Sunday, February 13, 2011

An 80's Party

A friend was suggesting I find the time to do something for my birthday.  My husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday.  I suggested an 80's themed birthday party, and we pulled one off in just three days.  My normally super conservative husband got really into it, and we had a great time.  The best birthday ever.

I started with planning food and drinks.  After a little bit of research to remind me of what was popular back then, I settled on making french bread pizza because it was really easy and could sit on the counter and still taste fine at room temperature.  I added Doritos for snacks.  For drinks, we had blue Kool-Aid, Hi-C juice boxes, Capri Sun, Tang, and Shasta cola.  Meanwhile, Scott compiled 186 songs from the 80's from his collection and via download. 


I put out some props to add to the atmosphere.  Not all of this was introduced in the 80's, but it was all popular in the 80's.  After emptying Doritos bags into bowls, I taped them to the walls.  Hey, it's what I had available.


I dressed up as my 8th grade self with Converse All Stars Hi-Tops, leggings, a black t-shirt (couldn't find a heavy metal concert shirt), flannel shirt, and big teased hair.  I don't miss the hairspray fumes and crunchy hair!

For my cake, I made a chocolate chiffon cake filled with chocolate ganache and frosted with rich chocolate frosting.   I stole the Pac Man design off the web.  It looked and tasted great.


Scott went for the hair band, rocker look with his first pair of Converse hi-tops.  He likes the shoes and looked hilarious in the outfit.  Poor Maddie was terrified of him, though.  She wouldn't look at him, let alone go near him.  About an hour into the party, she finally settled down enough to be put down so she could play in the kitchen with the other kids.


We found Sam a denim jacket at Goodwill.  He had a hard time sacrificing a pair of his old, a tad bit too snug fitting jeans for the occasion.  His anxiety over mom bleaching and ripping up his jeans was replaced with thinking they were kind of cool when they were done, though.  He would have looked great in the 80's!
Mika did the valley girl thing wonderfully.  Her normally fluffy hair worked well as a side pony.  We added a oversized sweatshirt with the neck cut out, a large glittery belt, skinny jeans, and leg warmers to complete the look.  


My friend, Corinne, found a Kool-Aid t-shirt for the occasion.  Deanna was a blessing as she was able to provide a listening ear as they commiserated over similar exchange student difficulties.  It was so nice for God to provide what Corinne needed through Deanna.


John had the funniest costume with his little plastic baggie in his suit jacket and a little bit of white residue under his nose.  It was great to see him and the girls again.



Chad, Heather, and Dana were great fun.  I just met Heather Thursday.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to get to know each other better and for the kids to play.  I was right.  They were such a hoot, so much fun.  This photo was taken during our trivia game, and they rocked.  For prizes, I handed out Abba Zabba bars, Nerds, Pop Rocks, Tootsie Rolls, Whatchamalcallits, Fruit Roll Ups, and Now and Laters every time someone got 5 points.  Each time an adult won, we also drew names for the kids to pick a candy.  We had a lot of fun and plenty of laughs.


Meanwhile, Josh was being his goofy self.


Maddie and Sammy loved on each other.  They really seem to like each other.  He has the same first and middle name as her big brother!


Last, but certainly not least, my friend Susan took all of these photos except for the ones of Scott and Sam.  She was playing with her new camera.  Seeing that she brought her camera along freed me up to run the party which was a good thing because I forgot to take any photos after people arrived.

While I didn't expect it, I received some awesome gifts.  Susan bought me a new mini muffin pan.  She knew I wanted one and will be using it tomorrow to make mini cupcakes for my Monday night group.  Interestingly, Susan also bought my cookie sheets.  She says she benefits from my baking.

Heather gave me all kinds of handmade goodies: a few memory wire bracelets, a few knitted scarfs, handmade soap, and a handmade candle.  They were all awesome.  I wore a scarf to church this morning, and Mika begged a scarf and bracelet to wear to church as well.  She's hoping to invite Heather to her next birthday.  LOL

And today at church, another friend who couldn't make it gave me a pair of handmade bead earrings.

I have awesome friends!  Thanks for making my birthday so fun and wonderful!

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5 Comments:

Amy said...

Awesome! We had an 80's party for my brother on his 30th birthday, themed parties are a lot of fun!

-Amy
Talented K9

Paula said...

That is like totally awesome. The pants, I love the pants!!!

Anonymous said...

Love it!! What fun. I think your hair looks great even for now, so you know I lived through the 80s! Too funny to see the Flashdance clothing. We ate those French bread pizzas all the time, and I almost spit when I saw the baggie and white nose. Ahahahahaha!

Kristine out of lurking, WTM

Twisted Cinderella said...

Looks like such a fun time!

Suswan said...

What a fun party. You're a great party planner. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, I know I did.