Totally Radical 80's Party

{If you're looking for tutorials on the party decor, clothing, etc. click here.}

Back in April I threw Mike a surprise 40th birthday party.  Because Mike's favorite decade was by far the 80's (and sometimes I am pretty sure he's still stuck in them...), I decided to go with an 80's theme. 

So I made this highly incriminating invitation in Photoshop using the best photos I could find of Mike in the 80's.  :D  It was a big hit!  

 I shopped the local thrift stores more than I ever had in my entire life, and made more trips to the party store too.  But it was all worth it and it turned out great!

I'm not so sure how surprised Mike REALLY was, he had to know I was up to something, but he played the part well.  :)  When he got home from work, everyone was there and we all jumped out with silly string and yelled surprise!

After that I made him change into his 80's attire I had set out for him on the bed.

 

I even acid washed my skirt and his jacket and hat all by myself!  I also acid washed shirts for Spencer and Evera.  

Even the kids were decked out in 80's getups. 

For party favors I had a bunch of 80's sunglasses (like the ones Spencer is wearing on both the left and the right of the above picture) and a bunch of those neon colored gummy bracelets.

I could not manage to get a normal picture of Melia, she kept pulling all these crazy faces!

Even Evera had a blast!

He is THE MAN!  :)

Some people didn't dress up, but for the most part I was super impressed with the crazy 80's outfits people came up with!

We had ward friends, work friends, and even some of my high school and growing up friends who came.  Even the little kids rocked out to the 80's.  :)

All my sisters came, but unfortunately I only got a picture with Kristy and Stephanie.  Kim, wasn't dressed up though, so maybe that's why.

And my brother-in-laws were good sports.  You can see in the bottom picture on the left (above) that Loren wore a polo shirt and popped his collar.  :)  Even my parents came--and it was my Mom's birthday!  Mike's parents came also!

I think my favorite part of the entire night was when I found out that my dad had not realized it was an 80's party and just kept thinking, "Wow, Heather has WEIRD FRIENDS!"  Haha!  My old bishop was there with a mullet (wig) and people kept calling him "Bishop" and my dad could not wrap his head around the fact that this guy with a long mullet was our bishop!  Lol!  When he saw my sisters dressed up, he still thought nothing of it except he wondered why Kristy did her hair like that.  That part really gets me because Kristy always has relatively boofy hair, whereas I do not, but he didn't think anything of my hair! And Stephanie's shirt?  Like she'd actually wear that on a normal day.  Not to mention I was wearing NEON GREEN leggings and an ACID WASHED mini skirt!  Haha!

If we had a "best dressed award" it would definitely have had to go to Chelsea (on the left below) with her crimped hair, leather vest, gold belt, lace fingerless gloves, and leopard print PARACHUTE PANTS!  It was definitely a toss up for the guys, but I'd give it to Greg with his white jeans and giant comb/pick in his back pocket.  Lol.  (And maybe it helped that he was the only person I had an almost full body photo of.  haha!)  

My favorite couples costumes would have to have gone to both Andrea and Mike (top) and Laesa and Kansas (center).  Andrea had a pretty sweet jacket and lace fingerless gloves, and Mike sported some pretty gnarly glasses, and a light pink shirt and white jeans.  Laesa was rockin out the 80's style with a sweat band and side ponytail and pretty awesome neon clothes.  Kansas was wearing some seriously short shorts and a tight tee shirt.  Best hair, overall though, had to go to Bishop Hendricks (bottom) with his mullet!  :)  

I had everyone who wanted to help, bring an appetizer or dessert and I made Mango Peach Pulled Pork for the main course, which could be eaten on nachos, in a taco, or in a salad.  I also bought a bunch of cookies, treats and chips, etc. 

The food turned out great.  And it wouldn't be an 80's party without some Tab cola, so luckily Mike's friend Robert came with a case of that!  :)

I definitely went ALL OUT on decor and had a blast collecting things from my parents' house, Mike's parents' house, and a million local thrift stores!  

I loved the look of all the 80's toys and games.  It definitely gave the whole party a nostalgic flair!  Ahh, weren't the 80's the best??!

Seeing how a good portion of the decor came from MY old toys (My Little Ponies, Cabbage Patch Kids, etc.) I definitely lucked out on finding a totally BAD model of the Millennium Falcon from one of my friends.  And my old NES Nintendo Gaming System seemed to balance out the girl/boy issue a bit too (although, it was MY NES and MY FAVORITE thing of all time growing up)!

I hung records and their sleeves all over the walls for decor too.  I cut some of the sleeves in half so I could display both the front and the back of them.  I lucked out on getting a ton of great 80's albums on vinyl at all the thrift stores.  I seriously raided them all!  :)

 I think my favorite album cover of all, though, would have to be the Olivia Newton John "Physical" album on the left below.  It opens out to a full shot of her in the water.  Isn't that a crack up?!  And the back of the cover is below that with her working out.  Haha.  But Lionel Ritchie's album on the top right below was a close second, opening out to a full body shot of him in a purple room sliding down a yellow pole.  RANDOM!  So funny!  I love the 80's!

 I also made a bunch of decor with cassette tapes, spray paint, records, glue, etc!  I was a total stress case, but I also had so much fun preparing and decorating for this party!

I think my very favorite piece of decor was the fringe curtain I made using cassettes.  Thanks to my awesomely creative friend Dawnita for the fabulous idea!  :)  I love how it turned out!

 I used a lot of the records for serving the food!

My mother-in-law has a record bowl so I searched that online and made a bunch for myself.  And I came up with the dessert stand idea all on my own!  

What really made the party so fabulous though, was the live DJ!  :)  My neighbor Isaac likes to DJ music as a hobby and has some pretty sweet equipment, so he came and DJed the whole party for us.  We had lights and totally gnarly 80's music!  Isaac, you rock!!

 It was TOTALLY TUBULAR MAN!

We danced and partied until the wee hours of the morning!  (Okay...more like 10:30PM, but hey, same thing, right?!)

 Perhaps we'll do it again in another 40!  (Or maybe 10 or 20!)

 My husband always thought I would've been super hot in the 80's (but we never really got to see, considering that I was only 5 years old when the 80's came to an end).  Now he has something to dream about!  (HAHA!)  I'll tell you one thing, he was a definite STUDMUFFIN!!

Oh yeah, that's hot!

 ROCK ON DUDES!

 {For tutorials on all the DIY clothing and decor seen above, please click here.}