70s Birthday Bash

Our joint 40th birthday party was a blast!  This was our biggest event yet, and we could go bigger.  Here's the upstairs before the party started, with beaded curtain, colored lights, and Hotel California palm.  

The downstairs didn't photograph as well, because on the one side it was all about the disco-ball-illuminated dance floor (with blaring Pandora disco station).  More on that later.  The other side was the bar, with the fixings for lychee martinis (or juice).  The kids were very amused by the plastic martini glasses.  Ava (below in pink) went around for much of the night with a martini in one hand and a fake cigarette in the other.  Those were a hit with everyone, except possibly the ex-smokers who found them overly stimulating.  The ashtray was a birthday gift!

We provided tie-dyed headbands and fake mustaches.  The mustaches were a scream.  I don't seem to have a photo of Dale wearing his mustache and aviator glasses; he was stunning and just about unrecognizable.  Aaron liked his too, as did our young friend Nathaniel.

Here's Robert and Noah, the party staff, for whom the mustaches inspired ridiculous bandito accents.

All right, let's get this party started, why don't we!  Bekah making herself a little brisket sandwich, Jon looking on.  A neighbor gave that astonishing dress to Bekah for this occasion.

Twin babies Alvin and Dexter digging the beaded curtain.

Bob and Sara.

Bob and Dale with very fine shirts.  We need to get Dale to put his glasses and mustache again, because...wow.

Jules, Sara, and Jessica.  Note the fondue pot on the table - the one I nabbed from my parents is at the other end of the table.  I had never made cheese fondue before and it was delicious!

Ladies in the kitchen.  Bekah's necklace is something I snagged at the thrift store; it's made of shells and dry beans.  Mine is tagua nuts.

Nick and Gwen.  Gwen arrived dressed like a normal person, but I had a couple of extra outfits, and this floor-length halter dress suited her very well.

I promised I would get us back to the Club... it was awesome!!  Please start with the video so you get the full effect.

The photos required the flash, which sort of ruins it because when you turn on the lights it just looks like our basement.  But you do get to see some of our hot moves, and my gold hot pants.

We spent some effort trying to remember how to do the Hustle; all we could really recall was that we think it was done in a line and involved a kind of a four of this, four of that pattern.  (Next time, I'll start with this useful tutorial, though I wonder if I need that many pockets.)  Note Ava and Aaron, both of whom were on the dance floor for hours.

The joy on Aaron's face!

He and Ava pretty much kept up with Kari and Bekah, and that is really saying something.  Check him out down in the corner.

At last there was cake.  I figured for forty people I had better make a lot of cake.  

It was fun to finally see how the inside came out.  Pretty and surprising!  And delicious.  So were the Secret Ingredient Brownies.  (Sorry...the secret ingredient is wheat germ.)

And there was plenty of cake.  In fact, we sent one home with Robert and Noah, and still have leftovers.  

It was a fantastic celebration!  Thank you so much to all our friends and family, who made it so much fun!