History Main / ExpositionParty

* Played with in ''Film/TheFly1986'': It starts InMediasRes at a cocktail party (later explained to be a press event for a technology company) at an art museum as a scientist is trying to break the ice with a journalist by teasing an amazing invention he's working on, and deliberately '''not''' giving her more information because he doesn't want "half the scientific community of North America eavesdropping" -- instead, he invites her to his lab to see it.
* Used and Parodied all over ''Film/ReservoirDogs''.

* The closing chapter of ''Literature/TheWestingGame'' consists of several vignettes that are exposition parties revealing what happened to the characters after the mystery was solved.

* The last chapter of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' features an impromptu feast in the middle of the night which details the return of all the petrified victims, Hagrid, and other school news.

* In "Endgame", the final episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', the story begins at a party at Admiral Janeway's home to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Voyager's return to Earth. Each of the surviving major characters makes an appearance to drop important expository information.

* Bill and Fleur's party in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' serves so Harry can get information from Xenophilius Lovegood about what are the Deathly Hallows.

%%* The Music/StephenSondheim [[TheMusical musical]] ''Theatre/{{Company}}''.

* This trope was used frequently in the manga of ''Manga/HanaYoriDango''. Birthday and various other parties served as pretexts for four separate declarations of love, two disavowals of family, and the introduction of several major plot points.

* Played with in ''Film/TheFly1986'': It starts InMediasRes at a cocktail party (later explained to be a press event for a technology company) at an art museum as a scientist is trying to break the ice with a journalist by teasing an amazing invention he's working on, and deliberately '''not'' giving her more information because he doesn't want "half the scientific community of North America eavesdropping" -- instead, he invites her to his lab to see it.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* In "Endgame", the final episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' the story begins at a party at Admiral Janeway's home to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Voyager's return to Earth. Each of the surviving major characters makes an appearance to drop important expository information.

* This was used in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Out of Gas" during a dinner/birthday celebration. The writer of this episode, Tim Minear, has talked about how he threw out as many words as he could 'wife', 'whoring', 'shepherd', 'doctor', 'married', 'companion', 'preacher', 'warrant' (that's all I can think of) to introduce the characters, their relationships to one another and what their place is as part of the crew of Serenity.

* Bill and Fleur's party in Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows serves so Harry can get information from Xenophilius Lovegood about what are the Deathly Hallows.

%%* The StephenSondheim [[TheMusical musical]] ''Theatre/{{Company}}''.

* In HolidayWars, Halloween takes the three main cast members into a room to give them the backstory of the war, which can be [[http://www.holiday-wars.com/blog/2011/04/18/episode-153/ seen in this episode.]]

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* The StephenSondheim [[TheMusical musical]] ''Company''.
* CyranoDeBergerac: Act I Scene II. All the important characters are in scene (except the protagonist) waiting to see [[ShowWithinaShow a play]]. Some of them are presented to [[NaiveNewcomer Christian]], and [[MrExposition Ligniere]] talks about the relationship between Roxane, De Guiche and Valvert. The protagonist himself is absent, so everyone talks about him… because he promised to ruin the play they intend to attend.

* This trope was used frequently in the manga of ''HanaYoriDango''. Birthday and various other parties served as pretexts for four separate declarations of love, two disavowals of family, and the introduction of several major plot points.

* The closing chapter of ''TheWestingGame'' consists of several vignettes that are exposition parties revealing what happened to the characters after the mystery was solved.

* ''BobAndGeorge'' had an anniversary party that lasted a couple of days, the last of which was an illusion showing roughly what the webcomic would have been were it the hand-drawn series it was [[OrphanedSeries originally intended to be]].

All the important characters are brought into a room together so they can drop exposition and summations into the mix. This is accomplished through the pretext of a party, frequently a birthday party. May

All the important characters are brought into a room together so they can drop exposition and summations into the mix. This is accomplished through the pretext of a party, frequently a birthday party.

* The Lone Wanderer's 10th birthday party is a part of the tutorial, and introduces most of the important inhabitants of Vault 101.

* This was used in the ''{{Firefly}}'' episode "Out of Gas" during a dinner/birthday celebration. The writer of this episode, Tim Minear, has talked about how he threw out as many words as he could 'wife', 'whoring', 'shepherd', 'doctor', 'married', 'companion', 'preacher', 'warrant' (that's all I can think of) to introduce the characters, their relationships to one another and what their place is as part of the crew of Serenity.
* The StargateSG1 episode "2010" starts with Carter meeting with her husband and then going to a commemoration service to honor Earth's alliance with an alien race. These two scenes serve to fill the audience in on what has "happened" since the audience will be completely baffled by the sudden jump 10 years into the future.

* One of the longest-running arcs[[hottip:*:second only to "Sister"]] (in every sense of the phrase) in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' was "Grace's Birthday Party", in which all but one of the major characters had their [[GenderBender gender reversed]], and considerable exposition and character development occurred. Ironically, [[WebcomicTime in actual time elapsed in-world, it's the shortest arc]].

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', the impromptu party that the dwarves throw at Bilbo Baggin's place (where they lay out the plans for the upcoming quest) might qualify for this trope. The Rankin-Bass animated version of ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing'' begins with all of the principal players at a party, relating all of the events of the movie via song and flashback.

* Rob's going-away party in ''{{Cloverfield}}'' was used to reveal considerable exposition, such as Rob's relationship with Beth and Hud's crush on Marlena.
* Used and Parodied all over ''ReservoirDogs''.
* The beginning of "Swing Kids" has a party where four of the main characters: Peter, Thomas, Arvid, and Otto, meet up with some girls to swing dance.