I'm having a party. 70's style.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Don’t forget to offer a snack platter with Ritz crackers and cubes of uninspired American cheeses and a cooler with cans of Tab soda, for your calorie-counting female guests.

It might prove a fool’s errand, but if you can find a vintage sports poster from the era (say, Pittsburgh Steelers with Terry Bradshaw or Franco Harris, etc.) or a similarly period movie poster (Jaws, Star Wars), that’d work, too.

Speaking of Star Wars, it’d be neat to have the Meco album of Williams’ *Star Wars * themes… on vinyl, of course! For a general disco soundscape, the Casablanca box set is a good start. Mix in a little K.C. & the Sunshine Band and you’re good to go!

As for couture, if you could find one of those tiny, skinny metallic belts cinched around a top (not the pants!) or sweater, that’d be divine.
You know us Dopers will just have to assemble a sample playlist. For starters:

A [Mostly] Disco-Free 70’s Playlist (mixing up the classics with the kitsch):

“(Bang a Gong) Get it On” – T. Rex
“Ain’t No Sunshine” – Bill Withers
“Suffragette City,” “Changes,” or “Fame” – David Bowie
“Smoke on the Water” – Deep Purple
“I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” – England Dan & John Ford Coley
“It’s So Hard” or “Instant Karma” – John Lennon
“Your Momma Don’t Dance” or “I’m Alright” – Loggins & Messina
“Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)” – The Hollies
“Radar Love” – Golden Earring
“Do the Strand,” “Love is the Drug,” or “The Thrill of it All” – Roxy Music
“Sad Eyes” – Robert John
“Photograph” or “You’re Sixteen” – Ringo Starr
“Sister Golden Hair” – America
“Baker Street” – Gerry Rafferty
“Jet Airliner,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” or “Jungle Love” – Steve Miller Band
“Let’s Stay Together” – Al Green
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” – Elton John & Kiki Dee
“Year of the Cat” or “Time Passages” – Al Stewart
“Show Me the Way” – Peter Frampton
“Surfin’ USA” or “Runaround Sue” – Leif Garrett
“Car Wash” – Rose Royce
“Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” – The Jacksons
“Don’t Stop ('Til You Get Enough)” or “Rock With You” – Michael Jackson
“Lady Marmalade” – LaBelle
“The Things We Do For Love” – 10CC
“Still the One” – Orleans
“Torn Between Two Lovers” – Mary MacGregor
“Live and Let Die” – Paul McCartney and Wings
“The Spy Who Loved Me” – Carly Simon
“Lonely Boy” – Andrew Gold
“Listen to the Music,” “What a Fool Believes,” or “China Grove” – Doobie Brothers
“Crazy Love” – Poco
“Feels So Good” [instrumental] – Chuck Mangione
“Roadrunner” – Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
“Rock and Roll All Nite” or “Beth” – KISS
“The Logical Song,” “Breakfast in America,” “Take the Long Way Home” or “Goodbye Stranger” – Supertramp
“Get Down Tonight” – K.C. & the Sunshine Band
“Love Rollercoaster” – The Ohio Players
“Dream Weaver” – Gary Wright
“Dream On” – Aerosmith
“Don’t Give Up On Us (Baby)” – David Soul
“Reminiscing” – Little River Band
“New York State of Mind,” “My Life,” “Big Shot,” or “Only the Good Die Young” – Billy Joel
“I Go Crazy” – Paul Davis
“All of My Love” – Led Zeppelin
“Miss You” and “Start Me Up” (the latter dates to 1981, not that anyone would care) – The Rolling Stones
“Sara Smile” or “Rich Girl” – Hall & Oates
“The Statue of Liberty” – XTC
“The Wait” and “Tattooed Love Boys” – The Pretenders
“Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire,” or “Dance This Mess Around” – The B-52’s
“My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Let the Good Times Roll,” or “Let’s Go!” – The Cars

42

Pet Rcoks (yes, they have to be in the carrier)

Billy Beer

A copy of Frampton Comes Alive

The women’s clothes should all be made of Qiana (fun fact, when used as electrical insulation, Qiana did not fail when heated to >600 degrees, the limits of the test.)

And get rid of that 8-track. If you want to be really hip, find yourself a Laser Disc player

43

Riunite on ice - that’s nice.

You really need to have a key party.

All the men toss their car keys in a bowl when they come in the door. At the end of the night, the women reach in the bowl and pull out a set of car keys - that’s who they go home with for the night.

I still have my Take-n-Tape (the 8-track player with the plunger handle).

44

If you happen to know anyone with a working “Pong” console, by all means borrow that sucker and set it up with an old-school CRT (cathode-ray tube) TV in a corner. Electronic tennis, anyone?

45

The party room often had a beer can collection, so you may try to barrow one from a 40 to 50 year old.

A Joe Namath poster.

An Evel Knievel poster.

Orange Tang drink for the morning after the party.

46

Sure, if you dress up. :wink:

I’m attempting to find the pong console on short notice. I bet Value Village has that!

47

If you can’t fine one of those, an Atari 2600 would do. They came out in '77.

48

See if you can find a Vega, Pacer, Gremlin, Pinto, or Volare to park in the driveway. Nothing says 1970s like a terrible car.

49

Smokydiva will provide you with great clothing ideas.

Also make sure that nobody brings a cell phone, blackberry or the like. If your guests need to call their babysitters, they should use your dial phone, or better yet, a good ol’ Gondola phone.

Oh, and way too large eyeglasses.

50

The dial phone you pictured isn’t something most 70’s houses had. Ma was so happy when they phone company had colors she went and exchanged the phone at the phone office. You rented it from them, and people would stand in line to turn in the old one and get a color that matched the room. My aunt had a coiled cord long enough to walk about 20 feet from the phone. She’d stay on the phone for two hours at a time.

Try these colors.
http://www.oldphoneworks.com/antique_phones_list.asp?currency=USD&PhoneType=9

51

It wouldn’t be a 70’s party without The Hustle.

52

Don’t forget your mantra.

53

Sand candles
Troll dolls
I went to a 70’s party a couple of years ago wearing a wrap dress, platform shoes and feathered hair.
I was bitchin’.

54

Don’t forget some DVD’s of “That 70’s Show.”

55

Here the thing about watching television at a party. You can have a party or you can have people watching television. You can’t have both. The television shouldn’t come on during a party, unless the party was for viewing tv.

56

You could make Wookie Juice in a (clean) garbage can. That was a favorite for dorm-room parties.

57

Of course you can. When SNL first came on, the TV was always on during a party and the party was always taking place around the TV.

“Why do you think they call it dope?”

Of course, I can’t imagine anyone watching SNL now for any reason, much less at a party.

58

Chalk it up to different experiences, but I could not imagine putting on SNL during a party on a Saturday Night no matter how good it was. I’m not even sure how that would work. Would you turn the music off, or play the TV with no sound?

59

So, EmEnJ, how did it go? Was everything groovy and cool, or what? Lay it on us straight, chief!

60

Firstly if you wish to do the English version you totally must dress like an inmate in a mental institution,the big block heels previously mentioned,flared trousers (optional turnups)huge pointed collars ,tank tops ,satin jackets …the world is the mollusc of your choice.

I had pics of me wearing this sort of gear but destroyed them for fear of blackmail.

Plenty of rock posters on the walls ,optic fibre lamps that change colour,oversized cans of bitter beer holding 8 pints and music that will never ever be equalled by the insipid pap served up today.