Guide to Throwing the Best Bollywood-themed Party

Planning a party is difficult enough without adding any themes to it. If you are an amateur of organizing parties, you will definitely enjoy putting together a colourful Bollywood party. Everyone knows a few things about Bollywood and how energic it is. The history of Bollywood starts with Bombay. Today’s Mumbai used to be called Bombay, which inspired Indians to name their own type of Hollywood that generates thousands of Hindi movies. Since Bollywood was born, their movies became international symbols. The actors that play in Bollywood movies are idols and trend starters. One of the trends that started not only in India is organizing Bollywood theme parties. This article will give you some tips on how to put one together from scratch. Here’s what you should know:

Make your own handmade invitations

The invitations will be the elements that let people know they are about to attend a Bollywood party. Of course, a themed party always includes a dress code. In this case, the dress code is more specific and the people who attend this event should have enough time to prepare their outfits. This is the reason why you need to create themed-specific invitations and mention all the details that matter in it. This invitation doesn’t necessarily have to be physical, but they surely need to be unique. In order to achieve the wanted result, you should create the invitations yourself. In case you decide to send physical invitations, you have much more options. For electronic ones, you only need plenty of imagination and a couple of hours to create them. Downloading templates should be your last resort.

In Indian culture, the word Rangoli signifies a painting technique that involves coloured powder, pastel painting, and natural elements such as flower petals or leaves. Rangoli is usually done on the floor, at your door, to welcome guests as they enter your home. As mentioned before, India is the culture of colours, so don’t hold back when it comes to creating in-your-face invitations. Buy some heavy card stock, draw an Indian pattern of your choice and play with paint until you get the design right. On the inside of the invitation, write all the relevant details about your part-time, date, dress-code, contact details.

Décor tips

The décor is all about colours. Buy cushions with all sorts of patterns and stack them on your sofas and on the floor. You can also buy or rent Indian carpets. For the dining table, use patterned tablecloths and reed mats–you can try some table covers wholesale options from the market too. Don’t forget to add a lot of live flowers and glass beads. Candles will help you create the proper ambiance for a Bollywood party. Don’t forget to buy patterned cardboard gift bags if you want to surprise your guests with a small present that they can take home. Coloured marbles and Indian tune CDs would make up for a great gift. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on décor, simply use the most colourful things you own to create some drapes and dim the lights. Of course, play Bollywood movies and music at the party to animate your guests.

Pay tremendous attention to food

When they hear about an Indian-inspired party, people always think about the recipes that are going to be served. You have two options when it comes to serving food: either find a restaurant that can deliver traditional Indian food to your home or cook the recipes by yourself. As you may figure out yourself, cooking these recipes is not the easiest thing. You will need to find good recipes and suitable ingredients to make the food taste as close as possible to the traditional meal. Here are some of the meals you should include in the menu:

• Chaat (finger food)
• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Malai Kofta
• Mughlai Biryani
• Kachumbar
• Samosa
• Vada Pav

Keep in mind that Indian food requires a different type of plating. Because most Indian meals are eaten by hand, you have to place them creatively on platters and let everyone serve what they want. Another way to serve Indian dishes would be by using banana leaves. If you can find banana leaves in stores in your city, it would be a shame not to buy some. You simply need to wash them and then dry them. Place the food inside the banana leaf for an authentic effect.

Don’t skip the desserts either. Indian cuisine is very encompassing, so you can try all sorts of sweet dishes. You shouldn’t expect to find these dishes in restaurants or stores, but you won’t encounter any trouble in preparing them:

• Sandesh – this is a bit more difficult to prefer compared to the other desserts listed below; these are a type of cookies made of paneer, which is an Indian-specific curd cheese that is quite difficult to find outside India; it is topped with almonds, pistachio, saffron or cardamom (the ethnic flavour of the country)
• Rasgulla – a preferred dessert of most Indians, rasgullas are sweet cottage cheese balls served with syrup
• Cham-cham – a dessert that is very easy to make, cham-chams are made out of milk curd
• Kheer – it is very similar to regular rice pudding, but creamier and flavoured with cardamom and nuts

Drinks matter too

Any party includes drinks, alcohol and non-alcoholic. In Indian culture, there are several drinks that can’t miss from a party. Try to prepare the following ones:

• Aam Panna – this drink is made of green mangoes, which are pretty easy to find, no matter where you are from; it is a healthy, non-alcoholic beverage usually consumed during summer
• Thandai – this is a Holi drink that gathers together almonds, rose petals, milk, and numerous spices
• Spiced apple cider – an alcoholic drink that can be found in supermarkets; you can also add the spices separately