Tonight, as the Stanford Football team prepares for the biggest game of the season — its annual Big Game against Cal — the ASSU and Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) are co-sponsoring what is being called “the biggest party of the year.”

Big Party, also called Big Game Row Block Party, will be housed at four houses on the lower Row: Columbae, Mars, Sigma Nu and Casa Italiana; it will last from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. All students are welcome to come, but each attendee must present a valid SUID to enter the party.

“The main idea is to add one more thing to Big Game Week to get everyone excited for the game,” said Aaron Smith ‘08, who works on the Big Game Week Committee. “We figured that no one is really having a party [tonight], so we should have one. It will harbor one last cheer to ‘Beat Cal,’ and then everyone can go to the game the next day.”

While three of the four participating houses in tonight’s Big Party are not fraternities, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Kappa Alpha will host at Casa Italiana and Columbae, respectively, while the IFC will host the party at Mars. Sigma Nu members are hosting at their own house.

Columbae will host two bands — Pacha Ma! and Pluto Gang — and each of the remaining three houses will feature a live DJ. Individual houses are providing drinks, but only partygoers issued a specially colored wristband — indicating that they are over 21 years of age — will receive alcohol. With valid identification, students can obtain both general wristbands for entry and the specially colored wristbands for alcohol at the central SUID station.

The ASSU Executives will be providing security for the party, which includes 23 uniformed, unarmed personnel hired from a private security company. Four guards will be placed in each of the four participating houses, and the remaining seven guards will be stationed both on the street and at the central SUID station. House guards will ensure that no alcohol leaves house premises and that partygoers do not access the upper floors. According to Smith, planning for tonight’s party began as early as the start of the school year. Kyle Ladewig ‘08, president of the IFC, said that both he and Smith have put many hours into organizing the event since then.

“I would say that each of us has spent at least 30 to 40 hours of our personal time planning this event,” Ladewig said.

Ladewig and Smith said that a “prototype” Big Party was held before the 2005 Big Game, but only Mars and Sigma Chi were involved. The two planners intend to begin a tradition with tonight’s party.

“A lot is riding on [tonight],” Smith said. “If it goes really well, this will happen every year.”

“This is definitely something that the IFC is looking to do for years to come,” Ladewig added. “We would hope that next year it would just get bigger, maybe including Bob, Xanadu and more sponsors.”

Big Party will begin tonight at 10 p.m. on the Row. Ladewig, who said he is concerned that students will not bring their SUIDs, stressed that anyone without Stanford identification will be denied entry.