Sitting here in my woollen winter coat once more, I thought that I’d put out a quick snapshot of party theme ideas for the upcoming chilly months. Best you sit down with a sweet cup of tea and take these in:

Beatnik Party

Only the best party idea I’ve had yet! This is seriously my favourite theme of the original hipsters of the 1950s. Throw on some warm jazz and a cosy sweater, pour some liquor and yank out your creative side. You might even create a masterpiece to hang on your wall, or hear some impressionable poetry (as did happen at my last party; that guy blew me away!)

Christmas in July

Kinda corny, I know, but us southerners don’t get Christmas holidays like they do up north. Why not give it a go? Those decorations only get out once a year, and you could even play Secret Santa to include the gift-giving sentiments. Plus, if you need any more convincing, there’s EGGNOG!

Positive Party

This is another I want to run sometime soon. Happy moods only! Play the happiest of tunes, have colourful food and dress code; encourage compliments, and even have a sort of “swear jar” for anyone caught gossiping to add a penalty coin – you could later donate the contents to a local mental health charity or hospital. This theme would be more ideal for the absolute coldest months, or near the end of August to pull everyone out of any lingering SAD moods.

London High Tea

Get all fancy, Brit! I’m a massive T2 fan (oh, my GOSH, I could spend hours drooling on that website!), although you can find all sorts of scrumptious tea varieties in other stores around the country. Snuggle up with your favourite teapot, some sugar cubes, teaspoons and mittens. Might want to leave the croquet for the springtime, but cards or other board games would be great.

Or, if you’d like to try the other form of UK class, hit up a working class gig and go all Shameless on your mates with a bonfire in the back yard if it suits. The original though, not that US remake junk!

How do these sound? Do you have any creative themes for the seasons? It could just be the climate here in Australia, but I find winter ideas a little more difficult to think of. Half the fun is going all “trial and error” on your guests though!

From Faster Louder yesterday:

Late last year, FasterLouder’s parent company Sound Alliance ran an online survey to find out your take on a range of topics. 5,000 respondents aged between 18-30 years old from Sound Alliance websites responded, making it the most comprehensive survey of its kind in Australia.

Well, the results are in, and they have some telling answers about that ‘fatigue’ question. While some punters are tiring of festivals, the good news is that the festival industry still has plenty of life in it yet.

“About a third of respondents agreed that they enjoy festivals less than they used to, which is natural as early adopters move on and get that bit older,” says Sound Alliance Managing Director Neil Ackland. “But the vast majority, 76%, disagreed with that statement.”

“When a festival like Big Day Out sells 200,000+ tickets a year, it’s hardly underground anymore, and this is reflected in the survey results where 74% agreed that festivals have become very mainstream, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Whilst the festival scene has most definitely tipped, prices of tickets are still seen by most, to represent good value for money,” says Ackland. “Just 15% thought otherwise.” Big Day Out in particular fared well with 71% stating that they intended to buy a ticket next year.

So the industry is still going strong despite “about a third” of survey participants stating less enjoyment at festivals than previously. Almost three quarters are still very much enjoying festivals, although they acknowledge festivals becoming “very mainstream.”

A comment from Faster Louder user, ThatDude123, on the Sound Alliance survey, caught my eye:

Were any questions asked about overcrowding on the festival market? When I filled it out I don’t remember any, and that seems to be the big issue when I talk to people. It isn’t that festivals are better/worse (in fact I personally find them to be better due to our strong dollar bringing in top acts and better understanding of the logistics involved), it’s just that you can only take so much time off work and spend so much money before you are eventually fired/broke.

Really the biggest success story of the festival season so far, I’d say, is the Laneway Festival. In less than five years it’s sold out two major markets and brought a crowd who usually find festivals “disgusting” and “mainstream” back to festivals.

As opposed, Big Day Out promoter Ken West said to Faster Louder last year that the festival has had numerous reasons and opportunities to skip a year. Glastonbury is taking 2012 off according to Faster Louder in the same article.

Last year, Katherine Feeney of The Brisbane Times wrote about the sheer quantity of festivals in Australia and reasons why the public might be sick of them. The comments confirm the idea that festivals are no longer about music, but an overcrowded, wasteful experience of drug taking (me thinks I’ll address the extortionate drink prices at festivals another day), ridiculous sunglasses and fluoro t-shirts.

In the article, Jan Skubiszewski of Melbourne band Jackson Jackson states his view that festivals are “mass populated” and that niche events are starting to emerge, much to the preference of musicians and other creative types looking for differing, improved gig experiences.

However, the more these niche events come up, the more I see of these mini-festivals fail. There was BAM! Festival and Lost Weekend at the same Queensland venue last year, and Blueprint which lost $500,000 in Victoria, late 2009. Trailer Trash, as mentioned by Skubiszewski, has turned to the Woodford festivals calendar to run its programme, opting to cater to a captive audience inside the Planting, Woodford Folk and other festivals held at the venue.

Another result is the constant barging of club events at bars. Is there now just too much of the same stuff happening, that punters are too busy with pubs and clubs to fork out for festivals? Gossip, 299 or whatever the heck that place is, constantly finds a way to invite me via Facebook to every event at the venue. Rosie’s Tavern is another in Brisbane that does a similar job. I don’t even like DJs or care for any of the unknown bands they promote.

I would definitely like to do more exploration as to the reasons of Australian mini-festival success rates in comparison to larger events. What are your experiences at larger versus smaller festivals?

BERLIN — Crowds of people streaming into a techno music festival surged through an already jammed entry tunnel on Saturday, setting off a panic that killed 19 people and injured 342 at an event meant to celebrate love and peace.

SBS World News Australia claims the reason behind the Love Parade disaster is police closing the parade grounds due to overcrowding, and instructing punters in the tunnel to turn around.

Authorities also suggested that some of the people killed or injured might have attempted to flee the crowd by jumping over a barrier and falling several metres. Witnesses described a desperate scene, as people piled up on each other or scrambled over others who had fallen in the crush.

So why? How could this happen? That tunnel was the sole entrance to the grounds. The Love Parade is one that hosts 1.4 million people and the venue could only hold 500,000. There’s yer problem!

This was my first thought. If an event is a repeat or regular one, you would believe adequate health and safety measures and procedures to be in place. With 1.4 million people reportedly through the gates and a claim of being the largest techno music festival in the world, the Love Parade should have had access points to the grounds to reflect this.

My second thought went to overcrowding (hence police refusing entry to over 300 people in the tunnel) and control of this. Why didn’t they have this covered? An eye-witness account reports (translated by Google from German to English):

Although many security controls were in place that would monitor compliance with the “Love Rules”, but the way to the controls was extremely narrow, began pushing the first and it lasted for only a few metres close to 90 minutes.

On the right side even more dramatic scenes. There was a small emergency stairs, each of which could escape from one person upwards. Here, too, now appeared more and more police officers… In those seeking help were people who had already lost consciousness. It was a bad experience of having to watch the rescue operation with, for now all we feared that we might be the next crushed.

Next to me I suddenly saw a policeman with a young man forced his way to the stairs. “Can’t you go or should I pay them?” Actually, the man gave me an even better shape right impression, then I saw his hand he held up convulsively. I had not looked closely, but his fingertips were covered with blood. Maybe he was overthrown in the crowd and accidentally had a lot of shoes shredded his hand.

They also mention that last year’s Love Parade closed due to overcrowding. Why, then, hasn’t something been done about it? If it is known that the venue is maxed out at 500,000, why are 1.4 million people permitted to attend, even when they expected 800,000?

The founder of the Love Parade, Matthias Roeingh, known as Dr. Motte, blasted the planning for the event, saying “one single entrance through a tunnel lends itself to disaster. I am very sad.”

Me too, Dr. Motte. And it sounds like current management isn’t too keen to run again after this catastrophe.

(Sources: msnbc.com, SBS World News Australia, @BreakingNews, images here on Flickr,  BBC News)