This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Jason Tsoi. Find him on Instagram at @jason.tsoi. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Tonight, millions of Americans will be glued to their screens, watching the results of the 2024 presidential election come in. This tight and historic race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has been an anxiety-inducing experience for many people. So, it’s only fitting to watch election coverage surrounded by friends and family. That’s what an election night watch party is all about. But before you start gathering your loved ones, here is what you should know about election night.
What To Expect On Election Night
As voting wraps up across the country, it’s time to play the waiting game until the polls start to close. The first polls close at 6 p.m. EST, so take that into consideration when hosting a watch party. You may want to keep a list to track poll closing times for each state, especially for the swing states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. These crucial battleground states are what the candidates need to win in order to secure their path to the magic number of 270 electoral votes.
Taking into account the counting of mail-in ballots, the election may not be called tonight. The 2020 election, which occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, lasted four days before President Joe Biden was elected president. In the last presidential election, 46% of voters voted by absentee or mail-in ballots. In this election cycle, millions of Americans are voting by mail. So, depending on how long it takes for states to count these ballots, it may take days before we know the final results.
How To Prepare For The Watch Party
After setting up a time for the event, it’s important to form a plan for the party. When it comes to inviting guests to your watch party, it’s best to invite people who share similar political views. This eliminates unnecessary tension and discomfort between your guests. The last thing you want to see is your guests arguing with each other, disrupting the watch party and adding more stress to the situation.
When deciding the dress code for the occasion, you can choose traditional clothing or go all out. For a traditional style, you can wear red, white and blue attire, which will create a patriotic atmosphere for the party. But, if you want to diverge from traditional clothing, you can wear costumes. When it comes to wearing costumes, you and your guests can dress up like the political candidates. And, don’t forget to wear your voting sticker to show off that you voted.
You can’t have a watch party without food. One simple dish that you can make is a “patriotic fruit salad,” using watermelon, strawberries and blueberries. Using these fruits, you can try to recreate the American flag. When placing the fruits, position the blueberries to where the stars are located and put the strawberries, watermelon and bananas in rows to act as the red and white stripes. Then, finish it off by drizzling white chocolate over the fruits to make it even more sweeter. Another simple fan favorite dish is a charcuterie board. Using your choice of crackers, meats, cheese and fruits, you can make a spread that will keep your guests full.
Activities To Do On Election Night
To ease high emotions, you can take time indulging in party activities. While waiting for the first results to come in, decorate the party space to create an atmosphere. To prepare for the event, take a last minute run to your local dollar store and pick up red, white and blue banners, as well as velcro strips. Simply, position the banner against the velcro strip on your wall and connect both sides together to secure the banner. But, if you’re running out of time, try to find supplies in your home to create your own banner, using string, paper and tape. Another way to decorate your space is to display campaign signs that you received from campaign rallies, if possible. Just take the decorations from this presidential debate watch party for inspiration.
Another activity to consider doing is keeping a chart to track the electoral votes. This can be done with a chalkboard. Using a chalkboard, outline the borders of each state until you have a map of the country. Then, when a state is called, you can use blue or red chalk to shade in the state. If a state flips, you can use purple chalk to indicate the change. But, if you don’t have a chalkboard, you can print out a map of the country and shade each state with blue, red and purple markers instead. This activity is great for guests as it will keep everyone informed and engaged with the election.
And, another fun activity that you can enjoy with your guests is board games or trivia. Watching the election results come in can be dull at times, especially when news networks have no data to report yet. So, in order to keep the party atmosphere alive, you can play board games while waiting for the results to come in. For trivia games, you can quiz each other on American history or previous presidents.
How Can I Watch Election Night Coverage?
Finally, you can’t have an election night watch party without watching the results come in while yelling at the screen. In most instances, watch partygoers tend to crowd around one screen while watching an event. But it doesn’t have to be that way. To stay on top of election night coverage, you can use multiple devices to monitor other news outlets that are covering the election. There will likely be multiple news outlets livestreaming their coverage on YouTube. Last election, CBS livestreamed their coverage on their channel, so we should expect the same for this year’s election. By having multiple screens, you can get the latest updates by the minute.
Will you be hosting an election night watch party and using any of these party ideas? Let us know in the comments.
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