A Totally Awesome 1980s Party

 I am a true 80's kid.  You know...Generation X: Raised on hose water and neglect.  Literally.  Commercials came on right before the evening news and said, "It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your children are?" Television had to REMIND our parents to summon us home for bedtime.  It was truly a different time, and if you know you know.  We loved it.  Now I have my great nephews, the Littlest Devils making me kind of a pseudo grandmother.  A really cool Gen X grandmother.  You know Mr. Devilish Dish and I love live music.  In the last year we've seen Adam Ant, Psychedelic Furs, The Church, Duran Duran, Rick Springfield, The English Beat, Wang Chung, Paul Young, John Waite, Toto, Christopher Cross and Men at Work.  (Not including countless Red Dirt and other genres, but this is an 80's post!) Take me back!  Anyway, now that I am a cool Gen X G-ma, I saw these adorable personalized beaded bracelets.  I wanted them with the Littlest Devils names on them but they were kind of pricy.  You know I'm a crafty girl, so I landed upon the idea to make some custom bracelets (think those Swiftie style bangles) and it reminded me of the good 'ol days when we made friendship bracelets.  I remember in 10th Grade, I had a class with Mr. DD and he asked me to make a friendship bracelet for him.  Mind you he was NOT my boyfriend at the time.  He was just one of the cutest boys in the whole school and a very preppie golfer-type.  I remember spending hours at the craft store putting together the exact combination of embroidery threads to make him the ultimate preppie boy friendship bracelet.  Apparently it worked because we've been together over 30 years now.  Since I am still an 80s girl at heart, the night I decided to try my hand at creating the beaded bracelets, I invited over some crafty friends and decided to make a true 80's themed feast.  Not only did we create some totally awesome bracelets and have some good food and good laughs, we turned on YouTube and found some videos with assemblages of old 1980's commercials.  It was hilarious hearing, "Where's the Beef?" and "Mikey Likes It."  I hope this inspires your next get-together for some 80's themed fun!

Here's the full spread.  This was so much fun 
planning and putting together.

No 80s party is complete without some glow
necklaces and bracelets.

Remember the Sea Monkeys? My mom would NEVER
let me have those.  We enjoyed Shrimp Cocktail with
Mr. Devilish Dish's SPICY COCKTAIL SAUCE.

I made a small "charcuterie board" and cut a brie
cheese to look like Pac-Man.  I just added some salami,
crackers and fresh grapes.

The hardest part of the whole night was hollowing
out a cabbage for the "Cabbage Patch" relish tray.
Just ranch dip served in a cabbage with some
fresh veggies.

Remember hitting the mall for an Orange Julius?
Not only do I have a recipe for the DRINK HERE,
but I have a FRUIT DIP that tastes exactly like the
original drink.  We enjoyed that with fresh berries.

I added a bowl of candy and glow sticks.
Most of the candy I found at Dollar Tree.
Pop Rocks and Ring Pops were the thing
back then!

I hope you get some inspiration for your own 80s party.  This was kind of a spur of the moment event, but I know I will use these ideas in the future.  This could be the beginnings of a great costume or birthday party.