchable fabrics" theme in AdamsHouse.

"It was a fun idea," Pershouse says. "I thinkpeople got into the novelty of it."

People wore such tactile fabrics as leather,vinyl, velvet and silk. Pershouse says animportant feature of the event was the "suggestiveinvitation" that people could send to "theircrushes."

For two successive years, other Adams suiteshave carried on this tradition, Pershouse says.

Finally, there is always the possibility ofgetting creative with parties during theweek--namely, study breaks.

Jess S. Downs '00 and Alexandra C. Budabin '00hosted a Halloween study break in their CanadayHall room during their first-year. In preparationfor the event, they painted gravestones on theceiling and walls with Tide detergent, which glowsin black lights. Each gravestone was marked bypersonalized anecdotes representing each personin the entryway, says Downs.

"It was fantastic," Budabin says. She says onecross-country runner's gravestone read that he ranhimself to death, while a computer sciencestudent's tombstone read that he had "Quaked"himself to death