How to organise a freshers party
Freshers week is coming around quickly and if you’re thinking about planning a freshers party we’re here to help! We’ve put together a guide to freshers parties so you can plan out the biggest bash for new students.
Table of contents
- What is a freshers party?
- When is freshers week?
- Steps to organising a freshers party
- Freshers party ideas
At a glance: freshers parties
- Discover what a freshers event is and how you can organise a successful freshers party.
- Learn what makes a fresher event successful.
- Find out what the key steps are in organising a freshers event.
FAQs
What happens in a freshers party?A freshers party is a welcome by the second-year students. It’s an event where you can meet new friends and get to know other people at your university.Freshers parties is to welcome new students and to allow them to get comfortable in their surroundings.Freshers parties are a mixture of events and parties new university students can enjoy. This can include: a campus tour, social events, freshers fairs and competitions.What is a freshers party?
Freshers week is one of the most talked about times in a student's first year at university. From creating hangovers from hell to friends for a lifetime, it can be one of the most memorable times for a new student.
The best way to describe fresher week is a welcome period for new students starting at their universities. It's a great chance to make new friends, get familiar with your new town and explore the campus.
When is freshers week?
Freshers week typically starts towards the end of September. Usually, students will move into their new accommodation a few weeks before, and freshers week starts a week (sometimes two weeks) before the first term or semester.
Each university will have term dates listed on its website so make sure you double-check what freshers week dates are.
Key factors in organising a successful freshers party
When it comes to planning a freshers party there are plenty of things to keep in mind. Here are some of the most important things you need to think about…
1. Who is the event for?
It’s important to make sure that your event is relevant for the target audience. For example, students are likely to enjoy a freshers foam party, freshers festivals, or a freshers ball. It could be worthwhile doing a little research into what other types of events are popular near you.
2. Do you need a theme for your freshers party?
You might think it could be a bit cringeworthy but sometimes a good old fancy dress party or celebrity-themed club night turn out to be some of the most popular student events! A theme can get people talking about the event and help create hype around it.
3. Booking a DJ, performers and acts
Booking a popular artist for the event will always help sell more tickets. If there’s a bigger budget to play with then this could be a good option however, don’t just rely on the act to sell out your event. A good example of what kind of acts you should consider booking is; If the event is circus-themed then consider booking circus performers or actors to come to the event and engage with the audience.
Top Tip: What makes an event sell and an audience buy into it is how the event is branded and how memorable the event is. Read more about how to create event branding.
4. Choose the right venue
The most obvious thing about choosing a venue is making sure it’s suitable for the event type, for example, if you are planning a freshers ball then you won’t want to book an outdoor space that would be more suitable for a freshers festival.
Consider the location of the venue, students don’t want to be spending all their maintenance loans at once so don’t make them travel too far.
5. Promoting the freshers party
Make sure you are using the right tools to get the word out about your party. Think about what social media platforms students are using the most. Make sure you are putting out engaging content to boost awareness of the event.
Top Tip: Run a competition on social media for someone to win free tickets to the event. Get them to enter by sharing the post on their story, tagging friends and interacting with your post. Everyone loves a freebie!
6. Do you need to decorate?
If you are having a themed freshers party have you thought about whether you need to decorate the venue? We’ve got some great freshers party decoration ideas:
- Circus theme: Decorate the venue to look like the inside of a circus tent, make sure you use bright colours!
- Celebrity theme: Buy masks to give out to people as they enter or get life-size pop-ups of the chosen star.
- Decade themes: Think about what was big in that era e.g. the 70s is all about flower power and trippy designs, incorporate that in the decoration.
If you’re thinking about the environmental impact decorations for events could have there are always ways to be more sustainable:
- Re-use your decorations.
- Avoid using balloons.
- Use biodegradable glitter/confetti.
7. To gift or not to gift
Obviously giving out freebies won’t be an option for everyone as the budget does come into play. Give out free t-shirts for a freshers pub crawl or free drinks tokens to redeem for freshers boat party. Gifts for freshers won’t go unnoticed!
8. Selling tickets
Have you thought about where you should sell your tickets? Make it as simple as possible for your audience to purchase tickets or wristbands for your freshers party. If it’s all in one place and fewer clicks for people to do then it’s more likely you will sell more tickets!
Top Tip: Use FIXR to sell tickets to your event! It’s 100% free so you can spend more on those snazzy decorations.
Ideas for a freshers party
Leeds University Union Events
Leeds University hosts great club nights and gigs for students at their venue, Stylus. The location is local so students don’t have to travel far, and as well as iconic weekly party Fruity, they frequently manage to get big acts to play at their events, including Azealia Banks, Good Kid and Real Estate for 2024.
Check out Leeds University Union's events.
Rockstar Promotions, University of Leicester's Fresh Fest
Rockstar promotions have designed a whole 2-week plan of freshers events and branded it as a freshers festival. This is a great way to get people involved in more than just one freshers party and welcome new students to Leicester University
Check out Rockstar Promotions events.
Ticket your freshers event on FIXR and gain access to a huge network of students!