"60Stock" A 60th Birthday Production

So my dad just turned 60! What better theme for an old hippie than "The 60's". Now, I have to give credit where credit is due for the whole "60Stock" theme. Being a musician, dad wanted to celebrate with a night of music and old friends, his own little version of Woodstock. The "60Stock" theme was hatched. Dad lined up the entertainment and libations, while I got going on all of the details of our theme. I thought 60's would be easy, but most of the stuff I found was better suited for a tweens party than for someone who actually lived through that era. I decided to go with Tie-Dye as the base of the decor and go from there.

Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out......From what dad tells me that was a popular phrase in the 60's. We used that as our what, where, when on the invite. Ordered large postcards off Vistaprint. Great way to save money on invites, we got 100 of them for under 20 bucks!http://www.vistaprint.com/

Here is the cake. I loved it. It was yet another great job by Creative Cakes, http://www.realbuttercreme.com/, in Tinley Park. I have used them for most of my parties and they never disappoint.

Having a limited budget, I came up with a good idea for the centerpieces. I used card stock, ribbon, string and some 60's pins to create these cylinders that I then placed around a simple water bottle. I already had the card stock, ribbon and string, so the only cost was for the pins, a case of water, and the daisies. I originally wanted to do tie dye table cloths, but they were crazy expensive. I did find tie dye bandannas for only a dollar a piece. I used that as a sort of place mat in the center of the table. We had 2 rows of 5 tables, so each table was given a different color tablecloth to go with the tie dye. Our party favors were peace symbol beads. I scattered those around the centerpieces on the table. Behind the cylinders were 60's Fun Facts cards that I printed up....tossed on a couple of votives and we were good to go!

You can't have a psychedelic 60's party without some trippy treats. We had some bowls of candy out around the cake to recreate the recreation of the time. I made little signs for each trippy treat...we didn't want those old hippies thinking they were real!

Here is dad welcoming everyone to the party. The banner behind the band was made by me. I have a huge roll of banner paper, so I just glued on a couple of store bought peace symbols and cut some letters out of card stock. It is kind of hard to see, but I also wrote the names of all the bands performing on the banner as well. Could have been neater, but not bad for an amateur. It did the job of filling up the space behind the band. Homemade banners are always an easy way to fill up a wall and add a personal touch at the same time(not to mention, low on cost!).

I wanted to give the guests some other things to do besides just sitting there and listening to the bands. I ordered this photo board on line and had it set up where guests walked in. I was worried people might not use it, but it was a big hit. When I pulled up, I saw people gathered around it and I gave a sigh of relief. I also created these "60's Survival Kits" as prizes for Trivia questions that were read aloud between bands. They were little gag bags. I was able to buy everything in packs of 6 and used card stock and a glue stick to decorate the bags.

Here is my uncle in front of one of the many posters we had hanging up around the hall. Dad has been in a lot of bands over the years. I took a bunch of his old promo pictures and had them blown up poster size. It was great to get pictures of the old band members in front of the old pics. It might be hard to see, but my uncle is in that poster holding the saxophone.


You can't have a milestone birthday without the traditional baby picture board. I set this up on a table where you first walked in. On the table were also a sign in board and a scrapbook I made of all of dads old band pictures.

The invitations told everyone to "bust out their bellbottoms" and the guests did just that. Most of the guests dressed up in Hippie gear. These two were my favorites!

I had a great time planning "60Stock" with my dad. Everyone had a great time! Now what will we do for his 70th?