Every February all Americans and some Canadians enjoy a holiday to honor the United States first president George Washington and the values he represented of freedom and justice for all men from the tyranny and privilege of the tyrannical British Empire. Today the festival is a celebration not just of the man, but of the values that he stood for, and for all that made America great. Here is a President’s Day party idea that will help you make the most of it.

If you are celebrating this Presidents Day with a party, one way that you could honor your country without getting all preachy about it is to have a fancy dress party with a twist. Instead of the obvious choice of dressing up as famous American presidents or figures from American folklore, perhaps guests could come dressed as ideas that America represents.

For example, any fool can go to a costume shop and hire a Lincoln hat or a Washington wig or Obama ears and not even think about the meaning of the festival or why people celebrate. This could result in violent drunks or unbearable bores turning up with silly hats on and ruining your holiday and making you the laughing stock of the town.

Instead, if you ask guests to dress up as American concepts such as Freedom, Justice, or Democracy, they will need to think long and hard about their costume and not simply turn up expecting free punch with a crummy old wig and some half baked attempt at period costume. Dressing as George Washington to your friends Presidents Day party is as crass and rude as emptying your bowels on their lawn.

This has a bonus for shy or just quiet party goers as it gives them an instant ready made ice-breaker to discuss how their costume represents which American value, and the importance of the value to them personally. The more imaginative and challenging the costume the more off the hook the party has the potential to be.

It depends on the individual how far that they want to push this idea, some people could make the food themed around American values, freedom fries being one obvious choice but there are virtually endless possibilities for nibbles based patriotism and representation of democratic values. With attitude.

So if you find yourself panicking about what to do for the next holiday, maybe this President’s Day party idea has just saved your bacon.