How to throw a great house party and not get in trouble with the Champaign police

Students leave a house party on First St. in Champaign on Saturday night. They walk by a sign that says, You honk, we drink. Josh Birnbaum

Students leave a house party on First St. in Champaign on Saturday night. They walk by a sign that says, “You honk, we drink”. Josh Birnbaum

By Christina Peluso

‘Tis the season for tailgates, flippy cup tournaments and of course, house parties. Nothing sums up the quintessential college experience quite like a great house party to kick off the school year. Freshmen stumble across front lawns with red Solo cups in tow, looking for a safe place to puke. Senior boys try to work over the freshman girls who aren’t out of commission just yet. And the rest of the population sits back with a Keystone Light draft and relaxes by the keg while hanging out with friends reminiscing about old times and musing about how great this year will be.

Oh, how glorious are the first weeks of school. There’s slim to none homework to be done and everyone can’t wait to go out. Hence, why throwing a great house party is such an essential part of the school year. But throwing a great party takes much more than a cheap keg and a great CD with all your favorite new downloads. There’s planning to be done, liquor to be bought and legal issues that must be dealt with, even though most students try to avoid it.

Jenny Winkler, a senior in the college of Communications, is living in a house at 1008 S. Oak St., Champaign. After throwing a few parties last year, Winkler and her six roommates have learned the dos and don’ts of throwing a party.

Winkler’s advice, first, was to always make sure there are enough kegs. Once while throwing a party, Winkler and her roommates ran out of beer at 11:30 p.m. So, she said one must always be prepared for extra guests.

Second on Winkler’s list was to make sure there is enough good music.

Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!

  • Catch the latest on University of Illinois news, sports, and more. Delivered every weekday.
  • Stay up to date on all things Illini sports. Delivered every Monday.
Thank you for subscribing!

“You don’t want to keep repeating the same CDs,” she explained.

The third item on her list was to make sure you invite your neighbors if you’re planning to throw a large party.

“Make sure you invite your neighbors so they don’t call the cops on you,” she said. “Plus, it’s a good excuse to meet them.”

An unusual item on her checklist was to hide all the food in the house. Though Winkler and her roommates put up a sheet to prevent people from taking food, they still found their cabinets empty the day after a party.

“Once, one of my roommates made a pizza during a party and someone took the pizza right out of the oven,” Winkler said.

Other sage advice included having a “cupmaster,” as Winkler and her roommates call it. A “cupmaster” is someone who is in charge of collecting money and makes sure no one is scamming free beer. The “cupmaster” has to be aggressive and unafraid to ask for money, otherwise it doesn’t work, Winkler explained.

Another essential in Winkler’s book was registering parties with the police. For Halloween, Winkler and her roommates had a joint party with their neighbors that had 10 kegs. Winkler said they registered the party with the Champaign Police Department and never had a problem.

Though most students don’t know, it is better to register a party with the police to avoid tickets, said Champaign Police Sergeant Scott Friedlein.

In Champaign, a party with more than one keg must obtain a permit to avoid ticketing. Otherwise, the police can fine up to $290 per resident for kegs without licensing.

And though most students tend to avoid the police like the Black Plague, Friedlein said it is smarter to register a party with the police beforehand. Registering a party does not give the police a free invitation. It merely gives the police a chance to work with the hosts and give them guidance on how to throw a safe party, Friedlein said. It also gives the police a contact in case someone calls them.

“We’re more than willing to help people out,” he said.

If police come to a party and are greeted by an obnoxious drunk, they will most likely shut the party down, he said. But if the party has been registered, the police can then contact the host of party, deal with the issue and will be less likely to shut the party down, Friedlein said.

Friedlein’s main advice was to keep parties small. More people lead to more problems. Also, once a party starts charging cover it technically opens the house to the public. So the police can just come in off the street.

“Hosting huge parties is not a good idea,” he said.

Veterinary Medical student Nick Szigetvari experienced problems with the police after hosting a party with his roommates that got too large. “The party failed because people we didn’t know came and then dumb freshmen came,” Szigetvari said.

Police came to the party after seeing a few girls lying in the front lawn, who appeared to be passed out. Szigetvari and his roommates ended up getting tickets for serving liquor to minors, disobeying noise ordinances and not having a license for extra kegs.

Szigetvari’s main advice to make sure there are no “drunken freshmen” or random people at your parties.

Friedlein echoed Szigetvari’s sentiments. Just putting up signs prohibiting minors from drinking is not enough, Friedlein said. Residents are responsible for minors and can be charged with a class four felony if a minor is killed after leaving the party. In order to ensure safety there should be a sober, responsible person policing the party.

“We want students to be as safe as possible,” he said.

Though police don’t want to interfere with students’ lives, they will when they deem it necessary. Friedlein referred to a house party that occurred in 1997 where the residents were charging cover and a large number of minors were consuming alcohol. The police busted the party and the residents’ initial fines were $27,000.

“We want to work together… but we will continue to look for those situations.”