Set the Dance Floor on Fire with a Salsa Soirée
If you love to salsa, put on your dancing shoes and get ready to throw a salsa party! This event is all about celebrating with salsa music and dancing. And enjoying delicious chips and salsa for refreshments! Whether you’re an ace on the dance floor or an enthusiastic beginner, you can host a fabulous salsa soirée. So let’s start planning and prepare to invite all your friends over for a spicy salsa party!
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How to Throw a Salsa Party
1. Create a Fun Dancing Space with Colourful Party Decorations
The first thing to consider for your party space is where people will dance. While it’s possible to host a huge party in a cramped apartment if everyone’s simply bopping to the beat while holding Solo cups, salsa dancing requires more space to move without stepping on each other so keep that in mind when considering how many guests you invite. It probably makes sense to move some furniture toward the walls if you don’t otherwise have a large enough open area. Don’t worry if it looks awkward; remember this is about function not looks! Everybody will be too busy dancing to care.
If you have a yard or access to other outdoor space that’s conducive to dancing (and it isn’t freezing or raining), move the party outdoors if you can! Check out the patio party post for tips on what you need to acquire and plan for outdoor hosting.
Decorating
A salsa party is all about the music and the dancing and less about the décor, but it’s still fun to brighten up your space and make it colourful and festive! There are plenty of standard inexpensive party supplies such as streamers and other easy decorations. Hanging up classic string lights (or this spicy hot chili pepper light strand!) is a fun way to cast a sexy mood lighting.
Try to avoid any decorations that might hinder dancing such as messy or slippery confetti, hanging décor that people might unintentionally rip down mid-dance move, and other such hindrances. It’s safer to instead focus décor on your wall space. Posters or canvas wall art featuring salsa dancers adds a lively and thematic flair. Check out plenty of beautiful options below as well as other fun finds:
- Salsa dancing wall art
- ‘Salsa Knowledge’ poster with the benefits of salsa dancing
- Salsa dancing watercolor wall art
- ‘Salsito’ wall art of salsa dancers and musicians
- Salsa dancer silhouette decorative cutouts
- Colourful paper tassel garland
- Colourful music note garland
- Colourful circle hanging garland backdrop
2. Prepare Salsa-centric Refreshments
The perfect food to serve at a salsa party is, naturally, salsa! There are many options (see salsa recipe list below) and it’s an easy party snack to serve paired with tortilla chips. It also nicely complements plenty of savory dishes (see recipes below). But do everyone a favor and keep a bowl of mints or mint gum near the refreshments so that everyone can have agreeable breath before they dance!
Salsa dancing is a very energetic activity, so it’s important to keep your guests well-hydrated. Serve plenty of cold water, whether you stock pitchers full of ice water or have a cooler full of water bottles on ice. Fruit-infused water is a delicious alternative to plain water. Other refreshing options include pitchers of iced lemonade, flavoured sparkling waters, and juice.
Since we have Cuba to thank for salsa dancing, serve your guests tasty Cuban fare. Here are some recipes to get you started:
Cocktails:
Salsas (serve with tortilla chips):
- Roasted tomatillo salsa
- 5-minute blender salsa or this easy salsa
- Salsa with charred tomatoes
- Pineapple salsa
- Corn salsa
- Mango salsa
- Peach salsa
Cuban foods and other dishes with salsa:
- Cuban black beans
- Cuban grilled zucchini
- Cuban arroz con pollo
- Cuban beef empanadas
- Cuban beef picadillo
- Cuban plantains
- Vegan black bean cakes with roasted salsa
- Salsa verde chicken nachos
- Crockpot salsa chicken
- Mango salsa chicken
- Grilled salmon with citrus salsa verde
- Arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) with salsa verde
3. Prepare a Sizzling Salsa Party Playlist
You can’t have salsa dancing without salsa music, so turn up the heat with a great salsa playlist! You have endless options but here are a few for inspiration to get you started:
- Enrique Iglesias’ Bailando (not salsa specifically, but an epic song that’s salsa-danceable)
- Salsa playlist or this salsa playlist
- Salsa mix with dancing DJ
- Old school salsa
- Cuban music with salsa fusion
4. Add Evocative Scents
We covered the sights, the tastes, and the tunes of a salsa party. But what about the scents? It’s easy to work up a sweat while salsa dancing so you should run any fans you have in the area and keep the windows open or AC on. Hopefully your guests are mindful enough to practice good hygiene but it’s always a good idea to burn a scented candle or wax melt to prevent your space from smelling like a poorly-ventilated dance club. The best fragrant touch for a salsa party is to fill the area with fresh-cut aromatic flowers. This adds an element of beauty as well as a fresh and inviting scent. Display bouquets on the counter, table, or other area that isn’t otherwise in the line of fire while dancing.
5. Establish Guest Participation
A salsa party is obviously all about dancing! And that, of course, requires guests to participate by dancing at least part of the time. So choose your guests mindfully and prioritize friends who love to dance, especially those who love Latin dancing. But don’t shy away from others who’ve never salsa danced but are eager to learn. Who knows – your salsa party may spark a new passion!
It’s fine if your guests are new to salsa dancing. As long as they have a good attitude about it and are willing to try, the learning process alone can be a lot of fun! It helps to have at least one person on hand to teach, of course (and that may be you!). The basic salsa steps are really simple to learn and anyone can master it by practicing in a matter of minutes. Of course, more complicated steps take more skill and time to practice, but the basics are all anyone needs to start enjoy themselves on the dance floor!
Checklist of Items You Need
Now that we’ve covered what you’ll need to do to host a salsa party, here is a list of all the tangible items you may need to acquire for it:
- Salsa party decorations
- Salsa-centric food and refreshing bevvies
- Salsa music
- Fragrant flowers
Preparation Checklist for Your Salsa Party
Most of these steps for party preparation apply to any type of party you host. So while we covered salsa-specific details and ideas above, below are basic party planning guidelines to neatly order each step of the process (you can find more thorough details in the Best Party Practices posts):
1. First, confirm that people can come on any chosen date
- Choose party date/time, and preferably alternative date(s) as well
- Choose guest list and establish minimum number of guests you’d like (to make it worth your effort) as well as maximum number based on how large of a dancing space you have available. The more the merrier…until people are stepping on each other’s toes!
- Six weeks out, confirm guests’ interest in the party and availability on chosen party date(s). The only details you’ll need to share at this time include what type of party it will be (salsa dancing); any requested participation (i.e. bring a dish to share or BYOB); party date and general time of day; and your address (or other location if elsewhere)
- This first step is just to get people to confirm that, barring unforeseen circumstances, they are able and willing to attend and will save the date to do so. If your preferred minimum number of guests confirm interest and availability, have them secure the calendar date for your super salsa party!
2. Then, proceed with the fun planning
Once you have your salsa party date established, you first need to get out your calendar and map out when you plan to do every step of preparation. This means you schedule time for each preparation activity that you’ll need to do leading up to the party:
- First, sit down and schedule time on your calendar for each step of party prep as listed below
- Create invitations with all the details and send them out 4 weeks before the party
- Order any party supplies and decorations 3 weeks out (so they arrive in time to set up)
- Shop for any party supplies/decorations you don’t order online, as well as non-perishable food/drinks
- Acquire perishable food/drinks early enough in advance to prepare in time
- Set up decorations
- Prepare food/drinks (depending on how long things keep)
3. Day of Party
It’s important to get as much party prep done far enough in advance that you have some time to yourself to relax come party day, especially if you’ve been busy. So be sure to plan your day-of-party preparations early enough to have that time to rest. Within those amply planned/set-aside time slots, expect to do these preparations during the day of your party:
- Complete any last-minute food/drink prep that are too fresh to do any earlier
- Set up any quick/easy last-minute decorations (if not up already)
- Prepare music
- Get dressed in a fabulous salsa dancing outfit that is comfortable and makes you feel amazing
- Once everything’s ready, take some time to yourself to relax and do any preferred self-care activities. You want to be a well-rested, relaxed, and happy host so you’re energized and ready to dance with your friends!
All Set to Host a Fabulous Salsa Party
You are on your way to having a grand salsa soirée! While it’s fun to put plenty of effort and energy into party planning, remember that the most important elements for this are salsa music, a dancing space, and refreshments. Everything else (décor, flowers, etc.) is icing on the cake. At the end of the day, the goal is for you and your guests to have an awesome time. As long as you put thought and care into party preparation and keep a flexible mindset to allow for unplanned changes, your salsa party will be a fantastic time that everyone enjoys!