80’s was such a cool decade! All sorts of strange things happened…
Host a Stranger Things party to celebrate strange things, birthdays, Halloween, and the 80’s… It will be totally awesome!
We had a fun Stranger Things party for my daughter’s sweet 16.
I must say I’ve never seen the popular series, it’s too creepy for me, but I bravely planned the party.
You’ll find here everything you need to host a super awesome party!
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Stranger Things Party Plan
- Fun INVITATIONS to get the guests ready for stranger things…
- Cool DECORATIONS to create a totally awesome atmosphere.
- Delicious TREATS to make the occasion sweet.
- Rockin’ fun GAMES to provide laughter and memories.
- Awesome FAVORS to thank the guests for being there.
In this post, you’ll find the ideas for the steps 1 and 2. The others you can access via the above links.
1. Stranger Things Invitations
Every party starts with fun invitation. Make your own with black cardstock and red paint or buy one of these awesome options.
1. Stranger Things Will Happen
This fun Stranger Things invitation with Christmas lights and the red lettering is just perfect for a party where strange things will happen…
Customize the invitation and send it to your friends. They will be thrilled!
2. Upside Down
What would a Stranger Things party be without waffles! Host a waffle party in the upside down!
Whether you are celebrating your teens birthday or having a Stranger Things viewing party you’ve got to serve waffles!
A cute waffle invitation gets everyone drooling with anticipation.
3. Beware of Demogorgon!
Get ready for creepy and strange things!
Order your customized Stranger Things invitations today.
2. Stranger Things Party Decorations
What strange things will you come up with?
1. The Entrance Signs
Welcome the guests with awesome DIY signs
1. Castle Byers Sign DIY
Welcome to Castle Byers! This sign is made with brown poster board paper and some paint.
My daughter made it. If I had made it, it would look more simple. I don’t think I’d have tried to make it look like wood. I’m sure glad I delegated the task to her!
If you wanted to, you could replace “Byers” with your last name.
2. Home of Will The Wise
Home of Will the Wise or Home of “insert the birthday star’s name” the Wise.
3. All Friends Are Welcome
Of course! All Friends Welcome!!
2. Tree Trunk Portal
I have to say I do not know much about the tree trunk portal… All I know there was some red light. So, here is our version of the Stranger Things Tree Trunk Portal.
Our party was in the basement and this is at the bottom of the stairs. When you walked down you saw the solid black wall. Once at the bottom of the stairs the red light on the left guided you to go around and into the party area.
DIY Tree Trunk Portal
What you need:
- black contractor trash bags, you could also use black, dark gray, or brown fabric
- red lights
- lots of tape
The solid trash bag “tree trunk” is in front of the door leading to the basement. Since the door opens in the landing area, we left enough space for the door to open towards the bags.
On the left we put the red lights so while you’re not exactly going through the lights, it was a fun special effect.
- Tape two trash bags together to make them longer. Make sure they reach from ceiling to the floor. Make as many sets as you need to form the tree trunk. (If I remember correctly, we used 2 sets for the solid trunk and 3 for the one with the lights.)
- Tape to the ceiling. This is definitely a two person job.
- Tape the red lights to the ceiling.
- Make the strips: (we used 2 bags for this one) Cut open the long sides of a trash bag. (now it is double length). Cut it to the correct length. And then cut strips in various widths but don’t cut all the way through… unless you want to tape each strip to the ceiling one at a time.
- Tape the strips to the ceiling.
Use this also as a backdrop for pictures!
3. White Fluff
I was told that there is white fluff floating around in the upside down.
This is a super easy DIY decoration. All you need is
- cotton balls
- clear cord
- tape
- Cut the cord into various lengths.
- Push the cord through fluffed up cotton balls. (Make some bigger and some smaller.)
- Tape to the ceiling.
We hung up the fluff from the entrance to the opposite wall.
4. Quotes
I love that books, movies, and TV shows provide lots of fun ideas for quotes. Display them on the walls, shelves, and the dessert table.
We put the stuck in the upside down sign on the dessert table. It would have been cool in a black frame but I didn’t have one, so I taped the sign to a small frame that can stand up.
5. Alphabets and Christmas Lights
My daughter cut out the black letters from construction paper and taped them to the wall.
If I had thought about it, I could have saved her some time by buying these black abc wall decals. Ooops… let’s not tell her that.
The big bulb Christmas lights are a must. We got ours from Walmart but if you’re looking for lights before all the Christmas stuff gets in the stores you can find the awesome lights for Stranger Things party in Amazon.
You need some lights for the ceiling too, of course. Hang them in a messy random way. We made a couple of sets to blink for an added fun effect.
6. A Hole In The Wall
In one of the episodes, Will’s mom, Joyce, hits the wall with an axe. Make a wall damage replica. This one is made from a black poster board paper.
7. Number Balloons
What do number balloons have to do with Stranger Things?
Nothing, I guess. But since this was a birthday party we wanted to display the numbers. Black or red number balloons would be awesome, as well.
8. Cassette Tapes and Vinyl
This shows how old I am… I still had this little cassette player from the good old days… LOL. It actually still worked!
The cassette tapes are a fun way to add some dimension to a dessert table as well. You could place small bowls of candy on top of them.
Make a cassette tape garland with actual cassettes or images.
You might also want to display a few vinyl records and play music with a record player. So cool, so retro. We have a record player my husband bought decades ago. It’s still in excellent shape. They just don’t make stuff to last anymore.
I’ve got you some fun free Stranger Things party printables (quotes, cassette, vinyl, and waffle garlands.)
9. The Phone
We dig through the stuff we have… and found an old phone. The cord had magically disappeared but at least we had all the other parts.
If you don’t have old junk laying around, but want to still have a cool phone for the party, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from like this yellow wall phone.
10. Waffle Boxes and Waffle Garland
What is it about Eleven and waffles?
Waffles do taste good and my kids have been eating a ton of Eggo’s since they discovered the Stranger Things.
Keep your waffle boxes and use them at your party as decorations.
Make a waffle garland… preferably with waffle images but hey, real waffles will do too!
11. Stranger Things Sign DIY
You naturally want to have a fun Stranger Things DIY sign with glowing red letters.
We did too!
We used the sign as a backdrop for the food table.
Next: Easy food ideas for Stranger Things party.
And Awesome Stranger Things party games and favors that ensure fun, laughter and great memories.