70s Disco Party

The 70s are all about disco. The cool image of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, with his flashy leisure suit look, dancing to disco music, is one that many of us have emblazoned in our minds forever. Dare we mention Studio 54? Big disco club scenes from the 1970s are courtesy of people like Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Earth Wind and Fire, Gloria Gaynor, Lionel Richie, Peaches & Herb, and The Village People. The great thing about the 1970s is it was full of variety throughout the decade. Don't settle on just one theme for your 70s party. Combine the various trends and events of the decade to throw a wild and crazy bash from the past! (Bellbottoms optional!)

Disco Party Invitations
Choose a fun personalized disco theme music invitation and mail it with Disco theme confetti in the envelope for an extra special touch.

Or, use a fabulous Disco theme caricature invitation your guests will love. We also have semi custom caricatures featuring a disco man and a disco woman that can be customized with your face and party information. That's an invitation no one will forget!

Another creative way to invite guests to your 70s bash is to attach all of the pertinent party details to either a smiley face cuddly plush, or a smiley face beanbag. Hand-deliver your fun and playful invitations to each guest.

Another really unique idea is to find a bunch of 8-track tapes, make sticky labels with all your party information and place them on the back of the tape. Mail to guests and Voila! Everyone will get a good laugh out of it. The challenge of course is to find them. Search online, garage sales and the like. I think the Party Girl might still have an 8-track player in her basement!

Be sure to have your guests come dressed in their 70s best, whether bell-bottom pants, polyester leisure suits, big gold chains, polyester wrap dresses or red gloss lipstick! Have them come as their favorite 70s TV characters like Reuben Kincaid, Arnold Horshack, Captain 20, Richie Cunningham, Oscar Madison, Felix Unger, Marsha Brady, Charles Nelson Reilly, Mary Tyler Moore, Sue Ann Nivens, Ted Baxter, Colonel Potter, Shaggy and Scooby, Fred Rogers, Gene Rayburn, Fred and Lamont Sanford, Grady, George Jefferson, Mork, Isaac, Gopher and Doc, or Vinnie Barbarino, among others!


Give each guest who enters a Disco ball necklace, Disco ball earrings or a pair of groovy Disco ball sunglasses to get them in a funky mood.

There are multitudes of things that can be done to decorate your Flashback from the 1970s party. First of all, hang a beaded curtain at the front door to welcome all of your guests in 70s style. Inside, at the party pad, hang Disco dancers room rolls on the walls. Mylar Disco ball balloons will look great either in balloon bouquets or hanging down from the ceiling!

To set the mood with lights, try real disco stuff. Set up black lights and lava lamps around the room as well. For a nicely scented finishing touch, light some candles or incense to fill the room with a popular 70s fragrance. Hang an assortment of disco balls (of course!) in all colors from the ceiling for an added cool illusion.

If you have a TV/DVD player available, run classic 70s movies in the background like Saturday Night Fever, Stayin' Alive, Star Wars, Jaws and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest among others. Here's a great list of movies from the 70s.

Be sure to have a Pet Rock for all your guests, complete with name, personality and preferences listed. If you're having seating, then a Pet Rock also makes a great seating card!

Disco Table Decorations and Menu
Place a fondue pot in the middle of each table. Each pot serves your meal as well as a centerpiece. If you want to really get your guests mingling, put a different type of fondue at each table. (Make sure to have cheese fondue as an appetizer and chocolate fondue for dessert.) If your food will be centered elsewhere, wrap tie-dyed bandanas around sand filled balloons and tie it closed with a colored ribbon. Attach Disco ball balloons to give it height. Disco dancer piñatas make festive centerpieces, too. Throw Disco theme confetti around the tables.

A Disco ball with a base also makes a great theme centerpiece. They are available in 3 different sizes, so you can vary them by table. You will definitely need Disco theme paper goods, including plates, napkins, table covers, cups and more!

Let your friends feast on fabulous flavors of fondue! Serve different types of cheese fondue as your appetizer. Cook up spicy chicken, Mexican, or teriyaki fondues as the main course. Of course, chocolate fondue is for dessert. Finger food and buffets are useful since your guests can eat on the run and dance up a storm to your funky music. Try these processed foods: Gobstoppers, Tang, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Pop-tarts among others. Dr. Pepper, Coke & 7-Up are musts. Bugles, onion dip, Necco wafers are old standbys.

Disco Party Games and Activities
MUSIC! - Who doesn't love to dance along to the funky sounds of Sly and the Family Stone, the Village People, Donna Summer, Elton John, the Commodores, La Chick, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Kool & the Gang, Average White Band, the Tavres, Patti LaBelle and others? Visit your favorite music store and pick up CDs of 70s compilations. Do the Hustle, nominate a Denny Terio-like M.C. and have your own dance contest with great prizes.

70s Charades - To begin, each player must write down a difficult phrase/name/title/song etc., (the phrase/name/title/song has to be from the 1970s) and all of the slips of paper go into a hat. Then everyone is divided up into two teams. Each team chooses a "captain", and the two captains flip a coin to decide who gets to go first. The first person has to pick a slip of paper from the hat without looking. He then looks at the paper, and gives a signal to his team (signals are determined before the game begins) to reveal what category he will be acting out. (For example: If it is a book title, the first player might put his hands together face up in front of himself, as if he is reading a book). The players on his team will say, "It's a book". Then the "actor" puts up the same number of fingers, as there are words in the phrase/name/title on the paper. His team will say out loud how many words there are. Then he will again, show a number of fingers for the word he will be acting out first. (If he is acting out the name "Daffy Duck", and he wants to act out the 2nd word first, he has to put up 2 fingers). Then for each word he acts out, all he has to do is have his number of fingers represent the word he is acting out. If the group is having trouble guessing the word, the "actor" can cup his hand behind his ear to convey, "sounds like". Then he can try and act out a word that the word in the phrase sounds like. When the team guesses the "charade", then it is the next team's turn.

SIGNS FOR CHARADES

• Syllables - placing the same amount of fingers can show the number of syllables in each word.
• Book - Hold both hands in front of you, touching, with palms up.
• Movie - Put one hand in front of your eye in a fist (so you can look through it), and turn the other as if you are winding up film.
• TV show - Draw an imaginary square in the air (symbolizes a TV).
• Play - Place one hand near your heart, and the other out, as if you are showing your team something great.
• Song - Open your mouth, and wiggle your finger in front of your mouth (as if sound is coming out).

Dress up Contest - Divide up into teams and choose one person to be the dress-up "dummy". Use clothes from the 70s like brightly colored scarves, big sunglasses, platform shoes, floppy hats, halter/tube tops, jewelry in the shape of a peace sign, tie dyed anything, and anything else that you can place on another person's body to dress up your 70s "dummy." There are some fun and fabulous 70s accessories including a YMCA Kit! Make your "dummy" as funny and creative as possible (have plenty of oversized clothing because the "dummy" will most likely want to put the 70s garb over their own clothes). The funniest "dummy" is the winner (or the funniest and most quickly dressed).

Lip sync/Karaoke Contest - Sing or lip sync (mouth the words along with the music) to your favorite tunes from the decade of the 1970s. A prize goes to the best act.

Who Am I? - Write the names of famous people on index cards, and tape one card to the back of each guest. Have everyone walk around in the same room, and instruct them not to mention the names on their backs, but to talk to everyone as if they are the people whose names are on their cards. As people begin to correctly guess their identities, they have to continue to treat the people who still don't know their identities like the stars whose names are taped to their backs. When everyone guesses the names on their backs correctly the game is over.

A few other fun activities besides those listed above are a Twister tournament, a Ouija Board, for those who dare, a 1970s trivia contest, and a Disco dancer piñata filled with candy as well as other goodies.

Disco Party Favors
There are great party favors available to a Disco party! I'd go with favors your guests can wear like retro necklaces, Disco ball earrings or Light Up whistles.

Smiley face bubbles are a must for this party. They always provide hours of fun for adults as well as for kids.

No 70s party is complete without the following. You don't have to do it all, but you have to do some. There were those of us who were into tie-dye and black light parties while some donned that little guy who was made famous and stayed famous--the happy face!

• Glow jewelry--pretend it's black light poster time; I was there, I remember and it was grand. Glow jewelry will light up your night and take you back to the 70s. My special favorite...glow straws!
• 70s party kit--peace sign sunglasses, necklaces, hair extensions, beads, etc.
• Inflatable Microphones--for anyone who wants to do their YMCA imitation.
• Happy Face/Smile Face--made famous in the 70s. You may want to add a bit of this to your party or keep this as your 70s theme! In fact, I don't think the smile face has ever gone away, do you? Smile face derbies, Smiley face bubbles and Smile face stickers are great fun!

We're sure all your family and friends will think your 70s theme party is psychedelic!