Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part IIII of a three part pancocojams series on the English language children's recreational rhyme "There's A Party 'Round The Corner" (also known as There's A Party Up The Hill" Will you please Come?"
These versions of "There's A Party 'Round The Corner..." don't include the "bubblegum"/"chewing gum" and "blowing kisses" words.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/theres-party-round-corner-would-you.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents information about this rhyme including its history and its accompanying play activities. In addition, this post presents some examples of "There's A Party 'Round The Corner" (also known as "There's A Party On The Hill" and similar titles.).
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/examples-of-theres-party-round-corner.html for Part II of the pancocojams series on "There's A Party 'Round The Corner" recreational rhymes. That post presents examples from multiple countries of the "Please Bring bubble gum...and blowing kisses" version of "There's A Party 'Round The Corner" (also known as "There's A Party Up The Hill" Would You Please Come?" and similar titles.)
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Online examples of There's A Party 'Round The Corner..." document that its large number of variants, many of whom were (are) probably the result of accidental folk processing (i.e. the words being changed because of misremembering and/or mishearing and then substituting what you thought was said for similar sounding words or sounds.
Folk processing explains the three common titles for this children's recreational rhyme: "There's A Party 'Round The Corner", "There's A Party Up The Hill" and "There's A Party On The Hill".
Evidence of folk processing in these rhymes is even more apparent in the evolution of the lines "Bring your own cup and saucer and a cream bun. Who is your best chum?" in early examples of this rhyme. Those lines have changed to "bring your own cappacino and your own bubblegum", or "bring your own toilet paper and a bottle of rum" or "Bring your own smelly feet and your own dirty bum", and numerous other variants. Most of these variant forms of "There's A Party 'Round The Corner" can be traced to mishearing or misremembering the word "chum" which means "friend".
(Also, for my fellow United Staters, the word "bum" in the phrase "dirty bum" means "butt"/"behind").
As an American community foIklorist, I'm not familiar with "There's A Party 'Round The Corner", except as lines that are occasionally found in long form versions of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky". I wonder if this rhyme was in the past or still is chanted by itself in the United States as a jump rope (skipping) rhyme, or as a counting out rhyme, or as a partner hand clap rhyme, or group hand slapping (elimination) rhyme as appears to have been the case (or is still the case) in Great Britain, Australia, and some other English speaking countries and with some other English speaking populations.
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SOME MORE AUSTRALIAN EXAMPLES OF THESE VERSIONS OF "THERE'S A PARTY 'ROUND THE CORNER RHYMES
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Some Australian Examples of this rhyme were featured in other parts of this pancocojams series.
It appears to me that a lot of the commenters this discussion thread responded to the commenter who wrote right before them with the next line that they remember for the rhyme "There's A Party On The Hill" (also known as "There's A Party 'Round The Corner") or otherwise shared a line or lines from that rhyme that they used to say.
From https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianNostalgia/comments/1123fea/theres_a_party_on_the_hill_would_you_like_to_come/ "Australian Nostalgia Comments: There's A Party On The Hill. Would You Like To Come?"
These comments/examples are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Except for the last example, all of these examples are from 2022.
1.echo-94-charlie
"There's a party on the hill, would you like to come?
"Edit: Ok, I'm surprised at how many variations of this there are, and none are the way I remember it. It's a call and response.
Call: There's a party on the hill, would you like to come?
Response: Yes
Call: Then who is your best chum?
Response: <Respondent's best friend, let's say Steve>
Call: Then Steve will come with a sausage up his bum and
that will be the end of him."
**
Reply
2. Inkweaver88
"And bring a bottle of rum?"
**
Reply
3. Mctorp
"Can’t afford it
Reply
4. Dhasenkam
"But I bought it"
**
Reply
5. 00PSIEDOOPSIE
"And then I sung..."
**
Reply
6. clogwog
"So pack your bags, and get lost!"
**
Reply
7. Hot-Chilli-Chicken
"Then get lost"
**
Reply
8. Andytherooster
"For some reason we said rum tum tum"
**
Reply
9. Vanidorr
"At my schools we used to say “whiskey rum” which I have no idea where that came
from. It doesn’t even make sense now I think about it"
**
Reply
10. reddit_somewhere
"‘Then bring a bottle of butchers rum’ ; “Cant afford it!” ;
‘Then pack your bags and get lost!’
Regional vic response in the 90s"
-snip-
Here's information about "regional vic" ("Regional Victoria") from “AI Overview:
“ “Regional Victoria" refers to the areas of Victoria outside of Melbourne, and it includes many cities and towns. Major regional cities in Victoria are Ballarat, Greater Bendigo, Greater Geelong, Horsham, Latrobe, Mildura, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, and Wodonga, according to Regional Cities Victoria and Local Jobs First. The specific city depends on the context of the question, as there are numerous cities and towns within the broader regional area.”…
Reply
11.
"Yep, can confirm this of regional vic"
**
Reply
12. Bread_And_Butterfly
"Ours was ‘then you may not come’
**
Reply
13. pieceofpecanpie
"Minus the “butchers” and bang on regional vic from the 90s
for me."
**
Reply
14. tattisalisations
"Bring your own toilet paper and your big fat bum"
**
Reply
15. Presence_of_me
"Melbourne North East - same as OP but “who is your best
friend” and “….that is the end of that!”
**
Reply
16. designerjeans
"Then bring a bottle of rum tum tum.
Can't afford it.
Then go to a fish and make a wish. / Then pack your bags and
get lost!"
**
Reply
17. nunicorn
"Bring your own toilet paper and your own clean bum"
**
Reply
18. pastelcower
"Bring your own toilet paper and a fresh cream bun.
Was it a clapping song? With the who is your best friend bit changing from up and down clapping to putting your hands together and smacking them sideways against the other person's hands?
Do kids still do that? Do they play skippings and elastics?
I feel so old"
**
Reply
19. echo-94-charlie (Original Poster "OP")
"It was for choosing who was it for tiggy and such."
-snip-
Here's information about "tiggy" from AI Overview
" "Tiggy" is a name for the popular chasing game
"tag," used in parts of Australia and New Zealand. The basic game
involves one person being "it" and chasing the others to
"tig" (tag) them, with the tagged person becoming the new
"it". While "tag" is the most common term in many places,
"tiggy" is a well-known variant, often associated with specific
regions like parts of Victoria and Queensland in Australia.”…
**
Reply
20. celesteshine
"Bring a bottle of rum a tum tum"
**
Reply
21. Lucifang
"I’ve never heard this in my life 😳"
**
Reply
22. [deleted]
"Bring your own toilet paper and your own shi--y* bum
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
**
Reply
23. cheshire_kat7
"I've never heard it either."
**
Reply
24. dinydins
"BYO toilet paper and your own cream bun"
**
Reply
25. glutenfreeironcake
"Response: “bring your own cup off coffee and your own cream
bun…whose your love one” "
**
Reply
25. mamakumquat
"So bring a bottle of strawberry rum!
Can’t afford it.
Then pack your bags and get lost and who is your best friend?
Then he will come with a sausage up his bum and that is the
end!"
**
Reply
26. BinChicken16
" "Bring your own toilet paper, wipe your own bum." '
**
Reply
27. Atibug
"Ours was different.
There's a party on the hill would you like to come? Bring your own toilet paper and your own sticky bum. Who is your best friend?
Steve
Steve will come will a sausage up his bum, pull it in pull it out, you are out!
It's for choosing who is "it" in a game. Everyone
started with 2 hands in. If the song ended on you, one hand would be taken away
until there's only one hand left and that person is "it"."
**
Reply
28. GreenCamelior
"Ours was:
There's a party on the hill would you like to come? Yes.
Then bring a bottle of rum tum tum. Can't afford it.
Then pack your bags and get lost for the rest of the game."
**
Reply
29. [deleted]
"Bring your own smelly feet and your own smelly bum"
**
Reply
30. the-audience
"Bring your own cup and saucer and your own cream bun."
**
Reply
31. Eloisem333
"Bring a bottle of rum and your bum"
**
Reply
32. StrawberryPristine77
"Then bring a bottle of butchers rum (Can't afford it) Then
pack your bags and get lost"
**
Reply
33. LilacLove, 2023
"Super late reply but at my school we sang "there's a party on the hill would you like to come? Bring your own toilet paper and your big fat bum"
This concludes Part III of this three part pancocojams series on "There's A Party 'Round The Corner" (and similar titles).
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
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