CheeseburgHer ’11: The Recap

If you’re a regular reader, you know all about the CheeseburgHer Party.

You can read the whole hilarious history here, but the short version is that what started at BlogHer ’07 as a hotel room afterparty has morphed over the last five years into the official BlogHer closing party, sponsored by McDonalds and Sony Playstation and open to everyone who attends the BlogHer conference.

I KNOW.

I still can’t quite wrap my brain around how it all happened.

This year, Yvonne, Lena and I were the official CheeseburgHer Party hostesses and the stakes had never been higher. Thousands of attendees were expected to show up, and we wondered if it would be possible to make the party relevant and fun for everyone who came.

We shouldn’t have worried.

This was beyond a doubt the best CheeseburgHer Party OF ALL TIME. And its success all boiled down to a few simple elements.

First off, we had the World’s Best DJ. That’s my title for him. His real name is Flynn Adam and he was an expert at figuring out which songs were getting the best crowd response. Consequently, his mixing was AWESOME and the dance floor was PACKED all night long.

See what I mean?

Then there was the food …

Not only were there all the cheeseburgers you could eat (That’s Yvonne’s sister by the way- See a resemblance?) …

But this year, we actually had a fry guy! Can you imagine having all the McDonalds french fries you could possibly want WHILE DANCING ON A DANCEFLOOR?

Could there even BE a better party?

I THINK NOT.

Also this year, BlogHer made sure there was a table full of gluten-free and vegan food. So EVERYONE was happy!

When people needed a rest from all the dancing, we had beds around the dance floor …

Much better than chairs and sofas, don’t you think?

And they did double duty as mini-stages for our go-go dancers!

Finally, McDonalds provided a table full of scissors, markers, stickers, and glitter glue so that people could personalize their bag hats.

And personalize them they did …

So. AMAZING.

But what REALLY made this party the best party I’ve ever been to, let alone hosted, was the people.

Not only were they willing to wear bag hats on their heads (many without even knowing the story behind why they were wearing them), but they were ready to HAVE FUN.

Along with just about everyone else, I danced during the entire party, not only with my friends, which is what I would ordinarily do at a party, but with total strangers. Everyone did. We sang and we Shouted and we got low and we dropped it like it was hot. We did the Tootsee Roll and Cupid’s Shuffle. We were all sweaty and wearing big, goofy smiles on our faces, and one of us might have even gotten down with a blow-up doll.

I won’t say who.

But take a look at these faces. I love this photo, because this was the spirit of the CheeseburgHer Party. And this, to me, it’s a big part of what Blogher is all about– Women (and a few men) getting together to bond. To share. To learn. To laugh. To cry.

To dance.

At one point during the party, Doug French Tweeted this:

I remember.

And I can’t believe how far we’ve ALL come since then.

Now. To make this post useful to all of you, one Suburban Turmoil reader requested the CheeseburgHer Party playlist as a good reference  for anyone planning a party. So here some highlights to get you started:

Low, by Flo Rida
Like a G6, by Far East Movement
Good Vibration, by Marky Mark
Forget You, by Cee Lo
Groove is in the Heart, by Dee-Lite
Love Shack, by the B-52s
Poison, by Bel Biv Devoe
Don’t Stop the Music, by Rihanna
Tonight, Enrique Iglesias
It Takes Two, by DJ Easy Rock & Rob Bass
Hollaback Girl, by Gwen Stefani
Everybody Dance Now, by C+C Music Factory
1999, by Prince
How I Roll, Britney Spears
This is How We Do It, Montell Jorden
My Humps, by Black Eyed Peas
I’ve Got the Power, by Snap!
Milkshake, by Kelis
Push It, by Salt n Pepa
Only Girl (in the World), by Rihanna
Tootsee Roll, by 69 Boys
OPP, by Naughty by Nature
Tik-Tok, by Kesha
Wild Thing, by Tone Loc
Cupid’s Shuffle, by Cupid
Drop It Like It’s Hot, by Snoop
Single Ladies, by Beyonce
Bust a Move, by Young MC

Now all you have to do is upload this list to your iPod, make a quick trip to McDonalds, and you can have a CheeseburgHer Party in your very own home!

Thank you, BlogHer, for believing in this party and making it “official,” thanks McDonalds and Sony for your sponsorship, and most of all, thank you guys for sharing the CheeseburgHer Party on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and on your blogs, for showing up and wearing hats and dancing, and for making all of this possible.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR CHEESEBURGHER ’12.

And I hope every single one of you is there on the dance floor with me.