Host an 80’s Themed Party | Decor & Plan
I’ll show you each step I took to host an 80” themed party so you can do the same for you or someone you love. While I’m hosting a bachelorette party, this video could be applied to any kind of party. This "how to" video will guarantee your success.
The first element to any party is the invitation. Please do not just send a boring standard black & white text message! At the very least, create a FUN text message image in Instagram or Canva or simple editing app, and send a cute screenshot invitation. That’s what I did! I took a screenshot from the internet of an 80’s cassette tape that was the right color scheme and feel for my party.
Then, using the Instagram story making process, I filled in all the details of the party, took another screen shot and that’s what I sent to everyone. We were trying to keep this low budget and simple, but if you have the time and funds to make a paper invitation be sure to check out my video on how to do your own custom office supply store invitations for half the price of ordering them from a printer.
Your invitation needs to answer the who, what, why, where, when & how of your event and it should be in the color scheme of your party (80’s would typically be neon colors but I went with a couple basic bright colors that matched the color of the tulle at the fabric store which will all make sense to you by the end of this video).
Asking your guests to come dressed like the party theme creates excitement and ‘buy in’ so you are more likely to have a better turn out, and if you don’t want to ask people to wear something specific, consider having party favors they can put on when they get there like these from a jazz club party I hosted (and made a video for).
There are many “invitation worthy” 80s themed songs that can help kick off your party if you don’t want to have a “Total eclipse of the heart” party.
-How about "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and find an adult roller skating night
-”Get On Your Feet” with Cuban food and decorations
-”Footloose” and add cowboy boots to your 80’s fun
-or just go with mixed tapes, records and a music theme and head to a karaoke bar?!
But I went with a total eclipse of the heart because two months before my daughters wedding there just happened to be a solar eclipse and I lived in the direct path of the total eclipse!!!
Party planning tip: find something unique happening and plan a party themed around it!
Ok, next I headed to the local craft store and purchased 15 yards of white tulle that is the heavier, more stiff kind that I had cut into 3 pieces (5 yards each), 2 yards of lightweight orange tulle, 2 yards of fuchsia, and 2 yards of teal tulle, and one corresponding pom-pom ribbon to match each color of tulle. The 3 colorful tulle pieces I cut down the center and then tied them together so they would be long enough to go from my chandelier to the walls and I did gather the tulle with some yarn in the spots where the tulle needed to pinned, taped or draped to something.
Then I used fabric & pom pom ribbon, plus some balloons we tied in a line with yarn and cut out hearts to go with the total eclipse of the heart theme to decorate above the food table. We wanted the pom poms to resemble chandelier crystals. The neutral tablecloth with a wrapping paper table runner were cute, though I wish I had splurged for a pink fabric tablecloth instead. And there we have the focal point for our party.
I am not in a season of life where I have time to actually make food so I went to GFS and got a whole bunch of pretty, precut desserts with some yummy dips and colored peppers (and I wish I had only bought orange to match the party) and some frozen California pizza kitchen pizzas from the grocery store.
I’m hosting this party in my house which will allow me to cook those pizzas while guests are hanging around the kitchen which is what people naturally tend to do anyway. Babysitting pizza making is also a great job to give to someone who would rather be helping you than mingling.
When picking food for parties you want to serve unique food that you don’t often buy at the grocery store and food that is worth the calorie intake. You can give common and inexpensive food a twist to make it special if you spend a little time researching ideas.
I got some glass pop bottles and put them on ice. I could not find pink and I thought I could hide the red, but I wish I had just gotten blue and orange.
Also, because the party's at my house, I just used real dishes and silverware, and cups to save money and reduce waste.
I had a pre-made playlist with a solid two hours of upbeat 80’s songs blasting as guests arrived in their beautiful 80s attire.
Then I took all the tulle and ribbon decorations down for our “party game.”I sent the bride off to get her hair and make-up done by the more mature party guests. Then I split the younger guests into 3 teams. Each team was given the same supplies, 5 yards of the white tulle, 2 yards of the colored tulle with corresponding pom pom ribbon, several hot glue guns, scissors, safety pins and bobby pins. 1 team was in charge of making a headpiece & vail, 1 team was in charge of making a dress bodice & necklace and 1 team was in charge of the skirt & train. Then I gave them 20 minutes to make their part of the bride’s 80’s wedding dress.
Everyone helped the bride get her new outfit on and the bride picked a winning team. The winners got some funny socks (but I wish I had taken the time to find funny 80’s socks or bachelorette socks) and a diamond ring pen.
I had ordered some total eclipse of the heart T-shirts as a party favor for everyone, followed this Pinterest pattern for making ties in the front and cutting the neckline off so had that 80’s off the shoulder vibe and so everyone got a reward for competing.
And we are not going to be able to show you the “unmentionable” gift part of this event but it did happen but what I can show you is a clip from a special ‘Mamma Mia movie moment’ recreation and if you have seen the movie you know exactly what I mean :)
It would have been a complete waste to not have the bride wear her new dress out in public, so we headed to the local duckpin bowling venue to top off the evening.
If you are concerned that the group of people you are inviting will have trouble loosening up and having fun, make the bowling or outing a funny competition by finding a resource online to spice it up!
Those who wanted to make a later night of the event had lots of restaurant options just around the corner.
A perfect party engages all 5 senses! Download my party planning guide for free in the freebies section so you can turn your space into an unforgettable event as well.
~Bethany (The B.I.R.L.)
