My son has been obsessed with Back to the Future ever since his father let him watch it a year ago. Right after his brother's birthday he came up to me and said "Mama can I have a Back to the Future Birthday?". The rest is history.
The Decorations:
I had a really hard time coming up with a general 'theme' for the party because the characters in the movie go to so many different time periods. When I asked my son which movie was his favorite or which time he liked the most he said "all of them"! Since we had the party at our house I decided to do one time period per room. So our living room was 1959 "Enchantment under the Sea Dance" the Kitchen and Den was the 2015 "Café 80's" and outside we had The old West.
I'm not big on balloons but I always like to set the stage when guests enter. This year we art inspired by the movies and hung the posters on one wall where in the breezeway and the ground had a road 'runway' and radioactive stickers on the doors. We also had the main title Back to the future playing with a smoke machine going for ambiance.
In the living room I hung a blue and silver foil curtain and recreated the 'Enchantment Under the Sea Dance' Banner that they hung on stage at the High School Prom. We also had hanging fish and used small clear balloons that hung from the ceiling to create the feel of bubbles. We also had Enchantment under the sea posters hanging around the area. We served snacks in this area and they were all sea themed.
I had the hardest time decorating in the kitchen and Den. We made a Café 80's sign and we created the Hover Board which hung from the chandelier in the kitchen. Creating the Hover Board took many nights but the end result was pretty cool. Since Lunch was served in the Kitchen the plates and cups were labeled with the Café 80's logo. We used waterproof labels on a laser printer to create the effect. We also had futuristic glasses for our guests to get their 2015 on.
Outside we decorated everything in a western theme and had 'wanted' signs of Biff Tannen hanging from various places. The bounce house was the main source of entertainment. For the centerpieces we had lanterns sitting on a small stack of hay. We also had a refreshment station outside and I had enough hay to use at the 'watering hole'.
The Cake:
My son had requested a clock tower cake but there was no way I was going to be able to replicate that. So he had to settle for this DeLorean cake instead. I used marshmallow fondant to cover it and make all of the decorations.
The Entertainment:
Along with the bounce house I also made a DeLorean Piñata. It was the one thing my son was very adamant about wanting (besides the bouncer) so I scoured the internet to figure out how to make my own piñata. I filled it with a bunch of toys and candy from the 80's (jelly bracelets, mini Rubik's cubes, Pop rocks, etc.).
We also had our photo booth set up outside. Every time we use it we get a ton of complements. We purchased the software that we run on our laptop here.
The Favors:
I came across old 90's Back to the Future McDonald's Happy Meal toys on E-Bay and it was the perfect favor. I used simple yellow paper bags and cut the top down and then stapled the "The End" card over it. The other side said "Thanks for coming to my Birthday".
Till next time,
Jen
