This one is a little outside the norm, but after many asks happy to put together a post with all the planning and execution details! I love to plan a party and put together a look, so this was fun for me. I always knew I wanted a Studio 54 theme party as I absolutely live for the music of that time period, and of course – the fashion! It’s such a fun and easy theme to pull off for guests, too.
Below, I’m sharing the details I incorporated and vendors used if you are local! I really tried to focus on budget-friendly choices as much as possible given that we had just bought our house. A lot of the items are linked at the end! Any questions? Comment below.
Decorations
I ordered SO many plug in lights off of amazon and it was such an easy way to set the vibe. Amazon is key as you can easily return items for free, which go right to their used marketplace for others to take advantage of perfect items at a discount. So, I took the approach of over ordering and testing what looked best! All of them were great and have super far projections, with many settings. Here’s what I ordered and got 2 of each, 5 of the smaller ones:
Otherwise, I wanted to keep it very simple to keep costs down, so made some little touches via a custom logo that plays off of the real Studio 54 logo, but with the date of the party and the venue address. I used that behind the bar, by the speakers and on all of the food/bar signage.
I got a big disco ball that I put on a stand for easy setup and take down that glowed well with two spotlights. I also got a big 30 and 30 gold and black balloons to sprinkle throughout the space. Hot tip – Party City allows for online ordering with either pickup at your requested time OR delivery. The last thing you want to do is buy a tank and blow them all up before your party.
I also knew some light up glow sticks for dancing would be perfect as they were a huge hit at our wedding years ago and are a fun way to bring on the theme!
Lastly, I wanted to provide some digital cameras for an old-school feel and give people a little party favor when the film came in! It was so fun getting them developed and looking back at some alcohol-induced portraits!
Music
The most important piece for this theme! If you’re new here, you may not know how much I love music. I spent hours crafting the perfect playlist that you can find here. While it was quick to throw my favorites together, it’s important to really think about the guests. If they don’t know the song, it’s a tough vibe. It’s also key to consider the length of the party – therefore, I then cut down and organized the playlist in a way that went from classics to modern remixes that get people dancing during the late night hours.
I also had the idea to plug in a projector for the large wall, to serve as decor but also feel a bit like the OG Studio 54. I found a playlist of popular music videos from that timeframe that played on loop in the background, with no audio. I suppose if you really care, you could sync up your playlist with a custom youtube playlist but I really just wanted to have a good time and not stress over all that!
The venue does not come with anything, so we got speakers here that worked really well:
Follow / save my playlist here
Outfits
This was actually the easy part, which never is for me! I ordered two pieces that I absolutely fell in love with and actually found matching shirts for G (he really thought it would be funny to surprise everyone in the same color). However, it came down to the blue fitting me like a glove and telling myself I’ll only look like this once!
Unfortunately, it’s no longer sold but I got it for $30 at Pretty Little Thing. I teased my hair with a comb by wrapping small pieces around the metal piece and pressing with a straightener. You can google disco hair and find a tutorial that is super easy on Youtube! I layered a ton of gold jewelry and rings, painted my nails with blue glitter and wore too much makeup to fit the time period. Linking the other options, G’s outfit, our accessories and my shoes below:
I did put a Pinterest board together for my guests that went out with my invitation, which is super helpful as some many not know the theme or hear disco and go on the hippie side of things. It just gives everyone a sense of ease as they plan, especially when mixing a bunch of groups that may not know one another!
Catering
Since I had just moved to the area and knew no one yet, I did some google searching to identify a caterer. I ended up going with Barbara at Bowl of Cherries, and she is such a delight. She is like working with a friend – putting you first, getting excited about the theme and balances your budget and taste preferences. I am a picky eater and she came up with the most amazing menu. I am not lying when I said every guest was wowed by the food and I definitely drunk ate all the (few) leftovers in my kitchen afterwards to not let them go to waste! I wish I got more photos of the food, but the menu is above.
She also connected me with a local liquor store, Mills that easily planned the cocktails, quantities and did so affordably. I was responsible for setup and clean up, and both of their staffs came in and easily whipped it all together for me – so grateful!
Dessert
Similarly to catering, I had done some research on a bakery and Barbara backed that Cakes & Confections was the best local option! They were a joy to work with, fully over email which is huge for my busy schedule and gave me so many options based on my idea to work within a budget. I went with a funfetti cake with funfetti cupcakes, all were completely gone!
The Venue
Last but not least, I did not have a space for a party like this and originally thought to utilize some local bar/restaurant private room space. The two options I really wanted were not available due to wedding season starting, but was lucky that Prism, a blank canvas space was available. Note that you do have to bring everything in, except for the bar, tables and chairs! But, the price for the hours and ease of the space were well worth it. It was also really nice to not feel stuck with a restaurant menu that would be a little stuffy for a dance party. There was very minimal communication all throughout, they are very relaxed. We added on an hour for setup and clean up to be safe and it was pretty easy to be in and out – just definitely go in with a plan!
The space fit 175 people so we had plently of space!
Sharing a few photos below, but keeping a lot of my guests private since they didn’t sign up to be on the internet 🙂
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Any other questions, details I missed? I don’t usually talk numbers but it’s important to understand how these things add up going into it. All in, the party was ~ $5,000 but luckily I returned a lot of the decor to get some money back! I hope this inspires your next event!