Nostalgia Birthday Party By Decade: 40th, 50th, 60th And 70th

The trick is picking the right decade. Aim at the birthday person's teens and twenties, not the decade they were born in - that's the one they actually remember.

Here's the maths, then the party.

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Which decade for which age

  • Work from the year they turned 13 to the year they turned 25. That window is the whole theme.
  • Turning 40 now: born mid-eighties, a child in the nineties, a teenager around 2000. Theme it late nineties into the early noughties.
  • Turning 50 now: born mid-seventies, a child in the eighties, a teenager in the nineties. Theme it eighties childhood and nineties teens - most people go eighties for the costumes and nineties for the music.
  • Turning 60 now: born mid-sixties, a child in the seventies, a young adult in the eighties. Seventies childhood, eighties nights out.
  • Turning 70 now: born mid-fifties, a teenager in the late sixties and early seventies. Theme it there.
  • Getting this wrong is the single most common mistake - a 50th themed on the seventies is themed on a decade they were four years old in.

The 70s party

  • Music: glam, disco, Motown, ABBA, Bowie, Slade. Nothing after 1980.
  • Food: a cheese and pineapple hedgehog, vol-au-vents, a prawn cocktail, Black Forest gateau, a party seven if you can find the modern equivalent.
  • Dress: flares, platforms, kipper ties, tank tops. Low effort, high return.
  • Decoration: orange and brown, paper chains, a glitterball.
  • Games: name that tune, a seventies guess the year round, pass the parcel with an adult forfeit in each layer.
  • Show: run the Silver Jubilee, the three-day week and decimalisation into a guess the year round.

The 80s party

  • Music: Wham!, Madonna, Duran Duran, The Smiths, Prince, Bananarama, Michael Jackson.
  • Food: Findus Crispy Pancakes, Angel Delight, Arctic roll, Viennetta, a bowl of Monster Munch.
  • Dress: shoulder pads, leg warmers, shell suits, a perm, neon.
  • Decoration: neon, cassette tapes, a Rubik's Cube on every table.
  • Games: an eighties quiz round, name the advert slogan, and a Rubik's Cube speed challenge nobody wins.
  • Show: Live Aid, the Falklands, the Great Storm, the miners' strike in the guess the year round.

The 90s and 00s party

  • 90s music: Britpop, Spice Girls, Take That, dance anthems, and one Steps song that nobody admits to wanting.
  • 00s music: Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Girls Aloud, Eminem, Kings of Leon.
  • Food: Sunny Delight, Space Raiders, Wagon Wheels, party rings, a buffet of beige.
  • Dress: 90s - bucket hats, shell suits, Britpop parkas. 00s - low-rise everything, trucker caps, a Von Dutch joke.
  • Decoration: cassette and CD cases, a Blockbuster membership card blown up, a Tamagotchi on the cake table.
  • Games: the 90s quiz, the SM:TV versus Live & Kicking argument, name that MSN status.

Running the night

  • One quiz round, twenty minutes maximum, mid-evening. Any longer and you lose the room.
  • The personal round beats everything - photos of the birthday person by year, guess the year for each.
  • A memory book on a table, with a pen, for people to write in as they arrive. Give it to them at the end.
  • Playlist in decade order across the evening so the room ages as the night goes on.
  • Print the quiz sheets at size 14, one per team, not per person.
  • Send proper invitations and a proper card. It's the one bit of the theme that isn't a costume.

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How to write it so it lands

  • Theme the decade they were 13 to 25, not the one they were born in.
  • One quiz round, twenty minutes, mid-evening.
  • A memory book on the door does more than any decoration.

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Frequently asked questions

Which decade should a 50th birthday party be themed on?

Someone turning 50 now was born in the mid-seventies, so their teens were the nineties and their childhood the eighties. Theme it on the eighties for costumes and the nineties for music.

What decade is a 40th birthday?

Someone turning 40 now was born in the mid-eighties, so the late nineties and early noughties are the years they actually remember - not the eighties.

How long should the quiz be at a birthday party?

Twenty minutes, one round, mid-evening. It's one item in the night, not the night itself.

What's the best game at a nostalgia party?

A personal round - photographs of the birthday person through the years, with a year to guess for each. It beats general knowledge every time.

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