Groovy 1960's party ideas for a far out 60's themed birthday for kids, tweens and teens.
60's
Birthday Party Invitations
Look for ready made invitations with bright bold colors.
Add your own touch to plain invitations by gluing on pictures of flowers, smiley faces, peace signs, VW beetles or words like "groovy", "peace", "far out". Glue artificial flowers (remove the stems) to the front of plain invitations. Send invitations wrapped in tye dye bandanas and ask the guests to wear them to the party. Yellow smiley face cards or yellow cards that you can draw a smiley face onto with markers.
Included in the party invitation ask if guests will dress in a 60's costume. Suggest fun 1960's party dress items like headbands, wigs, tye dye shirts, round sunglasses etc. Give a "Best 1960's Costume" prize.
Print out the invitations and then roll up into a thin scroll and place a mood ring over the invitation to keep it from unrolling. Word the invitation to say "In the mood for a 60's party?"
1960's Party Decorations
At the entrance to the birthday create a time machine that guests have to walk through to get to the party. Use large appliance boxes or
build an entrance using a pop up tent or canopy and decorate it in tye dye or bright colors - use beaded curtains that guests have to walk through.
Place a sign on the front that says "Time Machine ... Set destination - 1960's!" or "1960's ... !" with an arrow.
Bright bold colors - yellow, pink, orange, green and blue. Tye dye anything! Wrap up flatware in tye dye bandanas and wrap hippie beads around the bandana (guests can wear them during the party and then take home as a party favor.)
On the birthday party table and around the room set out 60's themed items such as lava lamps, smiley faces, bean bag chairs, hang up tye dye sheets, beaded curtains and strobe lights.
Play 1960's dance music, Beetles or Rolling Stones in the background.
Make 45 style records from black paper and label them with 1960's song titles - and then hang on the walls and ceiling with some fishing
line. Make large letters from colorful paper and spell out famous phrases such as groovy, peace, love, flower power, etc.
Groovy Guess
Fill a large glass or clear plastic container with bubble gum, skittles or any candy that is rainbow color. Fill the container
with the candy and as you are placing the candy in the jar count every piece that you put in the jar. When the jar is full jot down how many candies are inside. Put on the lid.
Set the jar on top of a table where guests will see it when they enter the party. Set out paper
so they can write down guesses on how many candies they believe are inside the jar. On the papers have them write down their name and their guess and then fold the paper so no one can see their guess. Near the birthday end announce who guessed the closest number to the number of candies in the jar. Winner gets to take home the jar of candies.
60's Dance Competition
Teach party guests the dances which were popular with kids in the 60's. YouTube has great videos that will teach you the Mashed Potato, The Swim, Funky Chicken, The Penguin, The Locomotion, The Stoll, The Hitch Hike and The Pony. Give fun prizes away to the winners.
ee our party games page for more party games!
60's Party Crafts
Tye Dye t-shirts
Before the party buy white t-shirts and prewash and dry them. Mix up the dye in large plastic tubs - outside if at all possible. Have guests wrap rubber bands around their shirt and then dip into the different colors of dye. Rinse and hang up the shirts to dry on a clothesline outside or throw in the dryer.
The shirts will take some time to dry so this is a good craft for the beginning of the party. Make sure that you tell guests to wash them separately for the first few washes or they could bleed onto other fabrics.
Make groovy fringe t-shirts
Provide a t-shirt for each guest. Have them cut 1/2" strips about 3" long around both sleeves and the t-shirt bottom. Thread beads onto the strips and tie the strips end into a knot to keep the bead in place. A great craft idea for a 1960 birthday party.
For older tweens and teens put on the movie Hairspray and let it play in the background.
1960's Party Food Ideas
Tye Dye cupcakes
Fondue
Chocolate Fountain
Psychedelic Fruit Kabobs - cut up fruit and place on skewers
Jello jigglers cut into groovy shapes - hearts, flowers, peace signs etc.
Colorful veggie tray with Ranch dip
Pizza
60's Party Favor Ideas
Round John Lennon glasses
VW beetle hot wheel cars
Peace sign necklaces
Glow necklaces and bracelets
Tye Dye fruit rollups
CD of 60's music
Temporary tattoos of peace signs, flowers, hearts, etc.
Mood rings
Troll dolls
Smiley face items
1960's party supplies and party favors from Amazon
1960's Goody / Loot Bag Ideas
Wrap party goodies up in a tye dye bandana
Tye dye colored bags
Plain colored bags tied with rainbow or multi strings of colored ribbon
Yellow boxes or bags with a smiley face drawn on the sides
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