happy 30th jeff; rubix cube cake, ecto cooler, dirty dancing cocktail, pac-man banner, and garbage pail kid favors! oh.my.80's!

This past Friday I threw an 80's theme party for my boyfriend's 30th birthday! I had only a week and half to plan it because we decided last minute to have a party. Luckily I found a few good vendors that shipped quickly!


The theme all started because of the Rubix cube cake I wanted to make for Jeff. He can solve a Rubix cube very quickly. When we first started dating I would go over his place and mix up his collection of Rubix cubes (he had about 7 and I thought it would bother him but it didn't lol) and before I would leave he would have them all fixed and back to solid colors on each side.

The cake did not turn out perfect, but I am pretty proud that I actually made it myself and didn't call Cake Boss to make it!


Handmade Pac-Man birthday banner(matched the card I made him)! I also hung Pac-Man ghosts from the arms of the chandelier. 

Sign I painted for the front door so that I didn't have to keep answering the door.

I searched for vintage birthday party supplies on Etsy and Ebay and found cups, plates, napkins from the 80's still sealed in their original packaging!

I found New Kids On The Block Napkins, Pee Wee, He-man, E.T., A-Team, cups, plates, napkins and tablecloths.

I made the favors for the party. I purchased Garbage Pail Kids cards for every name that was attending the party. I made the cupcakes and cut out the fondant decorations. I did the MTV logo, a cassette tape, Pac-Man, Pac-man ghosts,the Ghostbuster's logo, and I heart the 80's. I found a vendor on etsy that sells the cupcake containers and I used neon straws and double sided tape to attach the cards.

Fondant cupcake toppers.

The favors were a fun unexpected hit at the party. Everyone had fun finding their name and seeing how gross their card was!

Echto Cooler sign I drew, before and after painting.

Jeff loves Hi-C Echto Cooler, which is something that is no longer made so I tried to recreate it for him. The drink I made came pretty close! I drew the Echto Cooler logo with Slimer from Ghostbusters, went over it in permanent marker and colored it with water colors to put on the front of the dispenser so that everyone would know it was Echto Cooler. I used a vintage Goonies thermos to hold the straws next to the punch. I put a picture of Vanilla Ice on the ice bucket.

My "I Carried A Watermelon" Cocktail

I had kept everything pretty 80's guy oriented but I had to give a nod to my favorite 80's movie of all time, Dirty Dancing. I made up a watermelon drink, which I named "I Carried a Watermelon". Named because of a line that the character Baby says in the movie. I handmade the toothpicks for the drink. I used a label setting on my printer and printed them out on card stock paper. Each pick had a memorable quote from the movie Dirty Dancing on the back of it. It was funny- I made this drink thinking it would be a hit with the ladies at the party and I was surprised that the guys seemed to love it more and were quoting the movie all night!

I bought 80's candy and shutter shades to put out around the party which was a big hit as well. By the end of the night people were rocking shutter shades and ring pops! 


If I had more time I would have done more, I had sooo many ideas! We had a fun night and Jeff said he loved his party! As our friend Justin left the party he said to me "Down the road, years from now, this is the party everyone is going to talk about and remember. We will reference this party." He pretty much made my night! xo Lizzie

A shout out to the vendors!
Old Time Candy - Shipped the candy very quickly and called me to fix my order!
Hilltop Auctions  - An ebay store. Shipped the Garbage Pail Kids cards very quickly and all of the cards shipped for $1 shipping.
The Oriental Trading Company - The place where I found the least expensive shutter shades, and they shipped quick!
Cupcake Gatherings - Etsy vendor where I purchased the cupcake containers for the favors.
80's Tee - I bought myself a Dirty Dancing tee here and JT got a Back to the Future shirt. Fast shipping!
Howard Levy Photography - Jeff & I were too busy to take photos luckily our photographer friend had us covered! Thank you!