Kevin threw me a 40th birthday party last weekend. Well, technically it was my 40 and 1/3 birthday, as I turned 40 in April, but close enough. I had asked for an 80s theme, so Kevin sent an E-vite to my closest friends inviting them to a party called Rachel is Halfway to her 80s party. RUDE.
He said he wanted to go all out like I do for my parties, only this time I would not be allowed to help at all. That’s fine, I said, then asked, “Do you think the four-piece cover band should set up in the front yard or on the back patio?” He gave me a look, so I decided not to ask if he thought we should arrange to have the guests picked up in DeLoreans or Camaros.
The party was on Saturday morning and there were no decorations, of course, because Kevin’s idea of going “all out” is kind of the opposite of going “all out.” He did make a trip to the grocery store an hour before the party, saying, “I guess I should get some paper plates or something…”
No worries, though; I still had Rocco’s birthday banner hanging up:
I just needed to fix it up a little to apply to my party, and so…
As laid back as my husband is about most things, he completely surprised me with am over-the-top cake.
So that’s why he had asked for a picture of me in my costume two weeks ago!
When it was time to cut the cake everyone started chanting, speech, speech! Kevin talked about what an amazing job the cake makers had done and how they had made the figurine so realistic—in fact, they even got that stick in just the right place…
I told Kevin he could have his stick back now; I was done with it. Then I thanked my friends for walking, driving, and/or flying to my birthday party and for also either getting babysitters for their kids or leaving their babies unattended at home. Don’t worry about the unattended baby part; it was our neighbor’s baby and we all checked in on him on the video monitor every fifteen minutes or so.
Yep, still baby bunny cute.
For food we had everyone bring a dish from the 80s. I spent about 15 minutes of my afternoon making a tuna noodle casserole, jell-o shots, and cottage cheese salad. Some of my favorite 80s icons showed up to help me make dinner.
I don’t know what was the bigger star of the party, the guests in their costumes or the food. I’ll leave it to you to decide for yourselves.
The food:
(I thought I took pictures of everything everyone brought, but I was a few cocktails in by the time the last guest arrived. I had to steal some pictures from the internet to fill in.)
(I thought this is called ambrosia, because it seriously tastes like food of the gods. Turns out it’s just cottage cheese salad.)
Doesn’t the picture above look straight from a Better Homes and Gardens, circa 1984?
The last picture is broccoli smothered in Velveeta and my friend who is a wonderful cook purposely overcooked the broccoli until it was mush. I think it was the only dish that got completely devoured, too!
And now…the costumes!
This picture is even better if you see how my sister usually dresses—in fact, I don’t think she’s worn any of the colors in the rainbow since 1989!
Please note his American flag fanny pack that my hunk of a husband stocked with small liquor bottles. I know because I checked.
We tried smiling for some pictures, too, but for some reason it didn’t look very 80s.
Remember double polo shirts?!
I’ve got to find out what Tom Cruise’s skin care routine is. It looks like he is reverse aging!
His daughters could not get over the gold earring.
That peach dress is vintage 80s—in fact, my friend actually made it with her mom and wore it to her 8th grade dance! It led to some spontaneous slow-dancing later in the evening.
Careless whispers…
Kevin had bought some Nintendo controllers and downloaded every Nintendo game ever made for the party. All the Nintendo games ever made took up 1.5 gigs of memory space, which is about the equivalent storage space a single Spongebob movie would take up on your computer today. Yes, the 80s were a simpler time.
But for most of the party we just sat around the table telling stories and finding out each other’s most hilarious secrets, occasionally asking questions from the 80s Trivial Pursuit game, and by the time we knew it it was 12:30 and four hours past Kevin’s bedtime. We grudgingly admitted we were tired and the guests headed out, but you know me. I couldn’t let them go home empty-handed, even if I didn’t plan the party.
Kevin: That sign is hideous.
Me: I know. Isn’t it perfect?!
WHAT’S COOKIN’ 2NITE:
Pitas with a smorgasbord of toppings: baba ganoush, hummus, cilantro pesto chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, pepitas, Feta
Greek salad
Corn off the cob
Best party of the year….Thanks Rachel and Kevin!