Celebrate '78 - Mandy's 30th Birthday

Jacob mentioned about a year ago how funny it would be to celebrate my 30th birthday with a 70's theme party at the skating rink. In October, he called and found out that it wasn't nearly as expensive as we thought it would be to rent out the whole rink. He also learned that the only rental day for private parties is Tuesday nights, and November 18 happened to fall on a Tuesday.

So, the stars aligned just right, and we were able to "Celebrate '78" with a private party at Magic Wheels on November 18.

Jacob sent out an e-vite and let everyone know that prizes were to be had for best adult costume and best kid's costume. E-vite worked out so well... invitations go paperless! It was fun checking the online invitation each day to see who was planning to come.

My mom made the funniest costumes for Christian and Isaac, but they weren't eligible for the costume prizes. It is so awesome having a mom who can whip up things like this for us!

They looked hilarious!

I wore my mom's "going away" dress that she made for her wedding day on August 24, 1974. Now that's authentic vintage! It's been hanging in my closet for ages... I just knew I'd have the perfect occasion for it one day!

I'm sure my mom never imagined as she was leaving her wedding in this dress that her daughter would be wearing it one day on her 30th birthday! :)

As funny as Christian and Isaac's costumes were, Jacob's probably made me laugh even more. He wanted to go with a "roller boogie" look, but we had a hard time finding what he envisioned.

Who would have ever thought that short, tight, retro basketball shorts would be so expensive on ebay?!

$20.50 + shipping!!!

So he decided he'd have to make his costume. He found the green shorts and the plain white tank, then "altered" them to his liking by...

• cutting the shorts shorter
• using white fabric paint to paint the trim on the shorts
• using green fabric paint for the trim on the tank to match the shorts
• using green fabric paint to paint stripes on plain white tube socks
• making an image on the computer to iron onto the tank of a roller skate & the words, "Skate, Rattle & Roll"
• ironing on the back of the tank, "West Tennessee Freestyle Rollerdance Champion 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977"

(When I asked what happened in 1976, he said, "injury.")

I found his wig at the same place where I found my gogo boots (a Halloween store). The "boots" are made to slip over shoes, so they worked out great with my roller skates!

Magic Wheels is the perfect place for a 70's themed party...

I don't think it's changed much since that decade anyway. It was perfect.

Here's Christian in front of the building. The neon sign is by the road, and the building has huge letters across the top that say, "SKATING IS GREAT."

Christian's summer camp went skating once a week, and Christian always called the place "Skating is Great" because that's what it says across the building!

"Hey Mom, we went to Skating is Great today!"

When people arrived, they got a number & sticker for the costume contest, then everyone voted for the best costume. You can see the sign up sheets, stickers, ballots, and ballot jar in the picture below. Jacob did a great job organizing it all!

first skaters of the night: Jacob & Blake

Blake won the costume contest for the adults.

Andi won the costume contest for kids... look at her cute little crocheted roller skates!!! (I think those sealed the deal for her win!)

Lots of people dressed up. It was so funny!

Jacob's dad even wore his Vietnam jacket!

Lots of people skated too... There's just something about those disco beats that make you want to get out there and roller boogie!

The inside of Magic Wheels didn't need any decoration for the theme... there's even a disco ball!

Then, and I'm not sure who started this (Fitts?), we had couples racing... too funny!

Jacob had burned the music on CDs, then the music stopped, and the manager came onto the microphone to say, "Ok everybody, time for the hokey pokey, then the chicken dance!" Jacob and I just looked at each other, like, "uh... do we have to?"

So, we did the hokey pokey, but thankfully Jacob told the manager that we'd go ahead and cut the cake after the hokey pokey, so we were spared from the chicken dance.

After the hokey pokey, the manager got on the microphone and said, "Ok everybody, it's time for cake and ice cream, so everyone find a seat at a booth so you can have cake and ice cream!" It was funny to me because you could tell he does a lot of kids' parties!

Jacob ordered the giant cake from Sam's

Since Jacob had planned all the music, he knew when this "special song" was coming, so he had the manager announce a "couples skate" for this song. The manager announced "couples skating and backwards skating only," but everyone cleared the floor, so it was just the two of us...

The song starts out slowly and is very cheesy yet unidentifiable, but then it picks up...

It was Barry Mannilow's Mandy!!!

I was cracking up the whole time. Jacob even kicked up a leg behind him at one point as we whirled romantically around the rink. ;)

Towards the end of the night, some of the kids requested the limbo! There were lots of kids there, so Christian was in heaven!

Reed won!

Mom and Dad, you gave me some great birthday parties:

1st birthday: Holly Hobbie

2nd birthday: gingerbread man

3rd birthday: an apple-theme party (what a random choice! Mom says that I decided the day of my gingerbread party that I wanted my next birthday to be an apple theme. why in the world did I want that?)

4th birthday: Strawberry Shortcake

5th birthday: McDonald's (After attending friends' parties there, I was dying to have my own because the birthday girl gets to eat the Ronald McDonald and balloons made out of candy off the cake).

make-your-own ice cream sundae party (that was a good one)

party at Celebration Station (I remember it being really tough choosing only 3 friends to come since we had to drive to Beaumont and couldn't fit very many in the car with us.)

So, Mom & Dad, thanks for all those great parties, but I think I have to say that Jacob's "Celebrate '78" was the best yet! Don't take it personally... it's just hard to compete with 70's music, costumes, a roller rink, and a disco ball.

Jacob, thanks for all the hard work you put into the party -- I can't think of a better way to ring in 30 years. I'm looking forward to spending 30 more (plus some) with you!

more pictures coming tomorrow of friends celebrating '78...