I love parties. In high school, I created house parties in the basement of my house (since we were underage, there were only a limited amount of places high school kids can hang out).
The basement of my house with high school friends.
Then in college, I became a Brother in Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Indiana University where I learned how to create parties on a much larger scale and even collaborate with other organizations and sorority houses. Also, since there were hundreds of house parties taking place on campus each week, there was a lot of inspiration to boost our creativity.
Our most creative party was called Arabian Nights (aka “Barbary”), which included a) turning our entire fraternity house into a Middle East palace filled with sand, camels, and running water fountains and b) getting the entire campus excited about the party by delivering exclusive invitations to the party by one of our pledges riding on a camel and wearing a sultan’s robe.
Facade of my fraternity house, Phi Kappa Psi at Indiana Universtiy, during the Arabian Nights Dance.
To me, the best parties consist of celebrating with people you know and welcoming those that are mutually connected. But when I moved to New York City, I noticed that parties were generally filled with people that did not know each other or were connected in any significant way, and everyone was not always welcome. In high school and in college, I had very little money, but I still knew how to make it a great time. But in New York City, I discovered nightlife is much more than just fun parties with friends, it is about the money.
