Last weekend was my second birthday in college, and with two birthday parties now under my belt, I feel qualified enough to give advice on how to throw an awesome college birthday party.

You don’t need to be an ~event planner~ to throw a fun party, whether it’s for your own birthday, a friend’s birthday, or even for a holiday like Halloween or an end-of-year bash.

Parties are the perfect study break, and can be a way of seeing friends you might miss in your day to day schedule or introducing your friends to each other. As someone who doesn’t stick to one group of friends, throwing a college birthday party can be really helpful for the important people in your life to meet and become friends with each other!

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Table of Contents

College Birthday Planning: Where to Start

Maybe throwing parties is a new thing, or you’re not the social butterfly you’d like to be. Whichever the case, planning a party on your own can be intimidating. That’s where tip #1 comes in.

My first recommendation is to get a close friend or a roommate to be your partner-in-crime. If there’s a last minute food run or you can’t be in five places at once, it’s important to know someone has your back.

The best approach to party planning is to think about the final “experience” you want to have, and dividing up your to-do list from there. Here’s some tips I have for making the most of each category…

Food & Drink

Arguably, snacks are the most important part of any party. You need to think about food in the time frame of your party, and create the event around that.