Big Lebowski Party

In a previous post I talked about my standard party formula which I use to support whatever themed party I’m putting together. Truly this is the formula that I use for all parties, themed or not. With a themed party, though, the pieces of this formula come together very easily, as the theme will guide my choices. Here is my formula:

• Possibly Costumes

• Food

• Specialty Drink

• Game

• Photo Op

• Music Playlist

• Décor

I often theme my birthday parties after some movie that I already own. For the record, I only have about 10 DVDs left in my collection, and because I don’t want to bring my laptop to the party, I have been choosing the DVDs that I still have to theme my parties (or borrow one). The good part is that I only kept the DVDs of my favourite movies, for nostalgia purposes. So, they are always going to be good theme choices for me. Below, I’ll go through each of my party planning pieces for Big Lebowski Party below in case someone out there wants to have a party like this too, or you find an idea in here that might work for any other party.

Costumes

In my previous post I mentioned that a lot of my friends love a costume party, as do I. The Big Lebowski movie is an absolute cult classic with so many good characters for costume choices. My party is often outside (due to space), and my birthday is in October (in Ontario, Canada). People tend to choose warmer costumes as a result. Look up the movie or watch it. You won’t be sorry. If you’re really stuck, you can dress up as “The Dude” just by wearing a plain t-shirt, flannel pajama pants, and a robe. The Dude spends a good portion of the movie dressed like this. I chose this option because it was easy and warm. As I mentioned in my other post,

I don’t tell my guests that they must dress up. I usually say, something like “If you feel inspired, we will be dressing in costume. Feel free to let our theme style your outfit.” Just a little tip here – if you are going to invite your guests to dress in costume, you should give them ample notice. I usually send my invite out 3 or 4 weeks ahead of time. Then I send a reminder 5 – 7 days before the party.

Food

Lebowski party was a tough one for food choices, but a there are a lot of bowling alley scenes. So, I chose food that you would find at a bowling alley; pizza, chips and candy snacks. Nacho chips, and French fries could also work. I’m vegetarian, and if you’re coming to my parties, you’ll be eating like a vegetarian. However, hot dogs could have been a good choice as well. I’m not a fan of veggie hot dogs.

Specialty Drink

If you’ve seen this movie, you already know that the specialty theme drink for this party must be a White Russian. I will warn you here that this can be a VERY boozy drink. My method when I have a specialty drink is to provide enough alcohol and mix for each person to have 1 specialty drink on me. I let them know that it is a BYO drink party. So, they can manage their own drinks after that. I try to pre-mix the alcohol so that no one has to think too hard and place it in a labelled bottle. This works for a house party. If you’ve hired a bartender at your licenced venue, they won’t be able to pre-mix (at least I believe that’s the rule in Ontario). I make my bar self-service, but I also offer a drink when new people arrive. Here are the items that I usually put at my self-serve bar station:

• 3 x containers with ice to hold: 1 – drink mix for my specialty drink, 2 – bottles of flat water, 3 – cans of sparkling water

• 1 x ice bucket & scoop

• Lots of mason jars for drinks with labels on already

• A pen or marker for people to write their name on their glass

• Lots of paper Dixie Cups for measuring the drink mix

• Lots of paper straws (sorry paper straw haters, I love turtles)

• Instructions for how to mix the drink

• 1 to 2 bottles of pre-mixed specialty drink alcohol

• Enough drink mix (the non-alcoholic part) to go with the alcohol

  
  

If you look up “White Russian Drink Recipe”, you will find that one of the classic recipes is 5 parts vodka, 2 parts coffee liqueur, and 3 parts “fresh cream”. I can’t tell you that I know what “fresh cream” is, but my guess is it’s just cream. In the movie, the opening scene shows The Dude buying half and half cream at the grocery store. So, if you wanted to be authentic to the movie, you could choose this. Later, though, he uses powdered milk, which I would only use under duress. So, authenticity should only go so far. I wanted to include everyone. So, I had a selection of milks; almond milk, 2% milk, half and half cream, and table cream (18%). Almost no one used the table cream. So, my advice is to skip this one.

Game

If your parties have a mix of people from different facets of your life; old friends, hobby friends, sports friends, work friends etc., a game gives people an excuse to be able to talk to other guests that they don’t know. I mentioned that large portions of The Big Lebowski take place in a bowling alley. So, I had a bowling game set up for people to play. This can just be a child’s plastic version, or a classier wooden game. You need enough space to set up a bowling lane, and don’t forget to put up some sides, or the bowling ball becomes a safety hazard whenever it strays from the alley. People don’t play it for too long, because it’s a pain to set up the pins over and over again, but it is a little activity for couples or friends that’s more than just talking to each other, or dancing.

Since the bowling game can only be used by a couple of people at once, and it doesn’t do very much to break the ice, I wanted to come up with another game that could involve everyone. This is how “Casual Trivia” was invented. Maybe someone invented it before me, but it is a great way for strangers to have an excuse to talk to each other & have a couple of laughs.

Casual trivia works like this – on arrival everyone gets 3 trivia cards. I chose to make mine on cardstock bowling pins (themed for the movie) with a string on them so guests can hang them on their neck. 1 side is the question, and the other side is the answer (obviously the answer side is towards their bodies). If you want to play trivia, you can just ask anyone around you to play. If the person guessing the answer gets it right, they get to keep the card. They can hang it around their neck with the rest of their trivia questions and someone else might win it from them later. If they guess the answer wrong, they must surrender 1 of their own cards to the other person. The person with the most trivia cards at the end of the night wins! So fun! This type of trivia can work for any movie, or another topic. Just remember, if you have 20 guests, you must have 60 trivia questions.

Photo Op

Well friends, the truth is, I was an utter failure at the Lebowski photo op. However, I’ll take a minute to explain about this piece of the plan, and what I should have done. I usually try to set a small area of the party near the entrance with some sort of scene so that my guests are encouraged to take a picture. If you’re on your game, you can also post a sign nearby with a hashtag that guests can use when posting on their socials, so that everyone can easily find the pictures later. I did none of this for my Lebowski party; cue the sad trombone.

Learn from my mistakes and don’t miss YOUR opportunity! This can be as simple as making a sign “Happy 40th Birthday, Cindy” or “#CindyIsTheGOAT” or “Where’s the money, Lebowski?”. Place some sunglasses in a basket for guests to wear as they take a picture, and you have a photo op. A friend of mine had a box of costume accessories (hats, glasses, wigs etc.) and had new arrivals at her party choose some so that she could take their pictures. She did all the picture taking herself as she greeted each new guest. She added it all to an Instagram Reel and shared the link after. It’s a cute idea and you can make it as elaborate or easy as you like.

Music Playlist

If I have the space, I like to set up a dancing area with music. I try to keep it far enough away from the seating area so that people can still have a conversation without shouting at each other. In my experience, not a lot of people dance at a house party. If you’re holding a party at a venue, you’ll probably get more dancers. Either way, you still want to have music. I don’t have the money to hire a DJ, so I make a playlist and put it on shuffle. I try to make a playlist with around 3 or 4 hours of music, though traditionally I’ve been closer to 3 because it takes a long time to curate a 3-hour playlist. This seems to be the right amount of time for very few guests to hear a song twice. Most people don’t stay at a party for more than 4 hours.

In case you’re planning a Lebowski party yourself, below are some of the songs I chose to add. My playlist guidelines are music from the soundtrack, but mostly up-beat songs, other songs from the same artists, songs about the theme, songs from artists mentioned in the movie, songs with the same feeling as everything else I’ve chosen, and some current popular dance tunes. Here are some ideas:

• Lookin’ Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival (they mention CCR in the movie)

• Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival

• Down On The Corner – Creedence Clearwater Revival

• Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) – Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (from the soundtrack)

• The Man in Me – Bob Dylan (from the soundtrack)

• Hotel California – The Gipsy Kings (from the soundtrack)

• My Mood Swings – Elvis Costello (from the soundtrack)

• Already Gone – Eagles (they mention Eagles in the movie)

• Peaceful Easy Feeling – Eagles

• Viva Las Vegas – ZZ Top (from the soundtrack)

• Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top (same artist as a soundtrack song)

• Wish I Knew You – The Revivalists (same feeling as the other songs)

• Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey (same feeling as the other songs)

• Groove is in the Heart – Groove is in the Heart (same feeling as the other songs)

For the rest of the playlist add in whatever songs are popular with your friends today. Whenever some odd-ball song comes on from the movie, or my specialty list, guests get the connection and usually enjoy it.

Décor

Obviously, I could go on forever here. This is one of my specialties in life, after all. I am, however, sensitive to the amount of money that a person can pour into party décor, because I have done it. That is one of the reasons for Socials by Cindy décor rentals. I get genuine pleasure from helping people stage awesome events and make sure my décor rentals are reasonably priced, and easy to rent, but add to the scene in a big way. However, if you’re not in the Hamilton, Ontario area, here are some ideas to create an impact for a Big Lebowski party on a budget. Even though my party was at a small venue, I wanted to have a “living room” feel. It’s cozy and casual, putting people at ease. Following are some keys to achieving this.

Area rug – If you’ve seen this movie, you know the phrase about how the rug “really tied the room together”. In my humble opinion, you cannot have a Big Lebowski party without an area rug. Borrow one if you need to. My rug looked nothing like the movie rug and my guests still understood the reference. Then, everything else is coordinated with the area rug. I actually did try to “tie the room together” using colours from the rug that I chose.

Paper plates, straws, bowls, cups – I tend to use mason jars for my specialty drinks because I think it looks a little classier, but if my party is outside in the cold, I also always serve hot apple cider. I ad no alcohol to it, so everyone can have some. For this, I use coloured paper cups that match my décor, if I can find them. I also choose paper straws, paper Dixie Cups, and paper plates which match my décor.

Lighting – I cannot stress enough the importance of lighting in creating an ambience for your party. No one feels relaxed or has fun in an interrogation chamber. It is so important to dim the lights. Throughout the room I like to place mason jars with battery operated fairy lights. For Lebowksi party I also added bowling pin cut outs inside the jars. You can buy fairy lights at your favourite dollar store. These normally cost $2.50 per string (2024, Ontario, Canada). Buy at least 10, but if you can afford it, buy more.

Batteries will cost you more, of course, but it’s worth it. Don’t forget to take the batteries out after each use, or you will ruin the lights when the batteries start to decay. I put the batteries in a container after, so I know they’ve been used, and I re-use them with each party, until they die. If you have the money, invest in rechargeables. It’s a lot to begin with, but it pays off for you and the environment in the long run. If you take good care of the lights & batteries, these will last years.

Accent pillows - You can often buy inexpensive accent pillow covers at fabric stores. I don’t know why. Maybe there are helper elves in the back room somewhere using the fabric ends to make pillow covers. Whatever the reason, I find they are much less expensive in fabric stores than other stores. Choosing removable pillow covers means, you can go back to your regular décor easily and use the pillows that you already own. If you can sew your own pillow covers, even better. Choose colours that match your area rug.

Curtains – For some reason, again, fabric stores often sell curtains at a discounted price, and if you check the clearance section you might find something for $10 per panel (2025, Ontario, Canada). Changing your curtains to match your party can make a huge visual impact on your space.

Just remember, continuous colour is the key. Choose 1or 2 colours and repeat it often throughout the room, but don’t overdo it. I like to use the rule that every direction that I look will hold at least 1 instance of my key colour in it, but my eye is never overloaded with it. It brings harmony to the space, and that makes my brain happy.

Happy party planning!