{"id":1838,"date":"2026-08-05T16:43:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1838"},"modified":"2026-08-05T16:43:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:43:40","slug":"wait-the-theme-for-your-party-is-what-exactly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1838","title":{"rendered":"Wait\u2014The Theme for Your Party Is What, Exactly?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On a recent Thursday night, I sat among other guests at a house party and listened intently to a PowerPoint presentation about radium. Lauren Pickens, a 25-year-old who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, stood at the front of the room and flipped through slides about the carcinogenic chemical: A century ago, radium was marketed as a miracle. Americans added it to everything\u2014including food and cosmetics. Within years, some had died. \u201cWe\u2019re smarter than that these days,\u201d Pickens said, pivoting to raw milk and other questionable substances people are ingesting today. Everyone laughed.<\/p>\n

Read more The Democrats\u2019 Riskiest Midterm Play<\/a><\/p>\n

The presentation was part of the theme that night. The co-hosts\u2014Pickens and her boyfriend, Luke Brandl\u2014had sent detailed instructions to everyone: \u201cPick a historically bad decision, from either personal or public memory, and tell us about it in the form of an 8\u201310 minute presentation.\u201d We\u2019d then vote and crown a winner. One guest discussed the chaotic 1904 Olympic marathon (one runner ate rotten apples and took a nap during the race, yet still managed to place fourth); another rehashed her relationship with an ex in the form of a book report. The party was held at Brandl\u2019s home, which doubles as a museum of sorts to the various parties the couple has hosted. Sticky notes from an \u201cembracing your cringe\u201d party hung on a wall, as did a poster of the 1978 film Starcrash<\/em>, which people had watched at another themed party\u2014\u201cbad-movie night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickens and Brandl are more ambitious than the average party planner, but their events lean into a common enthusiasm among young partygoers for niche, even absurd, themes. I\u2019ve been collecting examples for weeks: \u201cdress like your favorite Metro stop,\u201d a murder mystery about tech billionaires on a private island, a farewell to Spirit Airlines (\u201cbring the spirit and spirits\u201d). In some circles, hyper-specific party themes are becoming a norm, sometimes a requirement. \u201cHaving a coherent theme is more of an expectation now than it was two years ago,\u201d Alexa Jordan, a 25-year-old incoming law student, told me. She\u2019s hosted a spelling-bee birthday party and a cul-de-sac 5K, which entailed running in a circle for more than 65 laps. She estimated that about eight out of every 10 parties she\u2019s invited to now have a theme.<\/p>\n

In one sense, the appeal of a niche party is simple. Themes are fun, as people discovered long ago. (In 1897, New York City socialites held a costume ball that has been dubbed the \u201cmost ostentatious party in US history.\u201d) Now that friends are only a text message or FaceTime away, though, there\u2019s also a higher bar for what gets people hanging out in person. Wearing a funky costume or presenting on a weird interest gives people \u201csomething to talk about,\u201d Samika Lewis, a 25-year-old who also attended the bad-decisions party, told me. Especially at a time when some young adults are turning away from alcohol, a wacky party can act as its own kind of social lubricant. \u201cI never really liked bars that much,\u201d Brandl told me. \u201cI always wanted something a little bit different and more creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

These parties are themselves fueled by social media as much as they are a rebuke of hyper-online culture. The event I attended started the way it ended\u2014on Partiful. The couple had invited everyone through the popular event-planning app. The morning after, Brandl sent a text blast via Partiful, announcing that a presentation on dueling had won. One of the guests added pictures to the app\u2019s shared photo album.<\/p>\n

Partiful, which was founded in 2019, has become especially integral to the rise of niche party themes. Events can be made public or accessible only to those who are sent the link, which is the setting that the hosts I talked with primarily use. Public events show up on the homepage for anyone to see, allowing the strangest parties to get lots of attention and priming people to get creative with their own themes. If you\u2019re stuck, the app has a feature, \u201cAsk the Party Genie,\u201d that lets you choose a vibe (such as \u201cchill\u201d or \u201cchaos\u201d) to get specific theme ideas. When I tried it out, the genie suggested that I host parties including \u201cmake lamps out of non-lamps\u201d and a \u201cLana del Rage Room.\u201d On Partiful, RSVPs to \u201cniche and high-concept events\u201d grew more than four times from 2024 to 2025, Partiful\u2019s CEO, Shreya Murthy, told me.<\/p>\n

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On Instagram and TikTok, many recaps of themed parties draw millions of views, which help inspire more niche parties. Jordan, the law student, hosted her spelling-bee bash after a friend sent her an Instagram Reel of a similar event. At the extreme, social-media memes are themselves the theme. Komal Kamdar, a 27-year-old who lives in New York City, attended a party where guests dressed up like Adam Sandler, who has gone viral for his combinations of a baggy graphic T-shirt and shorts.<\/p>\n

The result is a feedback loop: People get inspiration from Instagram and TikTok. Then they whip up an invitation on Partiful and upload pictures to social media when the party\u2019s over. In some cases, the themes can start to feel forced\u2014more of a performance for some brief attention online than anything else. In D.C., more than 5,000 Partiful users have expressed interest in attending a five-minute \u201ceat an apple with me\u201d event. Normal park picnics have been rebranded as \u201csit down and touch grass\u201d events.<\/p>\n

At the party I attended, one guest scrambled to finish making his PowerPoint before the start of the event. And hosts often drop hundreds of dollars on decorations and spend weeks planning to make sure that the theme comes to life. Kamdar said she spends an average of $200 to host a niche party, and has held fewer gatherings because of the cost.<\/p>\n

Still, any kind of in-person gathering seems better than the alternative. Americans could certainly stand to party more. At its best, a niche party is not about chasing clout, but about actually getting to know people. At the PowerPoint party, guests initially exchanged awkward small talk and nibbled on homemade garlic knots. But once the presentations began, everyone loosened up. By the end, we hardly felt like strangers at all. As I slipped out, at close to midnight, the stragglers were already talking about Pickens and Brandl\u2019s next party. Of course, there would be a theme: Guests would compete in a treasure hunt dressed up as either a Roman or a pirate.<\/p>\n

Read more The Dystopian Future Dawns in Kherson<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young people are going all-out for niche events such as \u201cfarewell to Spirit Airlines\u201d and \u201cembracing your cringe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nWait\u2014The Theme for Your Party Is What, Exactly? - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1838\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wait\u2014The Theme for Your Party Is What, Exactly? - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Young people are going all-out for niche events such as \u201cfarewell to Spirit Airlines\u201d and \u201cembracing your cringe.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1838\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T16:43:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"Wait\u2014The Theme for Your Party Is What, Exactly?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T16:43:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838\"},\"wordCount\":1114,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/e7b2d66d0f9c1c0cc4b47d802294f07e.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1838\",\"name\":\"Wait\u2014The Theme for Your Party Is What, Exactly? 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