Theme the Day - Theme Dates, Days & Partays

If you know me personally, you know that ya girl loves a theme. From theme dates based on clever word play to a classic theme parties , I'm a fiend for a theme or anything that adds something a little special to everyday life.

Theme Days - Since I work mostly remote, I spend a lot of time bouncing around different coffee shops and neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. And so every once in a while, I throw in a random theme to make them a little less mundane.

• Snow on the Beach - With the winter slog, I pushed myself to get out of the house and head over to the Brighton Beach and post up at Pep Bakehouse & Coffee Shop. During my lunch break, I venture out of the coffee shop to watch the snow fall on the Beach, listening exclusively to Lana Del Ray.
  

• You've Got Mail - I start the day back in my dear Upper West Side coffee shop Peaky Barista and e-mail love letters to my friends. As an aside, I also donated to Literacy Inc, an org that promotes literacy for underprivileged populations . Rationale here being, you've gotta be able to read to read mail so gotta support literacy . And I end the day walking through Riverside Park, stopping to appreciate at the flower garden where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks meet at the end of You've Got Mail.
  

• All Black Everything - On these days I only buy from black owned business and listen to only black artists. Here are some of my favorite black owned spots across BK.

Theme Dates - This is a gift from my lover girl archive so if you use this in your relationship, please trademark Keeping Tabs Enterprises. But one of my favorite things I've done is adding themes to some of my dates. These are good if you're dating a hermit or just wanna do something a little different. Now you can go all out or keep it simple. Base the theme on a place, a genre, a style of music, whatever it is make it fun.

• London - I oddly did this one after a trip to London, so don't recommend that. But you can cook a homemade fish and chips, watch British or Britain-based movies ( The Favourite, Shaun of the Dead, Paddington, The Third Man, Notting Hill), and only listen to the some British artists : The Beatles, recommend the remastered Revolver or Let it Be albums, Raye's 21st Century Blues, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, or anything made by Lehana Lehavas or Jorja Smith.
  

• Pizza My Heart - Try a pizza crawl around the city and end the day watching Mystic Pizza. Some of favorites include Mama's Too, Delarocco's and L'Industrie.

• All That Jazz night, visit the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Go to Smoke Jaz Club, or Blue Note Jazz Club in the West Village, one of my favorite places in the city and see a legend like Norah Jones or Tank and Bangas. If you're sadistic, add to your agenda the movie Whiplash. If you like musical theatre, Chicago, or if you're into debating jazz cultural appropriation, watch La La Land.
  

Dependent on the partner, level's engagement, etc., feel free to use this as a relationship litmus test . Do they take the initiative to plan them, come up with ideas, execute, or do they just show up and do the bare minimum. If you don't like the answers, consider keeping the dates and swapping out the partner.

Theme Parties - At this point, all my parties have themes. A few of these were put together by some friends, but if you're looking to add a fun element to your social gatherings, see a few of mine below.

• Island Fever - I whipped out my suburban dad barbecue chops for this one. A tropical banner, some plastic palm trees, and some blue mood lighting and my apartment became an island in the tropic.
  

• Black Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Dollar Tree held this all the way down . Dollar Tree Black Santa statues, black angels, Black Santa wrapping paper, black Santa gift bags. Added some fun to the night with Christmas movie themed Trivia - Love Factually ( a play on my favorite Christmas movie).
  

• The Barbie-Q - Maybe one of the best theme parties I hosted. Here's some scenes from last May, a few months before the official Barbie movie hype started. The party had me back at the grill as "Suburban Dad Barbie' and included a host of activities including a Barbie fashion show, black Barbie photoshoot, a trivia game called 'Name that Barb' where I asked trivia questions with answers that have the term 'barb' i.e. Barbara Walters, Rhubarb, Barbarian.
  

• The Tabchelorette - This was mostly planned by friends, and is genuinely one of the best birthdays of my life. If you can find people who love you enough to watch The Bachelorette premiere on a Tuesday night, as you parade around your apartment in a sparkly dress, hold a rose ceremony, and send you birthday videos during a pandemic, you've made a good life for yourself.

• The Art Party - this is courtesy of my friend Alex who had us gather in a midtown bar and dress up as artists or a theme in art. I personally chose fingerpainting but there's a lot you can do here.

Feel free to steal these ideas or come up with your own. Let me know how they turn out. Hope they add a little bit of laughter and a whole lotta love to your life.

Theme the day!

Keeping Tabs