Party Spot - Party Guests: What to Wear

Parties are a great opportunity to get dressed up, show off your style, and spend some quality time with your friends and loved ones -- and did we mention get dressed up? Read on for the basics of getting dressed for bar and bat mitzvahs, sweet sixteens, and quinceañeras.

Extra-Special Occasions
Coming up with the perfect party outfit can be a challenge. Birthdays are always special days, but bat mitzvahs, quinces, and sweet sixteens are even more important because each marks a transition to a new stage of maturity. Because of this, they tend to be fairly dressy occasions unless the invitation says otherwise.

Outfits 101
A nice dress or skirt-and-top combo is good for girls, while guys should wear sport coats and ties. You may also want to check with other guests about their outfit plans. The big exception is if there's a theme (like if everyone's supposed to dress like it's the '80s) or if you're doing an activity that isn't suited to dressing up (say, if there's a pool involved). If anything like that's going on, chances are they'll let you know right in the invite.

Wear Anywhere
If there are two parts to the party -- for example, a church or temple service plus a party or dinner -- you can wear the same basic outfit for both. Remember though that anything that takes place in a church, temple, or other house of worship usually requires modest dress, so don't wear anything racy. This means skip the ultrashort skirts, body-hugging clothing, or anything very revealing. If you decide to go strappy or strapless for a summer event, that's okay, but you should bring a wrap or cardigan to cover exposed skin during the service.

Take Two
An exception to the one outfit rule might be a religious service followed by a supercasual party (anything involving picnics, beaches, or swimming, for example), for which you'll want to bring both your cute-and-conservative church or temple outfit and some more comfortable duds for hanging out later. Likewise, if there's a long time between events (like a service in the morning, then a party later in the evening) it's obviously okay to change while you're at home. Tone it down for the morning, and bring out the party gear at night.

Color Codes
Finally, for quinces and often for sweet sixteens, pastel pink and white are often preferred colors for the host, so to avoid being a copycat it's good to steer clear of these colors yourself. Go your own way color-wise and you'll be good to go!

-- Morgan Brown