Hand-painted street signs, blow-up palm trees and traffic cones decorated Norris University Center’s Louis Room for Northwestern’s 15th annual Suitcase Party on Tuesday. About 40 students attended the event, which featured live music from NU bands, acoustic guitarist Keegan and DJ Kevin Greene, a McCormick senior. Suitcase Party public relations chairwomen Melissa Krauss and Emily Stecher explained that at traditional suitcase parties, one of the guests wins a trip and leaves for the airport directly from the party. “The premise used to be that you’d come with your suitcase already packed,” Krauss said.

While airline restrictions have changed since Suitcase Party’s start at NU in 1994, “the name still sticks,” Krauss said. But students no longer need luggage to attend. The party’s beneficiary, the Youth Job Center of Evanston, helps youth ages 14-25 develop skills for job readiness and provides them with job opportunities. “They’re members of the Evanston community who lead completely different lives than we do,” Stecher said. “But we’re at the same crossroads in our lives.”