90s Party/Event

[spideyboy_1111]

Hey everyone, So at work (I'm a graphic designer for an event planner/prop rental house) and we are putting together a decades party for a Hotel this new years, and while the other decades are all pretty easy to sum up in a universal "theme" the 90s we are having a bit more of a difficult time with.

sure we know the movies, the toys, the fashion, but majority of that doesn't translate well into a large event space. We usually do large 11ft x 10ft printed backdrops, which we can easily do for this, But we do a lot of large scale props, like last year i designed a big "1990" made up foam that stands about 10ft high, and it's painted to look like a cement wall with graffitti and movie/music posters pasted to it.

So i guess what kinda 3demensional props would you guys think are universal enough to represent the decade?

I'd like to find a way to incorporate Jeans and Flannel for the grunge scene, but other than making banners out of them (we don't really do table cloths for this event) i'm drawing a blank.




for some further ideas, we're doing giant Rubix cubes and cassette tapes for the 80s, we have disco balls and studio 54 signs for the 70s, we've got a yellow submarine, a Height/asburry st sign on a poll for the 60s, a vintage TV (it's about 6 ft cubed) a roller waitress, fronts of cars for the 50s... etc...

 

[spideyboy_1111]

and to reiterate... this isn't like a "table clothes, balloons, streamers" kinda thing

 

[Mace Dolex]

I can only think of computers, I mean in the mid-90's is when the internet really started blowing up and everybody was getting a computer.

DVD's are another good idea, maybe make a drawing of a graveyard filled with VHS tapes.

 

[Pythenis]

Hmm....90's

Infomericals
DVD's
Internets
Video Games (NES)
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air / Saved By The Bell
Cigars/Stained Dresses
Pam Anderson
Chicago Bulls-Jordan
Goth is Born
Windows 95
Surf Wear
Spice Girls
2 Pac
Waynes World
The Simpsons


Ugh..I could go on....sadly..

 

[The Squirrel]

Pokemon? Batman TAS?

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Well we have movie and tv shows down, but those are more printed things than 3Demensional.

A giant computer could work though

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Pm me if you'd like and i can give you a link to our Facebook page to get an idea of some of the stuff we've done

 

[NHawk19]

Brick Phones
Ren & Stimpy
Anything SNES Related
Rollerblades
Pogs

or just watch a few episodes of Saved by the Bell

 

[knowsbleed]

PM me spideboy 11111111111111, I'd like to see what you've done for other decades. That would give me a better idea of what you're trying to go for.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Brick Phones
Ren & Stimpy
Anything SNES Related
Rollerblades
Pogs

or just watch a few episodes of Saved by the Bell

the largest problem with Saved By the Bell, is that decor wise, a lot of it is very 80s like too... we need things to be a little more distinct.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

PM me spideboy 11111111111111, I'd like to see what you've done for other decades. That would give me a better idea of what you're trying to go for.

done

 

[NHawk19]

the largest problem with Saved By the Bell, is that decor wise, a lot of it is very 80s like too... we need things to be a little more distinct.

Saved by the bell the college years then

 

[Pink Ranger]

Rave culture was a very 90s thing: so could things like fluorescent whistles, cat-in-the-hat hats, generally any casual tops with horizontal stripes, glow-sticks, belly-baring tops for women, particularly belly shirts that buttoned in the middle with long sleeves, particularly flared bell bottom sleeves.

The 1990s was when facial piercings first really became fashionable, though since that style never really went away, it's hard to characterize it as a "relic" from the 1990s.

The mainstreaming of rap and hip hop culture was also a cultural artifact of the 1990s, particularly the fashion of wearing LA sports team black and silver logos (mainly the Raiders, but to a lesser extent the LA Kings). I also remember Georgetown Hoyas merchandise being a very common rapper/hip hop fashion back then. Also, the multicolored leather jacket (8-ball jacket) as also popular.

Actually, I'd recommend you re-watching all three of the Lonely Island videos featuring Justin Timberlake and Andy Sambergh as the 1990s R&B singers.

 

[bullets]

Beanie Babies

Cassette players.


a Boombox.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Rave culture was a very 90s thing: so could things like fluorescent whistles, cat-in-the-hat hats, generally any casual tops with horizontal stripes, glow-sticks, belly-baring tops for women, particularly belly shirts that buttoned in the middle with long sleeves, particularly flared bell bottom sleeves.

The 1990s was when facial piercings first really became fashionable, though since that style never really went away, it's hard to characterize it as a "relic" from the 1990s.

The mainstreaming of rap and hip hop culture was also a cultural artifact of the 1990s, particularly the fashion of wearing LA sports team black and silver logos (mainly the Raiders, but to a lesser extent the LA Kings). I also remember Georgetown Hoyas merchandise being a very common rapper/hip hop fashion back then. Also, the multicolored leather jacket (8-ball jacket) as also popular.

Actually, I'd recommend you re-watching all three of the Lonely Island videos featuring Justin Timberlake and Andy Sambergh as the 1990s R&B singers.

Fashion is hard to pull of in a decorating form though. People won't be dressing up at this for the decade.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

And id love to do a huge boombox . We have a massive 12ft tv screen that's pretty 70s/80s looking id love to do a video game mural for (the screen) and am begging my boss for it lol

 

[knowsbleed]

I'd recommend trying to recreate some elements from popular 90s tv shows/video games. Things like some of the props from the set of Friends (the frame around the peephole on the door) or using things from sega genesis/super nintendo to create themes around. Art from pop culture art such as Magic Eye would be neat additions as well.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

thanks Knows

 

[Pink Ranger]

Of course, how could I forget the most quintessentially 90s piece of consumer technology:

 

[spideyboy_1111]

lol, god, the pagers were so stupid... Do Doctors still use them? (that was the last form of anyone i ever knew to still use them)

 

[NewYorkSpider]

The giant mobile phones.

 

[Darthphere]

Just watch any episode of Saved by the Bell. Model it after them and The Max.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Festivals of animation shorts also seem to have had carved out a special cultural space in the 1990s.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Wait, DVDs are outdated now?

..... I still watch DVDs.

Anyway just make everyone dress like Kurt Cobain (unbuttoned flannel shirt, baggy torn jeans, long hair) and keep X-Files or the Matrix on in the background. Also call an AOL provider and say you want your crappy dial-up modem from 15 years ago back. Now you be all 90's up in dat bizznaatch, booooooy!

 

[Pink Ranger]

Ah, also the 'zine and the alternative comic book had their peaks in the 1990s, one could argue, right before their precipitous decline.