With a superb cast and great song and dance numbers, the blockbuster flick “High School Musical” became a hit among many teenagers. Even those who aren’t in high school anymore loved this movie.

Ride the hype and plan a party that revolves around this theme. Planning a High School Musical event is great but you must consider various aspects for it to be successful.

Music, Please!

Mail the invitations at least a couple of weeks prior to the event. This will allow everyone ample time to prepare themselves for your chosen theme.

If you’re on a tight schedule, you can just go to a party supply store and pick out one that you think fits your celebration best. These come in various designs and with wording that’ll entice you and your guests.

While some may opt for ready-made invites, you can also experiment with your creative streak and make your own design. The invites will look more special and will give your guests the impression that you’re really going to have a one-of-a-kind event.

One great homemade invitation idea is to make VIP backstage passes. You can use red and white cardstock paper. Write something like “____ would like to invite you backstage to a fun-filled High School Musical birthday celebration!” Write the party details, then punch a hole at the top and attach a lanyard to it. You can even tell them to bring the passes to the party and wear them all throughout the party.

Another idea is to create red and white Wildcats flags like those from the movie. Use red fabric and white paint, then write the details at the back using a black marker.

You can also send actual High School Musical soundtrack CDs to your guests. Write the details on plain white paper, then put them inside the CD case. These will only serve as invites but also as give aways.

Be witty when writing your party invitation wording. Write something like “We’re breaking free at ____’s spectacular High School Musical birthday!” or “Cheer on the Wildcats as ___ celebrates her birthday!”. This will entice the guests to attend your music-filled event.

High School High

You can’t have a real High School Musical party without the right High School atmosphere. Try these easy decoration ideas to make your venue befit the theme.

• Red and white in your decorations since these are the official colors of the Wildcats.
• Balloons, streamers and confetti are basic and inexpensive decorations you can use. Hang them on walls, from the ceilings and from the doorway.
• Let your guests arrive in style by having a red carpet at the party entrance. You can make this using plain red cloth. Attach silver, gold and black balloons around the carpet’s edges.

Entrance in red carpet

High school musical stage

Used go wildcats banners

• Make a High School Musical stage for your guests to perform on. Attach large red fabric or butcher paper to a wall, then put yellow or white twinkling lights around the edge. Use fishing lines and hang stage light garlands from the ceiling. You can also cut out gold stars from cardboard or art paper and put them on the ceiling.
• Use red and white table cloths. Sprinkle silver glitter or sequins on the surface for a sparkly look.
• Hang High School Musical posters and pictures on the walls.
• Put red and white cheerleading pom-poms, pennants and “Go Cats!” banners around the place.
• Put locker cutouts on the walls.
• Use the High School Musical soundtrack for fun and energetic background music.

Check out this video to have some idea for high school musical party.

School Attire

Since teens can wear anything they want when they go to high school, you should also let your guests do the same for your party. Let them come in casual clothes or anything they feel comfortable in. As the host, you can don clothes that are a bit more “extravagant”. Why not dress up in a red dress, like the one Gabriella worn when they sang the final song? If you’re blond, you can be the fabulous Sharpay and wear designer clothes. A red and white cheerleading uniform is also a great costume.

You can ask them to come in East High School colors. They can don red and white clothes, as if they’re cheering for the Wildcats Basketball team. At the party, you can also hand out Wildcats bandannas for them to wear.

Another great idea is to set up a “vanity corner”. If your guests are going to go onstage, they’ll need to dress up and primp themselves first! Prepare combs, cosmetics, hair accessories and other beauty and vanity items they can use to look like theater actors and actresses.

High School Games

Let your guests experience fantastic high school moments with cool party games like these:

• The Cellphone Search – Mrs. Darbus has confiscated and hidden everyone’s cellphones and you all have to go look for them. Before the party, hide plastic toy cellphones filled with candies around the venue and have everyone look for them. Every cellphone they find can be exchanged for a prize. Another idea is to provide clues with hints from the movie. Everyone will then team up and answer all the clues to find the phones.
• Karaoke Challenge – Troy, Gabriella and the East High School students love to sing. Have a karaoke challenge and let the guests sing their hearts out. You can give out awards like “Best Solo Performance” or “Best Duet” to add fun to this activity.
• Who Said What? - Before the party, get several memorable quotes from the movie and write them on pieces of paper along with the name of the character who said them. Put all of these in a basket. One by one, the guests will have to pick out a paper from the basket and read the quote aloud to the others. The first to guess the correct answer wins special prizes.

The cellphone search

Karaoke challenge

Wildcats basketball game

• The Wildcats Pass – This is just like the “Hot Potato” game with a Wildcats twist. Get a basketball and have everyone stand in a circle. Play the movie soundtrack. While the music plays, everyone must pass the basketball around. When the music stops, the person holding the ball is out of the game. The last person standing wins a special prize.
• Name The Tune – Everyone gets to have their turn humming the first few notes of songs from the movie. While they’re humming, the other guests listen and guess what song it is. The first one who guesses correctly wins a prize. Keep doing this until everyone has had their turn.
• Playing Like The Wildcats – The High School Musical teens love their basketball team, the East High Wildcats. Have some sporty fun by setting up a friendly basketball game. Divide the teams into two and let them play outdoors. If you don’t have one, then just make an indoor basketball court. Use a wastebasket for your hoop and crumpled pieces of paper as your basketballs.

Party Food

You can serve usual munchies like popcorn, hot dogs, mini-pizzas, French fries, nachos, large pretzels, sundaes or ice cream bars. Hamburgers and sub sandwiches are also great. High school kids love these treats.

If you’ve got younger kids at your party, then serve delightful treats like peanut butter and jelly on party rolls. Mini chocolate chip cookies and fruit with chocolate dip are also yummy.

For your drinks, you can have soda or fruit juice. If it’s a very hot day, you can serve milkshakes or fruit shakes.

Punch is also a refreshing drink idea. Here’s one birthday punch recipe you can try. You need half a gallon of pineapple sherbet, a can of Hawaiian Punch and four liters of ginger ale. First, freeze the Hawaiian Punch until it becomes slushy. Pour it into a punch bowl, then add the pineapple sherbet and ginger ale. Mix well, then serve in tall glasses.

Fun Party Favors

Give your guests some fun party favors and they’ll surely go home singing with joy. One idea is to get yummy dark or milk chocolate candy bars and wrap them in personalized candy bar wrappers. It’s sweet and simple memorabilia your guests will surely appreciate.

Party bags are also cool giveaways. Fill them with surprises like High School Musical stickers, notepads, tattoos, pennants, basketball maracas and movie soundtrack CDs.

Another fun and inexpensive idea is to give out photo memorabilia. During the party, take pictures of the guests using your Polaroid camera. Frame them using inexpensive plastic frames and give them out to the guests.

Try out these fabulous and wonderful ideas and watch everyone break into a song during the celebration.