Here's how to throw an over-the-moon total eclipse party in your back yard

Put some "Bad Moon Rising" on your playlist, pop open a bag of Sun Chips and a Blue Moon beer, and get ready to party like it's 1970, the last time Charleston experienced a total solar eclipse. 

While there are more than 200 organized events in the Charleston and Columbia metropolitan areas in advance and during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, experts in both astronomy and party planning agree on one thing: The best scenario may be hosting a simple party in your back yard.

Citing potential traffic jams and other unknowns, longtime College of Charleston astronomy instructor Terry Richardson says many with views from yards or neighborhoods should consider staying home.

“If you live in the path of totality, you should probably stay at home,” advises Richardson, who has been teaching astronomy and physics classes at the College of Charleston for 38 years, in reference to the 70-mile-wide path of the eclipse.

Event planner Erin Didyoung , vice president of operations for Charleston-based Gosnell & Company Event Management, says people who want to go to larger, public events will have plenty of choices, but that the total solar eclipse is a perfect opportunity to throw a party in a back yard or neighborhood.

She stresses the importance of having a plan.

“It is something that you have to see. It is something that will make an impression on your life,” she says, noting that the nature of the event — three hours with a two-minute climax in the middle — is ideal for a “do-it-yourself,” informal, fun party.

“This is a party that everybody can do.”

Apparently people are making plans to stay home.

Holly Davis, manager of the locally owned Party Plan-It in Mount Pleasant, says about a third of the people coming into the business in the past week are looking for solar eclipse viewing glasses and other eclipse-related items.

Davis, who put up a special eclipse display near the front door of the store, adds that some customers have expressed concerns about being on local roads on the afternoon of Aug. 21.

Unofficial 3-day weekend

While the eclipse weekend isn’t a national holiday, like summer’s bookends of Memorial Day and Labor Day, it might as well be along the path of totality.

For many, viewing the rare coast-to-coast eclipse will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In the United States, the last one occurred in 1918. The next one will be in 2045.

But 2017’s eclipse will be extra special for the Palmetto State.

The total eclipse will cut about a 70-mile-wide swath across the nation starting at Newport, Oregon, at 1:16 p.m. (Eastern) and ending at Cape Island in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge at 2:48 p.m. Partial eclipse phases will last for about an hour and half before and after the total eclipse.

The center line of the path will bisect the state diagonally from the Upstate to the Lowcountry. On the immediate coast, the edges of that path of totality are east Folly Beach to Litchfield Beach with the centerline running near the Buck Hall campground south of McClellanville.

Along that swath, hotels and short-term rentals have nearly filled, governments and businesses have created special viewing events and chamber of commerce organizations have promoted it.

With nearly a million visitors expected to converge on South Carolina, law enforcement and emergency service staff are bracing for a disaster-like event, with potentially heavy traffic, jammed cell phone lines and emptied ATM cash machines.

So if you want to avoid the potential chaos, Richardson suggested a party time frame from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. because the partial eclipse phases will start around 1:15 p.m. and end around 4:10 p.m. Total eclipse start times and lengths will vary, but it will basically start in Columbia around 2:41 p.m. and in the Charleston area around 2:46 p.m.

Granted, all of this can be ruined by a cloudy day. Of the two solar eclipses Richardson has lived through, both were obscured by clouds.

Eclipse party plan

Regardless of having a party or not, those who have not secured appropriate solar eclipse viewing glasses need to make that the most immediate plan. Viewing the partial phases of a solar eclipse without special glasses can damage eyes.

Richardson adds that viewing the total solar eclipse phase when the sun is completely covered is OK without glasses.

Viewing glasses are a natural fit for parties, Didyoung adds, because they are perfect, inexpensive party favors. Most sold have the date of the eclipse printed on them, as well as festive celestial or patriotic themes.

Getting a sufficient number of appropriate glasses should be the first item of party planning. Didyoung says that buying the glasses online and having them arrive on time may be difficult by now. Big-box stores such as Walmart or Lowe's may be the best option at this time.

Other mementos from a party could beverage containers, koozies or T-shirts. Some of the themes popping up online include “We Just Got Mooned,” “I Blacked Out on Aug. 21,” and “This Totality Rocks.”

Next will be coming up with a menu, which Didyoung says is easy (see boxes for more).

Packaged or home-made Moon Pies are a natural Southern fit (plenty of recipes are online). For healthier fare, sandwiches and vegetables can be cut into the shapes of the moon and sun and served on a tray. A dessert feature could be a chocolate moon cake.

Even more snack food options are available with names taken straight out of the solar system: Eclipse and Orbit chewing gums, Starburst fruit chews, Sun Chips, Milky Way and Skycandy bar.

As for beverages, Didyoung suggests nonalcoholic drinks including sun tea or SunDrop or Sunkist soft drinks. Adult beverages could be Blue Moon or Sol beer or a special cocktail that has been created for the event, The Total Solar Eclipse Cocktail, that includes clementine or orange pop over ice, dark rum and an orange slice as a garnish.

Didyoung adds that because the party will be outdoors in August in South Carolina, it’s going to be hot, so backyard with pools are ideal.

Slip ‘n’ sliding eclipse

Vaughan Spearman has been planning a solar eclipse party since earlier in the year and expects 30 guests coming to his Total Eclipse & Giant Slip-N-Slide Summer Party on Aug. 21 on his farm in Lane, located in Williamsburg County.

“It (the slip ‘n’ slide) is something to do because it’s summertime,” says Spearman, noting that a hill on the farm is ideal for the 100-foot slide.

Other features of Spearman’s event are overnight camping, a potluck, kites and throwing Frisbees.

Another special activity will be shooting fireworks during the total eclipse, which he says is in keeping with the customs of some ancient cultures. Those cultures believed that creatures were eating the sun or moon and some would make loud noises to scare them away.

Party on the job

For those who must work, the total solar eclipse will be a productivity disrupter tantamount to the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament during March Madness or a national disaster.

So Didyoung recommends employers to embrace it, throwing a small party with pizza, eclipse “mocktails,” viewing glasses and an hour off around totality.

Among those workers will be the hundreds who work in Charleston’s hospitality industry, such as Mount Pleasant resident Kim Sanders who works at the DoubleTree By Hilton in downtown Charleston’s Market area.

Sanders says the hotel has hundreds of viewing glasses but she came into Party Plan-It to get 10 more to make sure she, co-workers and family had them.

“We all have to have our glasses for this big event,” she says.