It was Prince who said "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!" He was right. Although the 90s seem like they were really just about yesterday (in the big universal time-line of things), 90s theme parties are still a hot and funky theme to consider when throwing parties. For one thing, all theme parties need to have plenty of good music and the 90s marked the beginning of new and diverse types of popular music. It is important to have lots of big name groups like Nirvana, Salt & Peppa, Snoop Dogg, Hootie and the Blowfish, Pearl Jam, and oh-so-many boy bands (i.e. 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys, Boyz 2 Men, etc.), Smashing Pumpkins, Shania Twain, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Tom Petty on hand to mix it up a little.
Use your 90s theme party as a way to encourage people to dress the way they remember the fashions of the 90s. You will be amazed at what some people remember the fashions being. Have a fashion show and a Miss 90s for the night award based upon audience participation.
If you have any access to musical instruments, you may want to set up a garage band audition - grunge style! Divide your 90s theme party guests into bands and give them time to come up with a name and write some lyrics to a song. Then, give them the option of trying to create the background music with real instruments or fit their words to a famous campfire song, nursery rhyme song or Christmas Carol. The results are guaranteed to be hilarious. Try to have the video recorder going for this.
Another 90s theme party activity is to find political and movie quotes from the decade and play a game of "who am I" or "who said it" trivia. Top news makers and stories of the 90s included Oklahoma City Bombing, Waco, Los Angeles Riots, O.J. Simpson Trial, Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas, Columbine, Al Quaeda, Bill Clinton, Magic Johnson, Dolly the Cloned Sheep, Rwanda, Balkan War, Hubble Space Telescope is placed into orbit, Pentium processors, e-commerce activities, the dot-com crash, and a lot of other things that were going on during this decade. Television offered Friends, Seinfeld, Sailor Moon, The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Ren and Stimpy, South Park, Boy Meets World, and the Real World just to list a few.
So, slip a few black lights in where your normal energy saving bulbs are found, select some fun party accessories from your favorite party supplier and get ready to be the talk of the block for weeks, months and maybe years to come. Because, all of these 90s icons, and any others you may think of, will make a great foundation for an incredibly edgy and "totally awesome" 90s theme party. Have fun!
