We’re willing to bet that you’ve spent a lot of your spare time watching or catching up on Love Island! And who can blame you? Now you’ve got a taste for the antics and the vibes, you might want to replicate it and throw a killer Love Island-themed party. Luckily, we’ve got just the list you’ll need to make sure you’ve got all the essentials for it to be a success – even on a student budget! Keep reading to find out more.

Love Island-themed party decorations

The first place you’ll need to start is, of course, the decorations. You need to make sure you capture the tone of the show perfectly so your guests feel like they really are islanders! Soft fairy lights are a must to create a cosy vibe, with bean bags and a lot of unnecessary pillows scattered around on sofas and seating areas. You could even get your hands on inflatable palm trees and pool floats to place around the room to mimic the pool area.

There’s a ton of cheap and easy Love Island-themed decor you can grab over at Etsy, the one main being name stickers that you can put on any surface. These are perfect for re-creating the iconic named water bottles, as no Love Island party is complete without them! We also suggest grabbing a bunch of plastic champagne flutes to drink out of in the nighttime too.

Love Island-themed party outfits

Outfits should be the next things on your list. Ideally, you should let your guests know the dress code. Depending on what time of day and year you’re throwing your party, you can go down two routes: some form of swimwear outfit (with heels for the ladies, of course!) or summertime party attire like the islanders wear at nighttime. You’ll more than likely have an outfit or two already in your wardrobe that you can wear, so this step doesn’t need to cost you a penny. If you’re struggling for inspiration, take a look at the Love Island-theme outfits over on Pinterest.

If you want to go that little bit extra, we suggest body glitter or face gems! You could supply these for your guests at a specific table or keep them for yourself so you stand out as the host. These are super easy to get your hands on for a small price at places like Amazon or accessories shops like Claire’s.

Love Island-theme party food

The Love Island catering seems to be more about having a few alcoholic drinks around the pool than the food itself. However, if you want to put a Love Island-themed spread on, what’s stopping you? Finger food would be perfect, and you should place it on a tropically decorated table that looks aesthetically pleasing too. Think pineapples and palm trees!

When it comes to presenting your drinks, fruit-shaped dispensers and punch bowls are always a hit. Tropical cocktails or mocktails will go down a treat, too like a classic Piña Colada. For that extra flair, try giving your cocktails Love Island-inspired names such as “Mai Tai on Paper”.

Split The Bills promotes responsible drinking. Cocktails are for 18+ only.

Love Island-themed party games

Now you’ve got your space set up, it’s time to think of activities to partake in throughout the party. One of the most popular (and easy) games to play is the iconic “I’ve got a text!”. All you need to do for this game is firstly make sure you have the phone numbers of all your guests, then periodically throughout the party, send a text to one of your guests with a truth or dare on it. They have to shout, “I’ve got a text!” and the rest of your guests will come running to join in and ensure the task is done correctly. To make this more fun, you can create forfeits if the participant doesn’t complete the task properly. If you want to partake in the game too, you could get a trusted outside source to send the texts throughout the party.

Another great game idea is a confessional booth. Set up a room or an area to mimic the beach hut confessional, and throughout the party, people can go in and confess! Make sure you set up a camera (or a selfie stick with a phone) where your guests can hit record and make a confession – the funnier, the better! At the end of the party, or even the next day, you can all watch them back and have a good giggle.

The iconic ‘Mr and Mrs’ game can be great for a Love Island-themed party too. To make it match the Love Island vibes, at the start of the party, everyone should “couple up”. You can do this by pulling names out of a hat, using actual couples, or letting people choose like they do in the show – just try not to be too harsh and ruin the party! Then throughout the party, these couples will try to complete tasks together and answer questions about each other correctly. If you want to spice it up a bit more, every hour or so you could host a re-coupling!

How Split The Bills can help

When you’re trying to stick to a student budget, but still want to throw extravagant parties like they do on Love Island, it can be challenging to keep track of your expenses. This is especially true when your bills vary month to month or when your housemate still owes you their share. That’s where Split The Bills can help. We’re an easy bill-splitting service where you can build your own package and then pay only your share of the bills every month. Each of your housemates will have their own account and you won’t need a chief bill payer. Plus, you’ll know exactly how much your bills cost each month as you’ll pay the same amount no matter what you use – just make sure you still keep the planet in mind!

If all this sounds like your type of paper, have a look at how it works or contact us today with any questions you have.