Looking For A Holiday House Party Idea? Host A Talent Show
We have all attended those events during childhood in Town Hall, club houses and gymkhanas where the entire neighbourhoods gather on festive evenings to take the stage and showcase, well, their talents! There’s singing, dancing, orchestra music, magic shows and fancy dress contests during these events, which promise nothing but festive fun for parents and kids alike.
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When you host a party during the holiday season, invoke a bit of nostalgia with a play on this quintessential talent night especially when you are opening your home to a large gathering. All of us have hidden actors, singers, dancers, comedians and artists within us and a talent night is the perfect place to unleash these personalities on the crowd.
Read on for some tips on how to organise a talent show at home, full of festive fun, great food, exciting prizes, and a panel of judges:
Select A Theme
A talent show means guests will come prepared with a performance or skit to present in front of a panel of judges! You can choose an overarching theme to avoid making the concert too broad ranging. Decide a theme based on the general inclinations of your participants so Hindi cinema, Hollywood, opera or English theatre would be interesting ideas which will prompt your performers to get creative.
Pick A Venue
For hosting a talent show, you would require adequate room to build a small stage and set-up varied equipment. Rearrange your furniture but if you face space constraints, host your guests in the club house of your residential complex or find an open air venue akin to an amphitheatre. You can also turn your home garden into a venue by putting up fairy lights and other bright decorations to create a concert-like ambience.
Set Performance Times
One of the ways a talent show might run into disarray is when participants extend their performance times. Audiences can get bored and distracted and judges would lose interest! While sending out invites, suggest three to five minutes as a performance time and press a buzzer when time’s up.
Choose Judges
Your judges have to be a panel of hearty folks who would judge wisely, but kindly. It is after all a talent show for amateurs so the stage acts as a floor for them to test their art. Encouraging judges would boost confidence and make participants feel comfortable. Also design a point system before the contest begins so choosing a winner becomes easy! And when you have guests performing a range of acts like skits, songs and dancing, be ready to hand out prizes for all categories!
Offer Exciting Prizes
If you ever participated in a talent show, you would want to go home with a prize! Same goes for your guests too, so offer exciting prizes like vouchers or gift sets containing chocolates, electronics or festive presents like candles, ootan and other unguents. Also plan for ties, runner-up or consolation prizes and party favours for all participants!
Talent Show Food And Drink
Arrange small, round tables with lamps as centrepieces facing the stage so everyone can watch the performances. Dinner can be served on these tables and you can actually plan an elaborate course meal with drinks and dessert for the evening. You can go for a menu based on the theme so serve kebabs, naan, gravy, biryani and swag for a Bollywood talent night! Arrange for cocktails too and have a bottle of Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka and some Singleton of Glendullan scotch whisky at hand so guests can warm up with a drink while prepping for their set.
Curtain Call…
Hosting a talent show is reminiscent of evenings spent during your childhood taking to the stage during the festive season. Choose a venue where a platform can be set adequately and plan exciting prizes for the winners!
