4 Quick Tips Regarding Formal
A staple event for every fraternity is planning, hosting, and participating in a great formal for members and guests. However, accomplishing this feat can often be quite the challenge involving balancing the delegation of duties between brothers, calculating costs, and taking care to ensure that your personal formal experience is worthwhile. We understand and acknowledge the difficulty in these tasks. That’s why we’ve created this quick list of 4 important things to keep in mind when going through the entire formal experience.
Make your formal memorable
Too many formals are forgotten by the wayside because they adhere to the same cookie cutter mold that chapters across the country exhibit at every large event they hold. To make your formal one worth remembering, you need to get out of that mold! There are several ways that you can achieve this. Try offering something unique like a cool, local band, or an interesting location like a haunted house. Another way to make your event stand out is to create a killer theme that will get your guests talking. Part of the fun of a party for the guests in the hype and preparation. Get the girls talking by proposing a masquerade ball or even 90s throwback theme.
Hit the basics with grace
While trying to be creative is important, it shouldn’t stand in the way of covering all of the basics first and foremost. Any good formal has solid music, good food, plenty of booze, and a good venue. Creativity should never overshadow providing one of the following basics. For instance, while it may be admirable of you to try and provide organic snacks, drunk guests will not appreciate the lack of greasy and cheesy foods. Once you’ve covered the most important elements, you can begin to take risks and offer some diversity.
Spend wisely
It’s important that you don’t skimp on these essentials. You want your event to be fun and worth remembering. However, at the same time, you must be carefully with your costs. It’s not cool to spend excessively. Many of your members may choose not to come if costs become unmanageable. Be sure to talk to your members beforehand, and as a group come up with an acceptable price ceiling for the event. Then, do what you have to to stick to that budget to make the event accessible to everyone, while still creating an excellent formal.
Don’t forget about yourself
With all of the planning and stress, it can be difficult to remember yourself while spending so much time making sure the night is a success for everyone else. To ensure that you enjoy your event as much as your members and guests, do a few things to put yourself back in the picture. First, choose your invitee(s) with care. Make sure that you choose people you know you’ll have a good time with. The next thing to do is take care to look your best. Remember, there will be loads of pictures taken on the night of formal that everyone you know will see. Nailing your look will not only make you feel great the night of, but for years to come.
