When gatherings themed as The Great Gatsby or dress-as-your-favourite-Spotify-artist start to feel old, why not take a distinctly McGill spin on things? The Tribune has you covered with 10 McGill-inspired themes that are sure to wow your guests.

1. Dress as your favourite Redpath cafe salad

Are you a caesar salad with chicken slices? Or are you a $15 Mandy’s salad because you’re not cheap? The diversity of salads provides a plethora of options from which guests can choose.

2. Everyone dresses as Big Suze

Spotting Big Suze on campus is the ultimate McGill Where’s Waldo. Imagine if there were 10 Big Suzes parading around your apartment! Ask guests to don a blond bob and red jacket to replicate our favourite principal’s look. That being said, costumes aren’t the most important part of this party––it’s essential that you communicate all of the details about the party only through vague, passive-aggressive emails.

3. Everything but adequate mental health services party

You’ve heard about everything but clothes parties, but have you ever been to an everything but adequate mental health services party? This one hits different. 

4. Toga party but host it at a Classics Wine and Cheese 

Take your toga party to the next level by holding it at the ultimate venue: A Classics wine and cheese! Everyone there will be thrilled by your ultra-realistic interpretation of their major.

5. Tote bag party

This one’s for the Arts students who refuse to carry their belongings in a backpack like everyone else. Encourage guests to create outfits made up only of tote bags––for added effect, fill the tote bags with various objects that clang around incessantly as you walk, like keys, loose papers, juul pens, and cigarettes.

6. Office Hours Party

Ask half of the participants to dress as professors and the other half to dress like students.  Replicate the excruciatingly awkward moments of office hours by pairing guests off with random people you know they have nothing in common with. Bonus: Admit only one person every 10 minutes and encourage them to form an ambiguous line in the hallway so they end up entering out of order.

7. Dress as NOT your major

We’ve all been to parties where we’ve had to dress as our major, but how many of us can say we’ve attended a dress as NOT your major party? Tell attendees to dress as their major from an alternate universe—there’s nothing like seeing Derek from Management with safety pin earrings and black nail polish. 

8. Birks entrance themed party

Tell party-goers to take their shoes off at the door and encourage the first person who leaves to take someone else’s shoes in order to create confusion. Bonus points for slippery tile floors or outside detritus. To further replicate the Birks experience, start hiding shoes throughout the apartment periodically when no one is looking. 

9. Gerts party

Divide roles among guests to recreate the atmosphere of Gerts with its many groups of bar-goers. Examples include a group of first-years loudly singing Taylor Swift and taking up three tables, management bros discussing their latest bitcoin acquisitions and jaded fourth-years who have been there since 2 p.m. Pour beer on the floor beforehand for the ultimate stickiness.