Rock & Roll Party 7yr - Jukebox & Milkshakes

For my grandson's 7th birthday he wanted a 50's Rock & Roll party. We rented the elementary school's cafeteria for the party. I first decided on a color scheme of hot pink, turquoise, black and white.  I chose this color scheme because mostly everything we saw as far as decorations etc. these colors were consistant thoughout.

INVITATIONS: I made the invitations from my greeting card program on my computer.  On the front I put:  Rock & Roll Is Here To Stay".  I found a graphic that had a jukebox in the middle with musical notes all around it and a dancing silhouetted boy on one side and a pony tailed girl on the other. Inside I put Rattle & Roll" over to the Shumate Diner & Dance Hall.  Poodle Skirts Scarves and Sunglasses Welcome! I printed the girls invitations out on hot pink computer paper and the boys invitations on turquoise computer paper.

DECORATIONS:  There is a sidewalk path that goes down to the school's cafeteria door.  I used this as a perfect opportunity to add some whismy to the party.  I made these little signs. (color picture of a hamburger)..Hamburgers 15 cents French Fries 10 cents and Coca Cola 10 cents.  I taped the three different signs to dowel rods and pushed them down in the ground and spaced them several feet apart.  People got a kick out of these. We ordered inflatable guitars from Oriental Trading.  We also found some 9" plastic "45" records.  We took fishing line and hung the inflatable guitars and the records from the ceiling. 

We also bought some large black musical notes from a local party store and hung these from the ceiling as well. I was also able to find a plastic set of "brass" instruments that we hung up on the entrance door. We bought a white banquet roll to cover the tables. I used hot pink and turquoise party streamers to run down the length of each table. We bought musical note center pieces and jukebox centerpieces from the local party store and alternated them on the tables.I also used some glass bowls to put down the tables.  I added water to the bowls and used food coloring to tint the water pink and turquoise.  I then added white floating candles that we lit right before our guests started to arrive.  I made posters ahead of time and put "Dolls" on the girls bathroom door and "Guys" on the boys bathroom door. We bought hot pink and turquoise balloons and tied them throughout the party area.  We also found musical note and guitar confetti that we used to sprinkle on the tables. 

I purchased an inflatable jukebox from e-bay that we put in one of the corners. I bought an inexpensive wall mural that looked like a 50's soda shop.  We taped this to the wall to use as a photo opt.  I took the children's picture in front of this and then mailed it with their thank you cards. My husband made a giant milkshake from an old refrigerator box.  I got the idea from an item that I saw on Shindigz.com.  We painted the bottom part (the milkshake glass) pink.  For the top of the milkshake we painted it white and shaped it like clouds to tape over the pink milkshake glass. To make the milkshake stand up my husband made some little things that resemble a stand for paper dolls.  We painted these white and they did the trick to hold up the milkshake. Then we randomly poked holes through the top white part and blew up white balloons and inserted the tied part of the balloon through the holes so that they would stay put.  Then we used one red balloon to resemble a cherry that we inserted on the top.  We then took an old cardboard wrapping paper cylinder and cut it in half and covered it with white paper to use as the straw.  We taped it to the back of the giant milkshake to look like it was sticking out of the milkshake.  Everyone loved this little thing!  We received so many compliments on it.  A friend of mine let me borrow her dad's 50's cd music collection for the party.  I played the cd's throughout the party.  

GAMES:  The first game we played was a bubble gum blowing contest.  We passed out the gum about 10 minutes before we actually started the competition so that the kids could practice a little.  The kids loved this game.  they thought it was fun.  The 2nd game they played was a hula hoop contest and third was a "Pin The Cherry On The Sundae" game.  We made this from posterboard and I just used my circle hole punch from my scrapbooking supplies and red construction paper to make the "cherries".  

FOOD: I bought some traditonal Rock & Roll party plates napkins and cups. To help keep down the cost I also bought some paper plates napkins and cups from the Dollar Tree that coordinated with the party and the already purchased Rock & Roll party plates. Etc.  My husband took our grill down to the school to grill hamburgers outside.  So we had hamburgers/cheeseburgers and french fries. I bought some plastic ketchup and mustard squirt dispensers to add a little novelty to the food area. As an added treat we also made rootbeer floats.  The cake had a plastic record in the center and different colored musical notes sprinkled all over it.

LOOT BAGS:  I filled the loot bags up with rock & roll tattoos (Oriental Trading)rock & roll stickers bubble gum sugar daddy suckers candy necklaces licorice whips combs inflatable microphones slide whistles old fashioned hard candy sticks (Oriental Trading) bit o'honey tootsie rolls and pencils with musical notes on them. When the party was over we gave each of the children an inflatable guitar that was hanging from the ceiling to take home with them. The party turned out better than I had envisioned.  Almost all of the children came dressed up and they danced all evening long. I received so many compliments....but most of all my grandson had a wonderful and memorable birthday."