Some guys/girls just have all the luck. Luck in that, as soon as they turn 16 or thereabout, their parents become so trusting of them to the extent that when they (parents) are away on trip or vacation, they grant their lucky children permission to stay home alone, as opposed to whisking them off to grandma’s.  

If you happen to ever belong to this lucky lot, know it that your parents are not stupid or naive. On the contrary, they do trust you that much. If you happen to be blessed with such parents, then there can be no doubt that you have had so many of these parties already. If you haven’t, then you must be a monk!  

A look at what happens at house parties thrown by 18-year-olds whose parents are away on leave reveals some interesting facts. This is the kind of party where the teenage host spends the whole night freaking out and generally working up a sweat in trying to keep the house in order, the noise levels down, and making sure that the neighbours next door won’t notice all the traffic of skimpily-attired girls choking on makeup.   

A teenage house party is nothing short of a fight for the host. Not only do they have to clean up every spill the minute that it happens, Mr Host has to ensure that none of their guests goes ahead to actually try on his mother’s shoes in the shoe rack. You think that is bad enough, until, that is, you hear stories of drunken guests who end up in their host’s parent’s beds with their equally drunk partners hooked just moments ago. 

Teenage house parties are also about making sure that those friends whose tummies can’t handle their liquor well (and therefore have to puke some of it at you) are kept on leash. Such people are usually confined to the outdoors, or to the corridors leading to the bathrooms. 

As you can see, teenagers like to attend/play hosts to stress and adrenaline-inducing parties. 

On a rather positive note, rarely do hosts of teenage house parties ever get drunk and wasted like their adult counterparts. Usually, they just spend the entire night attempting to cover up any possible traces of the said party before their nosy neighbors catch wind of it, and before their parents are back home from safari. 

Some modern parents will tell you that, in fact, the easiest way to know if your teenage son invited his not-very-well-behaved friends over for a house drink-up is when you return from upcountry and find everything neat and organised. They were only cleaning up their friends’ mess before you got wind of it