Sometimes you just need to have a great party! There’s nothing like hosting and seeing all your friends together in the same place. But how do you do it? Here are some ways.

Decides on a theme

Try to come up with a theme that might get everyone excited. Write down different fun activities, types of music, and others that help you think of possible themes. Or don’t have a theme at all.

    1    

Where are you going to have a party? Could you have it at your house or a friend’s house? Did you have a place in mind, like a restaurant, movie theater, or park?     2    

Decide on the time for your party

If it’s a birthday party, most people try to have the party on that day. Or,     3    , so you and your guests don’t have school or work the next morning. Most parties are after dinner, but a brunch or afternoon party works, too.

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This will be partly decided by where you are having the party. Make sure that place is large enough. Also think about whether you want your friends to bring friends or not. That could seriously change how many hands you have to plan for and mouths you have to feed.

Get the word out

You can talk of guests in person about the party or just call them. Start talking about the party at least two weeks before, so they don’t make plans. And     5    . Remind them once or twice before the party, too.

【推荐2】Festivals and holidays are important for people around the world. They show different cultures. Here are some festivals and holidays in some countries.

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is on March the seventeenth. It is a big festival in the United States. People wear green clothes on St. Patrick’s Day. In some places, they even make the river green.

Children’s Day

On May the fifth, Japanese celebrate their Children’s Day. It is a national holiday in Japan. Outside their homes, families fly kites that look like fish.

Canadian Thanksgiving

In Canada Thanksgiving is in October—the second Monday in October. Thanksgiving is a time for families to get together for a big dinner.

St. Lucia’s Day

St. Lucia’s Day is a holiday in Sweden. It is in December. St. Lucia’s Day is a day to bring light into the house. Little girls put candles on their heads.

【推荐3】Three students are talking about the New Year tradition of their own country.

A．Christina from Spain

On the last day of the year, the 31st of December, people wait till 12 p.m. Everybody must have 12 grapes to eat at midnight. At each sound of the clock, we must eat a grape. But we can’t ever finish eating the grapes on time! Usually when people still have some grapes in their mouths, they look at each other and start to laugh. This tradition started in Spain long ago. One year, when there were a lot of grapes, the king of Spain decided to give grapes to everybody to eat on New Year’s Eve.

B．Cordon from Britain

On New Year’s Day in Britain, people have parties. At 12 o’clock, the music stops, and we listen to the radio. On the radio we hear Big Ben, the famous clock in London. Then everybody sings a song about friendship and kisses their friends. We say “Happy New Year” to each other. It’s lucky if a tall man with dark hair is the first person to come to the house in the New Year. So I go and visit as many friends as I can. They all give me a drink.

C．Angela from Brazil

In all cities in Brazil, we have a big party on New Year’s Eve, especially in Rio de Janeiro. People in this city go to the beaches to watch fireworks (焰火). We put flowers in the sea and think about things we want for ourselves or others. We usually wear white clothes for good luck during the New Year.

【推荐2】Beginning of Spring comes. Everything turns green and becomes full of vigor. People clearly can notice that daytime becomes longer and the weather gets warmer.

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar cycles. Start of Spring (立春), the first solar cycle of the year, begins this year on Feb. 4 and ends on Feb. 18. Here are some spring customs (习俗).

Flying a kite. Spring is the best season for kite-flying.

Erecting the egg (立鸡蛋). In China, it is said that the egg can be set upright on the first day of Start of Springs.

Wearing fabric swallows (佩燕子). Wearing fabric swallows is a custom in some regions in Shanxi. The swallow is a harbinger of spring and a symbol of prosperity and happiness.

Biting the spring. In many parts of China, people observe the custom of “biting the spring” on the first day of Start of Spring. They eat spring pancakes, spring rolls, or a few carrots.

Making a Spring Ox. This custom in Shanxi is practiced right before Start of Spring. When spring comes, many people love spring and they do kinds of activities.

Here is the survey about 200 people from different places who love customs.

【推荐2】When I was a little girl, my father loved to play catch (接球) with me. I wasn't very good at it, but we would play anyway. He was always telling me "Keep your eye on the ball" as I would not be able to catch even the easiest of throws.

As I got older, we didn't play catch as much. If I had a problem and would go to my father to ask for his advice, he would try to joke with me and say "Keep your eye on the ball". We would both laugh because usually that advice was not useful to the problem, but he would try to make me smile.

My father became ill in 1995 when I was 23. There weren't any more conversations, as he suffered from a stroke (中风). He could not speak. He could only give mouth words, which were sometimes hard to understand. After a while, I seemed to be pretty good at reading at his lips (唇), even better than the nurses who were caring for him there.

During one of our last conversations, I was telling him about a problem I was having with my boyfriend. Once again, I could read his lips "Keep your eye on the ball." We both smiled.

That was the last time I saw my father before he passed away.

All these years later, when I get in trouble, I just tell myself "Keep your eye on the ball".

【推荐3】Mike is seven and starts to go to school this week. It’s Sunday, His mother, Mrs. Smith doesn’t go to work. Mike wants to go to the zoo. He gets up at six and he asks his mother to take him to the zoo. After breakfast, they go to the bus stop . They are waiting for the bus at the bus stop .They want to take a No.3 bus. “Mum look!” cried the boy, “No.3 bus is coming!” “No, dear,” says Mrs. Smith, “It’s not No.3 bus. It’s No.21 bus.” “You are wrong,” Mike says, “My teacher says one and two is three.”