How to Be Creative
By Danny Thompson
Welcome to Danny’s Quick and Easy guide to being creative. First,
you need to realize that there is a difference between creative
and artistic. They are related, but not synonymous. Art is the
symbolic, interpretive expression of your perspective on a given
subject. Creativity is shifting your perspective to look at a
given subject in a new light.
Let’s say you need a creative solution to a problem. Say...you
want to come up with a really cool theme so you can plan a killer
birthday party for a young child. Okay, so you’ve defined your
probl--
...oh no! My pen burst and now I’ve got ink on my shirt.
Geez, I liked this shirt, too. It came from...what was that store.
The one between Brookstone and the pretzel place. Structure? Abercrombie?
Oh well, it doesn’t matter. My wife would probably know what to
do to get it out. But by the time I get home, it’ll probably be
set. Her cell phone’s off. Shoot!
Hmmm. Gotta find a new pen...Hey! My little stress ball shaped
like a brain...forgot that was in this drawer. Hee-hee. *squeeze,
squeeze* Fun times. I wonder if it will bounce off the wall?
Oops. (Note to self: irregularly shaped objects bounce in irregular
trajectories.)
“Sorry, Bob! Knocked over your coffee? My bad.” That sucks. I
should take him to lunch. Or at least pay for his dry-cleaning.
Speaking of dry cleaning, I need to pick mine up. Where’d I put
my ticket?
Not in my wallet or my drawer. I bet it’s at home. It is! It’s
on the dresser next to my autographed Don Knotts necktie. Now
there’s a funny guy. They should show The Incredible Mister Limpet
on TV more. ‘Course, he’s not as funny as Tim Conway...but then
who is?
What was I doing again? Oh yeah, kids birthday (stupid pen).
Like we have any money to spend. We just got back from Disney
World with the kids. Pictures! Gotta transfer the pictures to
the computer and get them online. Grandparents are about to have
a stroke. You’ve seen the kids. You’ve seen Mickey Mouse. Use
your imagination, people!
I bet I could use the pictures to make a cool invitation. What
if it’s not a Disney Theme? We’ve got other pictures. Photoshop,
too. Not a problem.
Grrr. Who’s calling? I’ve gotta come up with some ideas. “Hello?
Um, no. I’d rather not donate money to the policeman’s ball, thank
y--” Huh. Hung up. Rude. I’m probably on some list to get a ticket
now. Maybe I should call around to take donations to pay for this
freakin’ party? That would be sweet.
Actually, I could go for something sweet. Cookies? No. Granola
bar? No. Marshmallows? *look at belt...can’t see belt!* No. Celery
and carrots it is. Rabbit food.
No rabbit food. Maybe I should get in the car and go pick up
some groceries. I’d pass Chick-fil-a on the way. Who needs rabbit
food when you’ve got waffle fries? I should probably get a salad,
though. Or just work out extra hard...
And there we have it. Plenty of party ideas to choose from. What
ideas? You mean you weren’t paying attention? Okay, let’s go though
our thought process again...
- There’s the ink stain on the shirt: Maybe we have a tie-dye
birthday so the kids can make their own party favors (we could
do a cool tie-dye effect on the cake). Or an underwater theme
with a cake shaped like a squid or an octopus. Or maybe we do
Rorschach ink blots (with finger paint, of course) and let kids
make their own works of modern art...a Picasso party?
- Pretzel: A cake shaped like a pretzel? A kid “twist” (ha-ha)
on Oktoberfest? Barrels of Monkeys, root beer, lederhosen...okay,
no lederhosen. German chocolate cake!
- Structure: Tinker toys? Legos? Erector sets? Brain teasers?
Mazes? “house of cards” contest? Lots of different scheduled
activities?
- Brain Stress ball: hmmm you can get stress balls in all
sorts of shapes for cheap at party supply stores...great party
favors. Wonder what shapes they have? A cake shaped like a brain?
A Dr. Frankenstein theme? Play pin the bolt on Frank’s neck? The
tail on the werewolf? Fun with static electricity? Operation!
- Bounce: rent a space bounce? Get a trampoline?
- Bob: can we get Bob the Builder? (yes we can!) Bob Barker
(and remember: spay and neuter your pets!...maybe not). Bob Costas?
Dylan? Marley? Bobsled? Bobbing for apples?
- Coffee: Juan Valdez...piñata! Mexican hat dance. Jumping
beans. Taco party! (and maybe a little Jose Cuervo afterward to
help me cope...)
- Lunch: Have the party at a restaurant? Maybe an ice cream
parlor? Pizza?
- Dry Cleaning: Chemicals....a kitchen Chemistry party? A
dress-up party?
- Ticket: Movie? Zoo? Carnival games? Speeding ticket...go
carts?
- Don Knotts: Mayberry theme? Cops and robbers? Jail? Fishin’ hole?
Floyd’s
barber shop? Mr. Furley... seventies/disco clothing theme? Ha-ha...bunch
of five-year-olds doing the hustle!
- Limpett: Come as your favorite cartoon character? A deep-sea
fishing party? An underwater party? Fishsticks! Or not...
- Tim Conway: Multitude of characters to spur countless ideas:
orchestra conductor, office party, little kids pretending to be
old people...hee-hee...
- Money: Monopoly, play money, cash prizes (okay, maybe
not), presidents, bank.
- Disney: Pick a movie theme, backyard theme park, hire a
character?
- Pictures: pair with dress-up...photo-shoot party. Fashion
show. Camera cake.
- Stroke: swim party! Doctor-theme. Beach theme. Luau? Painting
party?
- Calling: Phone-shaped cake? Tin can & string phones?
- Policeman’s Ball: Again with the cops & robbers theme?
Ballroom dancing? Masquerade ball?
- Granola/Rabbit food: Nature...picnic? State park? Zoo?
Farm theme? Garden...dirt cake!
- Belt: Karate party? Alligator? Fan belt...mechanic/car
party?
- Waffle-fries: Waffles...breakfast party? Doesn’t have to
be in the morning...everybody likes waffles! Pull out the griddle,
I could cook them on the grill...a breakfast barbecue?
- Work-out: Exercise party? Trampoline, foam barbells, muscle
suits....
See, tons of ideas. And that’s just from five minutes of “thinking.” When
people try to get creative and brainstorm, they usually narrow their focus
way too much. If you just sit there thinking “party,
party, party” then all you’re going to get are the same old ideas
for parties. Take off the blinders. Let your mind wander. Let
the distractions come...and then steer them gently back to your
purpose and see what happens.
Don’t judge anything too harshly. Write everything down, even
if it seems silly. Plenty of the things I listed above are trite,
boring or just plain impractical. But we’re not done yet. Take
your list and try combining two or three ideas. The less related
the items you’re combining, the greater your chance of discovering
something magical.
Let’s say you pick three ordinary ideas: dress-up, dirt cake
and swim party. Can you dress up your pool? Can you get some plants,
decorations and animal-shaped floats and turn it into a jungle
watering hole? Dress up your dirt cake...turn it into a dirt-cake
volcano, pair it with your jungle-themed pool and add a few kiddie
pools filled with a couple of inches of sand...poof! Suddenly
you’re on a deserted tropical island.
Or another try: photo-shoot, cops and robbers, piñata. Decorate
the party room like a jail. Have all the grown-ups wear sheriff’s
stars and make striped prisoner uniforms for the kids with white
undershirts and black fabric paint. Be sure to “book them” as
they arrive. Give them their shirt and an ID placard (use the
date of your child’s birthday as the number) and take their mug
shot [send these out later with the thank-you notes]. Get creative
with paper mache and make rock-shaped “piñatas” (sans string)
with goodie bags inside. Towards the end of your party, get the
chain gang together and let them have at it, breaking rocks to
get at their prizes. Invites should be sent out as warrants.
See? The initial brainstorming is simply gathering the raw material.
Then play with those ingredients to develop truly unique ideas.
Don’t work; play! •
Copyright © 2005 Danny Thompson
About the Author
Danny Thompson is an award-winning copywriter. His heroes are
Walt Disney, Alexander the Great, Leonardo daVinci and MacGyver.
www.lefthandedwriter.com
01/04/06
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