Party Tricks That Will Serve You For A Lifetime

Knowing party tricks is an essential skill as you enter adulthood, both to impress your peers and to simply entertain yourself. Once you know a few, if not all, of these tricks, you’ll never have to stand around shuffling your feet and making small talk again.

1. Playing an instrument

Haven’t you ever been to a party where that guy busts out a guitar and you go wow, guitar guy! Then when you see him around you have a starting point to the conversation? That’s the power of music. If there’s anything School of Rock taught me, it’s that music brings people together. This doesn’t mean load up your drum set in the back of your car so you can flex at the fiesta, but consider learning a song or two really well on the guitar or piano for you to share when the time comes.

2. Juggling

When I was a bored, easily excitable 13 year old, my dad taught me how to juggle. At the time, I didn’t realize how much it would allow me to make people laugh and keep myself busy whenever there’s nothing else to do at a party. If you practice with enough objects, you can juggle with pretty much anything, and there’s nothing like the shocked looks on people’s faces when you begin casually tossing objects in the air.

Because it’s such a niche skill, typically reserved for pessimistic 13-year-olds and clowns, most people are somewhat interested in it but never learned. If you juggle a few tennis balls for fun and somebody seems impressed, offer to show them how. You never know what you might get to know someone over.

3. Bartending

Unlike juggling, you might have to take a class to get this one just right. Mixing drinks is a part of the adult experience, so learning how to do it well early will make you look like a stud in your 20s in the eyes of your friends. Diet Mountain Dew and Cranberry juice will carry you far, but there’s a limit to the amount of poorly-concealed vodka in Kool-Aid that one human being can handle.

4. Dancing

Anybody can dance, but we can all agree that it takes a special spark and a whole lot of work to make a great dancer. If you want to get more active or you enjoy working out, why not take up dancing? It can be intensive or relaxed depending on the pace you want to go at, and there’s almost infinite genres. This is a hobby that can keep you as busy as you want it to, and you KNOW it makes anyone irresistible at a party.

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5. Magic tricks

Our culture is an insidious cesspool that consists of people who make fun of introverted dudes who enjoy magic tricks, it’s true. But I must confess, I’ve seen multiple guys pick up partners just from flexing their card trick skills. As cheesy as close up magic is, there’s some part of our brains that really wants to understand what’s happening, and thus fascination is created with the craft. Just don’t go overboard with the whole pick a card shtick. Being able to wiggle poker chips in between your fingers doesn’t make you Gambit just like how learning how to solve Rubik’s Cubes fast doesn’t turn you into the modern David Blaine.

6. Learn some party games

A solid party game can change the mood from tired to wired in just a couple of minutes. Ever stacked up to make a human pyramid? Laid together to make a circle of human chairs? Maybe charades is more your speed. Whatever the games, figure out what you like so you can indoctrinate the group.