The Set Up

The day of the party finally arrived. The Goodmansen's, our good friends from Northern Idaho, flew in to be a part of the surprise. I picked them up from the airport and then we headed over to Marianne's house to set up and decorate.

I needed Krissi and Marianne to help me implement my decorating ideas (I was a bit scatter-brained) and I needed Steve to do some of the technical set up. Steve set up the Atari and got the speakers connected to the CD player. He also helped with some of the decorating, was drug around for last-minute errands and just hung out when there was nothing else to do. He was such a good sport. Thanks Steve! Jason's Letterman's jacket hung on the wall along with old photos from jr. high and high school.
We also created a "Wall of Shame" to put guest's 80's photos on.

Abree and Emylie "helped" by dancing to the 80's music and playing together nicely.

We put up 80's paraphernalia everywhere; Cabbage Patch Kids, old records, My Little Pony, Transformers, Strawberry Shortcakes, Smurfs, Care Bears, etc.

We put signs everywhere that had 80's sayings on them.

"Like, do you totally remember saying some of these?"

This is an original Care Bear from the 80's. Abree calls it the weird Care Bear.

Here's one of my paint-splattered sheets in action. Looks totally 80's, right?

We also used one of these sheets as a backdrop for our 80's Polaroid photos.

Here's Jason's poster. We put a Sharpie next to it and had people sign it.

"Stay cool Dude!"

We played a Jeopardy-style game answering 80's trivia and questions about Jason.

Here's the old Atari system Steve set up in the corner. When suggested we put it on a table Steve said, "What? Atari was never played on a table.....always on the floor." See how much I know about it?

We set out the candy and the dishes for the food.
I made little signs for some of the candy. Jason LOVES trivia tidbits and I thought some of these candy facts were interesting...

Gummi Bear- The original creator of the gummi bear, or Gummibar, meaning "rubber bear" was a German man named Hans Riegel. He was born in 1893 in Friesdorf, a village near Bonn, Germany. In December 1920, at age 27, he decided to enter the candy market himself by starting his own candy company Hans decided to name his company Haribo. The"ha" came from Hans, the "ri" came from Ridgel, and "bo " came from Bonn. Haribo went on to manufacture the first American made gummi candy in 1982.

Big League Chew- In 1980, while sitting in a bullpen one night, pitcher Rob Nelson and former NY Yankee all-star Jim Bouton came up with the idea for something different and fun to chew -shredded bubble gum in a pouch. Bouton approached Amurol Confections only to discover that they had already been developing such a product. Nelson suggested the name "Big League Chew".

Pop Rocks- Thoroughly tested and found innocuous, the exploding candy still started people. The Food and Drug Administration arranged a telephone hotline to assure anxious parents that the popping candy would not cause children to choke or that mixing the candy with carbonated drinks wouldn't cause the stomach to explode. According to playground lore, the cute kid who achieved fame in the LIFE cereal commercials had died of this.

General Foods was battling "exploded kid" rumors as early as 1979; a mere 4 years after the product went to market. They took out full-page ads in 45 major publications, wrote some 50 thousand letters to school principals around the county and sent the confections inventor on the road to explain to all that Pop Rocks generate less gas than half a can of soda and ingesting them could induce nothing worse in the human body than a hearty, not-life-threatening belch. Despite all these measures, the rumors of the urban legend abounds even to this day.

Around 1983, pressure became too much and Pop Rocks were taken off the market. What is less known is that Kraft bought the rights to the product from General Foods in 1985 and then marketed it as "action candy" through a company named Carbonated Candy.

Pop Rocks are now back out in the open and are again marketed under their original name.

Nerds/Runts- Nerds were first created and launched in 1983 by Angelo Fraggos. Nerds became the "candy of the year" in 1985. Angelo Fraggos was also responsible for the creation of Runts in 1985.

Jelly Bellys- Jelly Belly Candy Company is based in Fairfield, California. They're best known for their gourmet jelly beans available in 50 official flavors.

Extra production was needed after Ronald Regan began his run for presidency in 1980. During the campaign Regan was photographed eating Jelly Bellys and he told how he maintained a fondness for jelly beans even after he quit smoking. Some 7,000 pounds of Jelly Bellys were reportedly sold and consumed during his 1981 inaugural ceremonies. The candies were made available at cabinet meetings and offered to visiting foreign dignitaries, ensuing ongoing publicity for the brand.

In 1983, President Regan even sent Jelly Bellys as a surprise gift for the astronauts on the Challenger space shuttle mission.

I worked on signs for prizes. I printed out 80's hair photos, old t.v. character's and old movie posters and put them on labels for our 4 different prize categories. We had prizes for:

-Best Hair

(aerosol hairspray, styling mousse and a big round-handled comb)

-Looks most like 80's Photo

(Rubik's cube)

-Most likely to be voted 80's Prom King/Queen

(Rubik's cube)

-Best Overall 80's Look
(New Cabbage Patch Kids doll)

When all the decorations were in place and all the the last-minute errands had been run, I went home to act normal. After Jason got home from work, ate dinner and got ready, we finally headed toward the Stoker's.

The Set Up- Brek (Marianne's husband) called Jason up a few days a head of time and asked him if he wanted to come over for an X-box party. Jason had been to the Stoker's for X-box parties before, so this was nothing out of the ordinary. I also told him that Marianne and I would like to go to a movie, so I would ride over there with him to "pick Marianne up for the movie". Jason was kind enough to find out movie times and tell me all about the movies that were playing, to help Marianne and I choose. :) ---I was hoping he wouldn't be disappointed that he wasn't really going to be playing X-box that night..... he wasn't.

Overboard???

When planning a party, I find myself wanting to go ALL OUT.....maybe even a little overboard. This may be the case with this little project. You be the judge.
I purchased King-sized white sheets, second-hand, for about $1 each. I waited until there was no snow on the ground, no rain in the forecast and no one home (except for Abree). Then, I snuck out to the back yard (while she was distracted with a friend) and tacked the sheets up to our fence, using push pins. Next, I got out my paint and went to work.

I splattered, I spattered and drizzled and dotted to my hearts content. Then I crossed my fingers and hoped they would dry before the kids got home from school and Jason got home from work.(They were mostly dry when I folded them and put them away.)
Abree did actually catch me and ask what I was doing. I played dumb, to no avail.

She said, "Are these for dad's 80's surprise party?"

What?! Where did she hear that? Did I spill the beans unconsciously?

I said, "What are you talking about?"

She said, "Oh yeah. Shhhhhh."


Voila!

I used these sheets as a backdrop for 80's couples pictures and for covering couches and tables at the party. What's more 80's than a paint spattered sheet?



Ok, tell me. Overboard or a total 80's necessity?