Cassette, Forty Rewound
Retro & playful
An '87 mixtape for a 40th birthday: Side A the warm-up, Side B the party.
Party theme
80s and 90s Party Ideas & Invitations
An 80s and 90s party is a throwback night built on the decades' music, neon colors, mixtapes and the snacks everyone ate after school. It suits 40th, 50th and 60th birthdays, class reunions and, with a Y2K twist, 18th and 21st birthdays. Below are invitations that play a cassette, drop a record or light up in neon as guests open them, and ideas for the decorations, food, music and favors.
Pick a design
Then a page effect
Forty Rewound Cassette
An '87 mixtape for a 40th birthday: Side A the warm-up, Side B the party.
80s and 90s party at a glance
- Best for
- 40th, 50th and 60th birthdays, class reunions, 18th and 21st birthdays with a Y2K twist
- Colors
- Neon pink, electric blue and lime on black, or 90s teal, purple and checkerboard
- What makes it
- Cassettes and a mixtape, neon zigzags, scrunchies and windbreakers, a playlist from one year
80s and 90s party invitation templates
These 6 designs draw the theme and play it as guests open the link. Press a design to watch it live, or Use to open it in the editor with your own details.
Use templateUse
Mixtape Birthday Website
Websites
A milestone birthday website with a backstage pass, cassettes and the RSVP built in.
Sticker Y2K Birthday Website
Websites
A birthday website with a black-and-white portrait covered in stickers, poster type and the RSVP built in.
80s and 90s party animations
Intros play once as the page opens; effects keep moving behind it while guests read and reply. Put any of them on any design.
Press play
A cassette clicks into a tape deck, Play goes down, the reels spin and the levels jump to the title.
Use this introNeon power-on
A neon sign on a brick wall sputters on tube by tube, each word catching in turn, and the wet street takes the glow.
Use this introA mirror ball lowers into a dark club, spotlights hit it, reflections sweep the walls and the title glitters in.
Use this intro
80s and 90s party decoration ideas
- Pick a year. Set the party in the year the guest of honor turned 16 or graduated; it narrows the music, outfits and trivia and gives the night a name ("Class of '89").
- Neon on black. Black tablecloths, neon poster-board zigzags and triangles taped to the walls and a couple of black lights make the colors glow.
- Cassettes and records. Thrift-shop cassettes and records become table numbers, coasters and wall art, with an old boombox as the centerpiece.
- Yearbook wall. For a milestone birthday or reunion, print photos of the guest of honor or the class from those years and caption them like yearbook pages.
- One corner per decade. If guests span both decades, give each a corner: neon and geometric for the 80s, checkerboard, butterfly clips and glow-in-the-dark stars for the 90s.
80s and 90s party food ideas
- After-school snacks. Pizza bagels, nachos, popcorn and fruit snacks next to the grown-up food; label them on a lunch-box style menu.
- A cereal bar. Three or four sugary cereals, milk on ice and paper bowls make a late-night throwback. Keep one gluten-free cereal and one dairy-free milk.
- Pizza by the slice count. Order about three slices per adult for a dinner-time party, and one or two pies of plain cheese for picky eaters.
- Neon drinks. A blue punch, frozen daiquiris and fuzzy navels for adults, and a neon mocktail with the same garnish for everyone else.
- Cassette cake. A sheet cake frosted black with two white reels and a label reading the name and age is easy to pipe at home.
80s and 90s party games and activities
- Request-a-song mixtape. Ask each guest for one song from the decade when they reply and build the playlist from them; read out who picked each song between tracks.
- Decade trivia. Twenty questions on the year's music, news, fashion and prices ("What did a stamp cost in 1987?"), played in teams of four.
- Karaoke or air guitar. An hour of karaoke or an air-guitar contest with a cardboard guitar trophy brings out the whole room.
- Costume contest. Prizes for best neon, most committed 90s grunge and biggest hair, voted by show of hands right before cake.
- Retro game corner. A retro console or arcade-style games on a big screen for guests who would rather play than dance; keep it to two-player games so the line moves.
80s and 90s party favor ideas
- Personal mixtapes. Burn the party playlist to a CD, or print a cassette-shaped card with a QR code to it, labeled with the name and the year.
- Slap bracelets and scrunchies. Cheap, bright and recognized at once; put a basket at the door so guests wear them all night.
- Retro candy bags. Candy necklaces, rock candy, gum and sour straws in a clear bag tied with neon ribbon.
- Instant-camera photos. Shoot two prints of each guest at the photo wall: one for the guest book, one to take home.
80s and 90s party invitation wording
Copy one and change the names, or get more wording ideas.
40th birthday
Be kind, rewind: Nick is turning 40. An 80s night of mixtapes, neon and dancing. Saturday, October 2, 8 PM, the Garcias' basement. RSVP with one song from 1987 for the playlist.
Class reunion
Class of '97, it's been 30 years. Come as you were for a 90s night at the Westfield Rec Center. Saturday, July 10, 7 PM. Flannel encouraged.
18th birthday, Y2K
Mia's turning 18, Y2K style. Butterfly clips, glitter and a playlist from 1999. Saturday, May 22, 8 PM.
Occasions for a 80s and 90s party
Each page has RSVP wording, timing and the questions to ask for that occasion.
How to make a 80s and 90s party invitation
- 1Press Use this design on one of the 80s and 90s party invitations above. It opens in the editor with its own intro and page effect already on.
- 2Type your title, date, time and place over the sample, and put your own photos where the design has them.
- 3To change the motion, tap Intro and try Press play, Vinyl drop & spin, Neon power-on or Disco ball, or tap Effect and pick Music Notes, Neon Glow, Sound Bars or Glitter. Every one is free.
- 4Create the event and share the link by text, email or QR code. Guests watch it play and RSVP on the same page, and you see every reply as it comes in.
80s and 90s party questions
- What do you wear to an 80s or 90s party?
- For the 80s: neon, leg warmers, shoulder pads, acid-wash denim, windbreakers and big hair. For the 90s: flannel, slip dresses, overalls, chokers and platform sneakers. Say which decade on the invitation, or that either is fine.
- What food do you serve at an 80s or 90s party?
- The snacks people grew up on: pizza bagels, nachos, popcorn, cereal and an ice-cream cake, alongside finger food or dinner for the adults. A blue or neon punch covers drinks for every age.
- How do you choose music for an 80s and 90s party?
- Ask each guest for one song when they reply, then fill the gaps with each decade's biggest dance hits. Plan about 15 songs an hour and put the singalongs late in the night.
- Which birthdays suit an 80s or 90s party?
- 40ths, 50ths and 60ths, set in the year the guest of honor was born or turned 16 so the music is theirs. For an 18th or 21st, the Y2K version (glitter, butterfly clips, flip phones) fits better.
- Is a 80s and 90s party invitation free?
- Yes. The 6 designs on this page and every intro and page effect are free on every event. A free event takes up to 20 RSVPs; a one-time upgrade per event raises the limit.
- Can guests RSVP to a 80s and 90s party invitation without an app?
- Yes. Guests open your link on any phone or computer, watch the invitation play, and reply on the same page with no app or account. Every reply lands on your dashboard.
Send your 80s and 90s party invitation
Start from the Forty Rewound Cassette design, change the words and share one link. Guests reply on the page, with no app.