80s party

JeffH

Throwing an 80s party soon H/A, need ideas on everything from costumes to decor. Go! :P

Szechuanosaurus

I recommend 80s clothes and 80s decor.


Anything else is just going to confuse people.


I mean, you could dress as an 80s dad who still thinks it's the 70s or an 80s trend-setter who has cleverly predicted what people will be wearing in the 90s but I think it's best to stick to the basics with this sort of thing.


I guess start off by watching as many 80s influenced films as possible. Everything from Amercian Psycho to The Breakfast Club.

JeffH

Fair enough... in retrospect, probably not a lot to discuss here

Szechuanosaurus

No, there probably is and I was just being a total dick for the sake of my own amusement which I'm now sort of ashamed of.

I'd recommend hunting around some charity shops for clothing ideas. There's a few different themes you could go for - punk, yuppy, new romantic, Metal, Lycra-overload etc. - so I guess see what you can find most of.

Music should be a no-brainer, just get a bunch of 80s compilation albums (why not buy the GTA:VC soundtrack?) and steal your sisters record collection.

Decor...that's a toughie. I mean, how much decoration are you going to be doing? Trying to score some retro-print wallpaper might be a bit much for a party but most standard party decorations haven't really progressed since the eighties.

gneGne

Soul music!

Szechuanosaurus

Getting hold of some cheap traffic-light style disco lights that flash in time to the music may not be a bad idea.

KMFurDM

Neon fabric. Very late 80's. Lots of lots of contrasting colors will pretty much cover the rest of the decade. Anything brown was big, but brown is for squares.

Szechuanosaurus

I always thought brown was more of a 70s thing?

Eighties was like, black and white or else dayglo. Maybe pink. In fact, definitely pink.

Rankenphile

Hypercolor t-shirts, jelly bracelets and aquanet

KMFurDM

Maybe I am thinking brown for houses, cars, maybe suits. I seem to remember a lot of it. I was around for all of the 80's.

Rankenphile wrote: »

Hypercolor t-shirts, jelly bracelets and aquanet

That was all 90's except for Aquanet which is pretty timeless.

edit: Well, the jelly bracelets sort of cross the 80's and 90's. 80's = tons of them in rainbow colors. 90's = a couple in primary colors.

The Savior

Somebody at that party needs a damn Members Only jacket. That nasty tan is preferred, though any color is acceptable.

[edit] I'm sure you could dig up an 8-track from a goodwill or something, though at that point we're talking early 80's.

PirateJon

You could celebrate the needless escalation of the racist and classist "war on drugs" which imposed unconscionably harsh penalties on non-violent drug users and ignored the challenges of addiction by pushing the ineffective "Just Say No" and "D.A.R.E" programs.

So for the party force everyone to do straight shots - no mixers, no beer, no wine - unless they're rich and white.

Or party to the slashed funding for mental health programs which drove tens of thousands of troubled people into the streets, putting a huge burden on emergency services like the police and EMS, as well as an increase in drug and substance abuse as the sick try to self-medicate.

So anyone that gets too drunk at the party should be left on a street corner in a bad neighborhood.

Fristle

PirateJon wrote: »

You could celebrate the needless escalation of the racist and classist "war on drugs" which imposed unconscionably harsh penalties on non-violent drug users and ignored the challenges of addiction by pushing the ineffective "Just Say No" and "D.A.R.E" programs.

So for the party force everyone to do straight shots - no mixers, no beer, no wine - unless they're rich and white.

Or party to the slashed funding for mental health programs which drove tens of thousands of troubled people into the streets, putting a huge burden on emergency services like the police and EMS, as well as an increase in drug and substance abuse as the sick try to self-medicate.

So anyone that gets too drunk at the party should be left on a street corner in a bad neighborhood.

Ho ho! Nice. Along these lines, someone should wear a military uniform and be carrying around a big red button, because we spent the 80's ready to nuke Russia if they looked at us funny.

Also someone should dress up as a gay guy with AIDS and everyone at the party can pretend he doesn't exist and refuse to acknowledge him. Just like the 80s!

Prophetavius V

Get your hands on an Atari or something and hook it up to a TV so people can play some rad gamez!

Liquidator

Rankenphile wrote: »

Hypercolor t-shirts, jelly bracelets and aquanet

Hypercolor was totally 90s.

Doc

The Savior wrote: »

Somebody at that party needs a damn Members Only jacket. That nasty tan is preferred, though any color is acceptable.

They might think you are dressed up as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Doc

Prophetavius V wrote: »

Get your hands on an Atari or something and hook it up to a TV so people can play some rad gamez!

The NES came out in 1985. That would be okay as well.

Dog

IMO you can look into the early 90s as well for apparel and decor. It's not like January 1, 1990 everybody said "hey, im gonna stop wearing Pumps, parachute jeans and tube socks." Shit, look at the show Boy Meets World. That was in the 90s, and still had lots of 80s themes in it. Just like early 80s still had the "70's" hang over.

Szechuanosaurus

A good rule of thumb for eighties clothing is 'if it doesn't fit, it's the shit'

So like, either big, baggy suit pants or jeans so short you can see the top of your socks. Jackets that don't cover anything below your elbows (on your arms or on your torso) or shirts that are a health hazard in high winds.

Oh, and your socks can be any colour, so long as they are white (So white with multiple coloured bands around the top).