If you’re one of the 20 million college students in the United States, odds are you’ll want to throw a keg party at one time or another. Whether it’s for your fraternity or sorority, or just for a group of friends, you can create an epic kegger; if you know what you’re doing.
Luckily, throwing an epic keg party isn’t too difficult. Odds are you’ve probably already been to one or two that ended up being a bust, so you’ll know what to avoid.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how to throw a keg party that people will remember–and will be talking about for ages after the fact.
Read on to get your keg on!
What Is a Keg Party?
Knowing the definition of a keg party is a key element of throwing the great one. You need to know what your fellow party goers will expect so that you can meet their expectations.
A keg party is relatively simple in concept: it’s a party where you serve beer from a keg tap. You can have other types of alcohol present if you wish, but the main draw is the actual keg.
Most often, those who throw the keg party will require attendees to pay a fee to enter. They may pay $5 or $8, but this helps cover the cost of the beer and the food. From therein, they should have unlimited access to alcohol, beer or other drinks.
Some hosts may charge a little bit more in order to benefit their organization, such as their Greek organization or possibly for charity. It can also benefit a club or society on campus as well.
Keg parties are typically only done in college, though you may throw them as an adult as well. There is no upper age limit to throwing kegs, so you can always host a throwback party where you rage like you did in college!
Determine How Many People You’ll Invite to the Keg Party
Remember when you were little and your mom gave you a certain number of kids you were allowed to invite to your party? Your mom probably gave you the number because she wasn’t keen on taking responsibility for more children than that. And, she probably had to know how many kids to buy food for.
This is the same issue as your keg party. If you want your keg party to be epic, you can’t leave people dry. Instead, you’ll need to provide enough beer from the tap for every single guest.
In order to do this, you can only invite certain people. You can limit your guests to certain organizations, societies or Greek organizations. This means you’ll have a better idea of the number of individuals who will be attending.
Having an idea of how many people are coming gives you an idea of what to charge for entry, as well as how much food and other alcohol to provide.
Set a Budget
Setting a budget isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do, but you need to be realistic about what you or your organization can afford. Your budget may also influence the number of people who you can realistically invite.
With a controlled budget, your organization won’t spend too much money on the event–and you won’t lose money if not enough people attend. But, as you want your event to be epic, make sure people show up!
Plan in Advance
College life can get busy and overwhelming. There are midterms, holidays, overnights with organizations, exams, Greek events, sports events and more. So, if you’re going to throw a keg party that’s well attended, you need to make sure it is just that: well attended.
You’ll need to plan in advance when it comes to setting the date. Make sure the date you set doesn’t coincide with say, a Greek formal for the organizations you plan to invite.
If your school is big into sports, planning a keg during a huge game would also be a bad idea. People may already be worn out from tailgating earlier in the day.
Make sure you find a way to plan for a weekend when enough people will be free to make it awesome.
Advertise to Your Invitees
You don’t need to run to the party store and pick up invitations to write out, but you do need to let those you’re inviting over about your party. Call people up and let them know you’re holding a keg a certain weekend. Make an invitation via social media, or create a flier and pass it around to the organizations or people you’re opening the party up to.
Make sure that all of your information shows the location of the party as well as how much it costs. Advertising the cost will make it much easier than catching people by surprise when they get to your house. Otherwise, you might have people complaining or angry when they realize that they have to pay a fee to enter.
If you spell it all out beforehand, there isn’t anything they can be angry about, and they’ll likely have their cash in hand when they come to the front door and are ready to go.
Location, Location, Location
Plan to throw your keg somewhere that is convenient for people to get to, but also has enough space for them. If your organization owns a property, that might be the best place to hold it, but you’ll need to account for the number of people who are attending.
You need to have the event close enough to campus, or other people’s homes, that most people can walk or take a cab. You want to be sure that it is possible for people to get home safely.
Each state’s DUI laws are different, but you don’t want your party to be the reason someone winds up in jail or seriously injured. That’s why playing it safe is the best thing to do.
Food
What’s a party without food? And even a keg party needs something other than beer to sustain the party guests. The fee your guests pay to enter should cover some of the food as well.
You don’t need to create anything super elaborate, as many people will have already eaten beforehand. But, drunk people can get the munchies, and making sure people are fed and not attempting to drive to fast food restaurants under the influence is a good way to stay responsible.
Make up a spread with things like chips, dip, nachos, carrots, hummus, and other finger foods. If you’re throwing a keg during the day in the summer, you can also grill food like hotdogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers. In this case, you may want to increase the price of entrance slightly to cover the cost of food.
You can also order pizza or other fast food from local eateries to have out on a table for the guests to enjoy.
Make Sure You Have Enough Beer
This one is key. You need to have enough beer to give to everyone at your party. Of course, you don’t want an endless flow of alcohol, as this can lead to serious problems. Instead, estimate that each person will drink a certain amount. Have that amount ready for each individual who is attending. That way, you won’t run out, but you also won’t be able to continue serving people who should have stopped drinking hours ago.
You should also know how to store your keg to keep it fresh before the party. You’ll also need to know how to tap a keg to get the party started.
Ensure People Pay
In order to throw a proper keg party, you need to ensure people pay to enter the keg. To do this, you’ll need to sell them a cup at the entrance, which will be good to refill as much as they wish throughout the night.
There will be people who try to scam their way in by bringing their own red cup and telling you they bought it. To avoid this, make sure the cups you sell are unique or have a unique marking on them. Let people know that without that, they don’t get entrance to the party.
Have Some Form of Security
It’s no secret that parties can get out of control quickly if too many people attend. For a keg party, you probably have a set number of people you’re willing to accommodate. Stick to the number in order to adhere to safety guidelines and to ensure you have control over the crowd.
With too many people, you’re liable to encounter issues such as destruction of property, theft or things like fights breaking out. Because of this, you’ll need to have someone approving people to come in and/or turning people away when you’ve reached capacity.
If you have the budget, you can hire a professional to do this. If you don’t, you can rotate who works at the front so that you can all enjoy the party, but also take turns being responsible.
Have Music And/Or a Live Band
If your budget calls for it, hire a sweet live band to play at the kegger. This might be something you’ll have to skip if you live in a residential neighborhood, as those who live close to you may not be too keen on listening to a party they’re not invited to.
But, if you’re throwing the kegger somewhere where you can be loud at all hours of the night, and you have the budget, have someone play a couple of sets. This can make the party much livelier and will get people talking and dancing.
If you can hire a DJ to work at the party in lieu of a live band, that can also have an awesome effect on the party.
However, if your budget doesn’t allow for either one, you can create an awesome playlist to have on during the party. If you have a theme, even better, you can have themed music!
Have a Theme
You can dress up at any time of the year, not just Halloween! And having a keg party proves that.
Instead of inviting people to just come looking “normal,” have an awesome theme for them. For instance, have a jungle theme, a sock hop or throw an ’80s party. Tailor your music, decorations and some of your food to the theme. This gives people a chance to get creative and dress up as they have fun and mingle.
Be Responsible
A keg party has the potential to not only get out of control, but to promote irresponsible behavior. In order to ensure all of your guests stay safe, you’ll need to set the tone in terms of responsible behavior.
This means you’ll need to be sure that all attendees are above the drinking age in your country before allowing them to enter the party. Otherwise, this can result in some serious violations and possible jail time.
You should also have numbers for taxis strewn around the party so people can get a ride if they don’t feel comfortable driving home. It’s far better to be safe than sorry.
Ready to Throw an Awesome Keg Party?
If you’re ready to throw an awesome keg party, get ready for an epic night. You want to make sure that the partygoers both have fun and stay as safe as possible during your bash.
Ready to buy what you need to get the party started? Click here to browse our tap system that you can use at your keg party.
You’ll definitely have an epic keg party with one of our tap systems on hand to help you out.
