I threw myself a 33rd birthday party in Jan.'03. I waited until the 3rd Saturday of the month so that people would have time to relax from all of the holiday parties and new year's eve.  Then after 3 weeks of winter-time cabin fever, I threw an Afro-Carribean dance party.  I also  made it a benefit for Amnesty International. I played cd's and cassettes of Trinidadian soca, Latin, African, &  Brazilian dance music.  I was on a low budget, so I did an exchange with a local Latin dance teacher.  She borrowed some belly dancing  videos from me, and in exchange, offered Latin dance lessons to my  guests. I invited friends who play Afro-Latino drums and percussions, and they did a performance.  We also passed around percussion  instruments for my guests to join in with the musicians.  For the food, I had a friend of the family from Trinidad prepare home-cooked  Trinidadian cuisine--both chicken & vegetarian. It was quite a feast, and lots of fun. Plus, I raised almost $300 for Amnesty International. People talked about that party for months afterwards!!!!! I am planning  the 2nd Annual Afro-Carribean dance party for Jan.'04