American themed parties?

[sabrinathecat]

Srsly, though, I've seen plenty of theme parties in my day but never one based on some other country. I mean, this is America. We don't care about other countries.

That's not true. We need other countries. Who else can we... Darn it--I was going to say "kill and exploit", but that goes into politics again.

 

[Zombie_Babies]

Really? I thought it was reasonably common for people to throw Irish-themed parties for St Patrick's Day. (Well, maybe not 'common', but not unknown.)

St Patrick's parties are common but about as Irish themed as they get are corned beef, green dyed beer, green clothes and binge drinking. Plus we don't consider them Irish themed, we consider them St Patrick's themed - as in, it's an American celebration.

Additionally, America has so many people from so many backgrounds that theme parties really can't happen. What's the appeal of an Irish themed party? I could drink with my Irish friends - hell, I could drink with myself. Aside from that, the fact that we are so diverse means that something like a theme party could easily be seen as offensive. One reason I don't consider St Patrick's day parties 'Irish themed', for example, is that the primary purpose of these parties is to get bleeped the bleep up. I don't think many Irish people would appreciate that that's how we give them an 'homage'.

That's not true. We need other countries. Who else can we... Darn it--I was going to say "kill and exploit", but that goes into politics again.

Those countries need us to kill and exploit them, dammit!

 

[EscherEnigma]

That racial/national/ethnically/whatever-themed parties can be racist (as college students throughout the US like to regularly prove) isn't really an argument that they don't happen.

I also can't decide if your stance on St. Patty's day is meta or delusional. On one hand it's certainly an American holiday about an Irish Icon (more people celebrate it in the US, even by percentage rather then numbers, then ever do in Ireland), on the other hand it isn't an Irish tradition. But while you may resent the idea, and people may do it poorly, there certainly are quite a few "themed" parties about it.

Similarly Cinco De Mayo and Day of the Dead are popular holidays for Mexican-themed parties. You can attribute that to people just having a party with a not-as-American tradition, but I've seen plenty of gringos throw parties on those days, themed parties, because hell, any excuse when you're in your early twenties and want to have fun, amiright?

Seriously ZB, you have way too much faith in the propriety of American college students. And from those pictures, it looks like "American parties" are similarly the province of the drunk and young internationally.

 

[Deset Gled]

In addition to the Irish and Mexican themed parties mentioned, I have also been to a Japanese themed party (associated with an anime club), Polish themed party (Casmir Pulaski day is a holiday in the Chicago area), Hawaiian themed party (it was an independent country before it was a state, you know), Greek themed party (TOGA!), French themed party (a going-away thing), and an Italian themed party (just because someone wanted to do one).

National themed parties are definitely a thing, and can vary greatly in levels of debauchery.

 

[delericho]

St Patrick's parties are common but about as Irish themed as they get are corned beef, green dyed beer, green clothes and binge drinking.

Sounds about as Irish as those American-themed parties linked by the OP were American.

... the primary purpose of these parties is to get bleeped the bleep up.

Yep. Which I'm sure was equally the purpose of those American-themed parties linked by the OP.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I don't think national theme parties are inherently racist, although they totally can be.

That I remember, I've been to Greek, Japanese, Hawaiian and Denmark themed parties--the only one of those I would think of possibly offensive was the danish one, which was rather offensive, since that was totally all about making fun of the Danish. The Greek and Japanese were all about celebrating those cultures (hosted by the Greek and Japanese departments of the University I went to) and the Hawaiian party was all about media emulation (let's pretend we're in Hawaii as in the movies).

I would expect most America-themed parties to follow the Hawaiian model--media emulation.

 

[frogimus]

You want to get pulled over by the police in the US? Drive around drinking out of a red Solo cup...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

According to Alton Brown, modern Corned Beef was invented by the Jews* (yes, that means its kosher) and in American communities where Irish and Jewish enclaves were adjacent to each other, it became the go-to substitute for the much more expensive bacon in cabbage...so not very Irish, really.







* "corn" derives from an old Irish word for salt pellets- the dish called "corned beef" in old Irish texts is a simple salt-cured beef that is not quite the same as the stuff we know today- fewer spices, slightly different cut of brisket.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In college, my roommate and I threw a "Negro-Viking" party.* It was inspired by some cheesy, early 1970s film in which, no joke, one of the horned-helmed viking warriors on the longship was a black dude.

When they showed up, all attendees had to put on "Hello, my name is _______" tags with their negro-Viking name...like "Sven-Ole Washington", and "Tyrone Thorson."

Good times. Good times.









* I, the black guy from New Orleans, was the titular "Negro." He, the white, blonde, blue-eyed dude from South Dakota was the "Viking" in question.

 

[Piston Honda]

Red cups, crappy beer, Kentucky bourbon, popcorn, hotdogs, hamburgers, hershey kisses, pumpkin pie, apple pie, fried chicken, buffalo wings, cheerleaders, cowgirls, rednecks, valley girls, ganstaaas, preppy cardigans, stetsons, bomber jackets, Basketball shirts, baseball caps, Gridion, nra guns and loud brash middle class conservative debauchery

Hell yeah! Sounds like Theme America too me

(You can blame everything from Animal House to Girls Gone Wild - SpringBreak for the phenonena)

I've lived in Kentucky for 10 years, nobody brings bourbon to parties, they bring cheap Tennessee whiskey and selfishly hoard the good stuff. Otherwise, this is a mostly accurate representation of a Kentucky house party. Desert and popcorn are unlikely, but happen at random, however in addition to your (rhymes with her) red solo cups you will need a table and balls for beer pong.