How to host the ultimate Eurovision party: ideas, activities, and inspiration
Are you getting ready for Eurovision 2023? Want to put together an epic watch party with your friends (or friends of your friends' friends) by hosting your own Eurovision party? Whether you are a hardcore fan who can name every winner since 1956 or you are just looking for an excuse to host a party, this guide has all the ideas you need to make your Eurovision party a success.
To get you in the Eurovision party mood I've hidden 8 song references throughout the article. Can you find them 🧐?
Pick a venue
While the location for the next Eurovision is still to be selected, you can pick a venue. Your party might be small enough to fit in your living room. But if you're worried about disturbing your neighbours when everyone starts screaming about bloc voting, it can be a lot of fun to have a Eurovision party in a spot that you have rented. There are some restaurants that will allow you to rent a back room that has a TV or projector screen so that you and your guests can all have a good view of the action. Some venues even have karaoke rooms and other entertainment offerings to keep the euphoria going well into the night.
Dress code
While not everyone might be able to come with a full Lordi costume, you can encourage people to dress up as former acts of Eurovision – just put a limit on the number of silver bodysuits. If everyone is running scared from the thought of dressing up, you can also keep things simple by having some face paint or make-up available for your guests to draw flags on each-others cheeks.
You can also encourage people to dress up there by having some oversized sunglasses, silly hats, and feather boas available. At the very least you can expect your guests to put on some new, light blue underwear for you.
Eurovision karaoke
Every Eurovision party should start with an intensive listening and critical discussion of songs from previous years – yes, Eleni Foureira - Fuego should have won in 2018 and you can't convince me otherwise. But even better than listening to iconic songs is singing them (or yodelling them)! You can simply connect a karaoke software like Singa on your laptop to your TV and let the singing begin.
If you want to take it a step further you can set up a jury of friends to rate the performances - Douze Points! Karaoke is a great way to energize your guests and will make everyone feel connected to the spirit of Eurovision before the party has even really gotten started. You can also come back to karaoke at the end of the night to keep the party going. Check out this classic Eurovision karaoke playlist or the Eurovision 2023 playlist for some musical inspiration. Come on everybody, let's sing along!
Eurovision games
Games can be a great way to make the night even more fun and boost the energy even if the final end up filled with slow ballads. With these games no matter who wins or loses, there shouldn't be any tear drops.
1. Eurovision voting
The most iconic and exciting aspect of Eurovision is the voting. During the final intermission before the voting you can host your own mini-voting. While having everyone assign their own top 12 might be a bit extensive, you can easily have your guests assign a top 3 (12, 10, and 8 points respectively). If you want to add some stakes to the voting you can agree that everyone has to use their tele-votes for the winning countries.
2. Eurovision quiz
A quiz can be a great way to start the night or to fill the intermissions. If you are a quizmaster you can make your own or find a pre-made Eurovision quiz online. If your guests are self-proclaimed Eurovision super fans, you can do your best to stump them.
How many lead singers wore silver in the 2020 Eurovision? - 7 if we count Damiano's silver pants!
You can offer a reward to the winners, but bragging rights can also be sufficient. If you are in need of a Eurovision music quiz, we have a few for you to choose from!
3. Eurovision drinking games
Drinking games can be open to lots of imagination, but they can lead to a lot of sloshy, silly fun during the night. You can come up with your own rules or use the ones below:
Take a sip if:
- You see your home country's flag in the audience.
- Fireworks or pyrotechnics
- Contestant wears a glittery bodysuit
- For every diva contestant
- Rock singer in leather pants
- Every time the song is about love
- Unnecessary background dancer appears
- Presenter makes a bad joke
Take a shot/gulp if:
- Giant running hamster wheel
- Your country is performing
- Fake rain
- Finland sends a rock song
- Contestant without a shirt
- Technical issue
- Someone wears sunglasses inside
- Someone winks at the camera
- Contestant performs incredibly long high-note
You can also add some additional rules for the voting. Everyone can select a country and if that nation gets 12 points they need to take a shot or gulp. Also everyone must take a shot every-time the UK gets a point.
Around the world potluck
Another fun thing that you can do for your Eurovision party is making sure that everyone brings food from one of the countries that are in the finals. Potlucks are really easy on the host, and they can lead to some really silly and fun foods showing up to be shared by the guests.
You might want to limit the items that are brought to the event to things that people will actually enjoy. You probably will want to avoid having people bringing things like Lutefisk into your home as a joke. If you don't have the best cooks in your friend group, you could consider taking out the potluck component and providing foods from around the world yourself. Italy goes straight to the finals so you can always have pizza as a back-up.
Cocktails (or shots) for your country
While you probably do not want to have to make a signature cocktail for every country in the finals, you can make sure that you have all the right fixings for classic cocktails for your home country. You can also pick up some wine or beer from your favorite countries. Or you can simplify things and go straight for shots – Gin for the UK, Absinthe for Switzerland, etc. It might be wise to grab some mixers since it can be a long night, especially once the voting starts. You can add little flags to each drink if you want to be extra cute.
Hopefully now you have some more inspiration and ideas to host your own Eurovision party. Once the night comes, all you need to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy your Eurovision party!
Hidden song references:
- Lake Malawi - Friend Of A Friend (Czech Republic 2019)
- Loreen - Euphoria (Sweden 2012)
- Ell & Nikki - Running Scared (Azerbaijan)
- Lena - Satellite (Germany 2010)
- Ilinca ft. Alex Florea - Yodel It! (Romania 2017)
- Tanel Padar & Dave Benton - Everybody (Estonia 2001)
- Emmelie De Forest - Only Teardrops (Denmark 2013)
- Scooch - Flying The Flag (United Kingdom 2007)