Host a ‘Jazz Club’ Themed Party ~ Step by Step Instructions

I just hosted a jazz club themed engagement party and I’m hoping that by sharing how I planned, prepared & enjoyed this party, you can easily do the same.

The first thing you will want to do is select your venue.  It’s important to either have this party after dark or in a place with no windows so it feels moody and mysterious and darker spaces make people feel more comfortable when dancing.

Pick your party date based on the availability of the people you most want to attend because in hindsight, the people make the party. 

Food will be more effective and memorable if it’s uniquely presented, uncommon foods along with the ability to eat as much as your guests want.  It doesn’t have to be expensive to achieve this goal. I chose to make homemade fudge and freeze it during the month leading up to the event.  I had a “mashed potato martini bar” with disposable glasses & matching spoons that matched the black & champagne gold color scheme. This was a massive hit! 

I asked our closest friend to bring GFS already prepared mashed potatoes warm in crock pots, after sprinkling in some onion powder, adding a block of cream cheese and a stick of butter.  All the mashed potato martini toppings were chopped and ready to go the day before the party, ready to put on the serving table the next day. The little disposable martini glasses were hilarious!  Well worth the extra expense.  I’ll show you some screenshots here of some of the things we ordered for the party to help you out.

We spent the day before the party making ranch & Italian pinwheel sandwiches with token veggies on top.

We served sprite, coke, water bottles and milk juice boxes on ice.  The milk was so fun and popular, especially with the fudge.

Circling back to the color scheme, see how I kept the color scheme & theme the same? From the invitations, to the party decor, food service, party favors and all the way to the “thank you’ s.”

You won’t be able to make your invitations until you have all your vendors reserved, so make sure you watch this whole video to ensure that you are ready to print invitations. Our invitations were made to look like a vintage poster for a jazz night event by researching the language and graphics of these kinds of posters on Pinterest. Even the envelopes & stamps matched the theme.  I spent less than $60 on these custom invitations using my “postcard method” (find the video for this process coming soon).  Be sure to answer the who, what, when, where & how on your invitations. The invitation is actually the beginning of your party.  Find my video on how to make custom invitations using your office supply store to cut your invitation costs in half.

Speaking of Pinterest, always start a board on Pinterest when designing a party!  Remember to delete ideas you won’t be using so that the board stays tidy and not overwhelming!

We wanted the “jazz club” to have a bit of a tropical feel, especially because I hosted this event in March…so we went with feathers & palm trees.  The silhouette of the happy couple is the same as the one on the invitation…and with a projector borrowed from the library, some black science fair trifolds, some champagne gold craft paint and a using a hot glue gun to secure a trimmed tinsel curtain, the band had some nifty big band music stand to sit behind.

I made a video on how to make these palm trees so be sure to check that out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYoykxTHVZY&t=286s

We had tinsel dance wands, tinsel draped around the front of the stage, and little spotlights from the floor along with the very strong stage lights.  The rest of the lights in the room were out or very dim, again, going for that dark, mysterious jazz club feel.

Our photo booth had actual costume pieces.  I have never had a good response with photo booths that have cardboard or fake props. They are cheep…ask around and borrow real costume pieces.  Of course, ours all had a vintage jazzy feel.

I think part of the reason why our photo booth was such a hit this night is because of the “party favors” we provided.  For a guest list of 200 people, about 160 came.  We had this wall of props to pick from and we ran out of fascinators & tinted glasses.  We had about 10 bow ties left and we did throw away about 30 glow sticks out of the 100 we bought, and had about 20 necklaces left over.  But for the most part, everyone was wearing something from our offering of jazz club (not 20’s themed) favors (which they took home).

I absolutely failed on these globe lights.  I didn’t test out the lights that came with the lanterns and they were absolutely pathetic.  I wish I had gotten white lanterns, warmer colored and very strong battery candles in combination with some fairy lights so the lanterns lit up and looked more like globes.

Black table cloths were provided by the venue and we added gold tulle squares to each table but I wish I had gotten some sequin gold fabric instead.

Our photo booth had actual costume pieces.  I have never had a good response with photo booths that have cardboard or fake props. They are cheap…ask around and borrow real costume pieces.  Of course, ours all had a vintage jazzy feel.

We did take the time to have higher end costume pieces for the bridal party, feather fascinators & fedoras.

I think part of the reason why our photo booth was such a hit this night is because of the “party favors” we provided.  For a guest list of 200 people, about 160 came.  We had this wall of props to pick from and we ran out of fascinators & tinted glasses.  We had about 10 bow ties left and we did throw away about 30 glow sticks out of the 100 we bought, and had about 20 necklaces left over.  But for the most part, everyone was wearing something from our offering of jazz club (not 20’s themed) favors (which they took home).

The BAND!  They were amazing!  The opened up the evening by starting their playlist 15 minutes before the start of the party because there are always people who arrive early and it’s very important to have the party music setting the tone the second people arrive. I’ll include a link to the band’s website. My best advice for hiring a jazz band in your area is to contact the college in your area with the best music department.  Some of these band members were still in college for music.  If there isn’t a good band option that the college kids are part of, the instructors should have some recommendations for you of good bands in your area. Live music provides both an amazing ambiance and something to watch.  It’s fantastic!

https://www.bluejaysjazz.com/

We transitioned to the “activity” portion of the evening where we hired a dance instructor to teach some basic but fun swing dance moves, along with a line dance to ‘Staying Alive.’  Those who chose not to dance were plenty entertained by those who were dancing, though I know the dancers were having way more fun.  Aside from the awesome instructions, one of the highlights from the dancing portion of the evening was when the instructors had the engaged couple come up on stage to show off their newly learned dancing skills. It was adorable and gave the feel of a ‘first dance’ but so much more magical because the whole room was dancing with them.  Here is the link to our adorable dance instructors’ Facebook page…

https://danceharmony.wixsite.com/my-site

The bride & groom had a trivia game planned on PowerPoint and guests were eliminated if they picked the wrong answer, until there was one winner who got an operation themed gift basket in honor of one of the questions in the trivia game that referred to a rather gruesome dental operation the groom experienced.  One regret: we should have had some really funny background music playing during the trivia game.  I’m thinking a playlist of Harry Belafonte would have been perfect.

The rest of the night was open dancing that felt like a wedding reception with all the typical dance floor favorites.

Timing wise, you can see how we divided the night up and I would repeat this timing if I had this party again because it was perfect.

It would have been amazing to hire a couple bartenders to make vintage looking cocktails or mocktails, and if the ceilings were lower there are some crazy tinsel chandeliers that I would have loved to make, but overall it was an amazing event full of unique experiences and so much joy.

~Bethany