Ah, the 90’s—a time of grunge, the Internet and a plethora of toys that kids growing up in the 90’s just had to have. Since the 1990’s are over a decade in the past, many of the 90’s fashion trends have come back into style. This also makes it acceptable to host 90’s theme parties, which are becoming more popular. Party like it’s 1999 with a 90’s theme party! Decorate your party space with decorations that were popular in the 90’s, delight your guests with popular 90’s fare, and take part in the fun activities you did during the 90’s. Here are some party ideas for throwing a 90’s party that will be “da bomb!”
Use neon-colored decorations to embellish your party space.
Raves were popular in the 90’s, with neon colors, black lights and strobe lights. Incorporate this atmosphere into your 90’s party décor by placing a few black lights,and a strobe light or two, around the entertainment. You don’t have to make your party completely rave-like—just enough to make it look like a party during the 90’s. Rollerblading was also popular in the 90’s. If you are able to host your party at a roller rink, that would really set the scene for a 90’s party!
Use bright neon colors as your color scheme for decorating. Also, the neon will catch the light of the black lights and will give all of the decorations a little extra glow. Drape a mixture of neon green, pink, yellow and orange steamer paper around the party space. You can also hang the streamers from your entranceway to create a curtain, or hang them from the ceiling as a backdrop for your food table.
You’ve probably already erased this from your memory, but inflatable furniture was popular in the 90’s. If you still have yours, or you can easily purchase some, it would be a “dope” addition to your party décor! Try to find blow-up furniture in bright colors to match your color scheme.
Photo booths are popular party items—and you will want to capture photos of your guests in their 90’s throwback getup—so set one up in an area of your home or party space! Take a large piece of white construction paper and cover an open wall, including part of the floor underneath. Take neon glow paint and, using paint brushes, splatter the paint all over the piece of white construction paper. If you feel more comfortable splattering the paper outdoors, do so and hang it up in your party space once it has dried. The neon paint will glow under the black lights, so make sure you set one up near the photo booth. You can also use this decoration as a backdrop to your snack table.
Dig around your home for items you or your kids played with during the 90’s and add them to your party décor. Hang slinkies from the ceiling and place several Beanie Babies around the party area. Pokemon cards would be a great decoration to add to the walls! Just be sure to use sticky tack, or another type of adhesive that easily comes off, so you don’t ruin this collector’s item. Place an inflatable boom box somewhere around your home—unless you have a real one that you can blast a few 90’s hits from, because that was the source of music back then. If not, just place your iPod or iPad near the fake boom box to make it appear as if the music is playing from it!
Serve your guests blast from the past 90’s snacks.
When it comes to 90’s food, it’s all about the snacks. Compared to the food items today, quick and easy snacks were heavily consumed. Set up a snack table in your party space where you can display some of these delicious treats. Use a neon table cover to fit in with the party décor, and serve your snacks on Super Mario Bros. paper plates, a popular video game played during the 90’s.
Here is a list of popular 90’s snack items you can serve at your party:
-Bagel Bites
-DunkARoos
-Lunchables
-Teddy Grahams
-Gushers
-Fruit by the Foot
-Fun Dip
-Butterfinger BB’s
-Ring Pops
-Push Pops
Serve your drinks in fun glow-in-the-dark cups to add to your neon/black light theme. Offer the normal alcoholic beverage options that are popular today, but with a 90’s twist. For example, if your guests enjoy drinking rum and Coke, have them mix their rum with Vanilla Coca-Cola, a popular drink choice of the 90’s. Wild Cherry Pepsi was also popular in the 90’s. Additionally, you could concoct a delicious punch using Sunny Delight or Capri Sun juice boxes.
Have your guests dress in their best 90’s attire.
Make sure to include in your invites that your guests must dress in 90’s attire to your 90’s party—it’ll make it more fun. You can also hold a contest to see who has the best or most creative 90’s outfit. Popular trends in the 90’s were overalls, flannel shirts—especially tied around the waist, backwards hats, neon wind breakers, wide legged jeans or pants, tight crop tops for the ladies, turtlenecks, snap bracelets, platform shoes—especially sneakers, bucket hats, butterfly clips, fanny packs, mini backpacks, scrunchies, bandanas—as headbands and shirts for the girls, tattoo choker necklaces, rhinestone body jewelry, and puka shell necklaces, to name a few. Fortunately, many of these trends are back in style, so they will be easy to find if your guests do not already own them.
Play popular 90’s songs that your guests can sing and dance to during your party. It would be a lot of fun, and very entertaining, to hold a 90’s karaoke contest. Some popular artists in the 90’s were No Doubt, Alanis Morissette, the Hanson brothers, Barenaked Ladies, The Spice Girls, Boyz II Men, Will Smith, Backstreet Boys, TLC, Dave Matthews, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, and much more. Each contestant must sing a song from the decade, and your guests can vote on their favorite performances. You can also have your guests play Super Mario Bros. on your Nintendo 64 as a party activity. Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega would also work!
You can find out more at Windy City Novelties.