Looking for ideas for an 80's theme party

[jessicheese]

I am attending a party this weekend with an 80's theme and wanted to make a fun appetizer/ dish/ dessert. Does anyone have an ideas of things that would go well with the theme?

[Sparkina]

CATERING BY SPARKINA - AWESOME 80S BASH

MENU
APPS
Potato skins
Buffalo wings
Spinach-feta phyllo puffs
Goat-cheese sun-dried tomato phyllo puffs

MAINS
Pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, black olives and artichokes
Blackened (cajun) fish
Stuffed potatoes
Chicken breast sandwiches a la Chick-Fil-A

SWEETS
Hummingbird cake
Carrot cake
mini-muffins
oat-bran muffins
Chocolate mousse
Fruit Pizza

BEVERAGES
Perrier
Herbal Tea
Smoothies
Capri Sun pouch drinks (came out in the 80s)
Wine Coolers

[mamachef]

A Milli-Vanilla dessert of some type too?

[starbucksbrew]

Haha! Ditto the hummingbird cake and wine coolers, and don't forget your Coca-Cola t-shirt!

My mom served sausage cheese Bisquick balls at every baby shower in the 80's. My sister and I lived off of cheddar bacon potato skins back then, and I think chicken fingers (especially if you can get a big tray of Chicken McNuggets!) w/honey mustard became popular then too.

[TongoRad]

I got another one: there's got to be some crazy-ass schnapps (peach, apple, cinnamon, etc.), and of course mix up some fuzzy navels!

<They still make that stuff, right?>

[roxlet]

Isn't that when Martha Stewart's first book, Entertaining, was released? That would be a treasure trove for any 80s themed party.

[Erika L]

Little phyllo triangles with spinach and feta. Made and ate hundreds of 'em in the 80's.

[weezycom]

Oh, and the friendship bread. Give everyone a jar of starter to take home.

[scuzzo]

Very funny!!! And true. Do it.

[Bethcooks]

Hummingbird cake! I remember that cake everywhere - it was the dessert cake of the 80s.

[Niblet]

Thinking of punk theme -- ala Devo -- a jello mold with barbie doll embedded in it is very 80's. I'd put jello shots around the perimeter.

[LauraGrace]

See, now you've got me thinking of all those 80s Wall Street, big business, big hair, big shoulder-pads movies! What did they eat in those? A lot of cocktails, I think! I remember dim sum from Working Girl, and a lot of tragically froufrou dishes from swanky restaurants -- there's a scene in Baby Boom where the waiter spends two or three minutes describing what's basically a lamb chop with baby spring veg. Low-cal stuff I remember too -- lots of cucumbers and cottage cheese and diet coke.

That food timeline website has some fantastic menus and ideas. Good luck! :)

[weem]

I think of the 80s as the time when "nouvelle cuisine" reached its peak. Just serve a tray of something in really tiny portions. :-)

[scuzzo]

Yes, I think sun dried tomatoes were all the rage. Wasn't fruit pizza 80s too? A sugar cookie crust, sweetened cream cheese, and topped with sliced fruit like kiwi, strawberries, star fruit, etc. arranged in a circular pattern.

When was California new wave cooking popular??? Maybe that was later...

[Berheenia]

I remember this friend complaining about Caiifornia cuisine, we're in Boston, and how everybody was "throwing fruit on everything" but then her husband got a great job offer in Beverly Hills and they were gone in a minute.
I was really into fajitas and burritos in the eighties.

[LisaPA]

In the theme of sun-dried tomatoes and pesto, this dip is awesome and is the hit of any party. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dip-For-... I didn't bother to mold it, just layered it in a clear dish.

Also, didn't buffalo wings become popular in the 80s?

[gwendolynmarie]

Someone has done the work for you!
http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html#1980s
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/390261
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Easy-Par...

[maxie]

potato skins, mozzarella sticks
fresh pasta, pesto, sun dried tomatoes
chocolate mousse or chocolate mousse cake
it was also the rise of the American truffle via Alice Medrich's Cocolat

[ESNY]

make a bunch of homemade McDLTs. The hot side stays hot, the cool side stays cool. Serve it with wine coolers

[shanagain]

Thickly sliced cooked new potatoes with a bit of half sour cream/half plain yogurt with a little chives and a dollop of caviar. (My secret: I love baked potatoes with sour cream and cheap grocery-store caviar.)

[nomadchowwoman]

If you have, or can get your hands on, the Silver Palate cookbook, that was the quintessential '80s cookbook. Not home at the moment, or I'd pull it out and look up some of the dishes. But I remember lots of recipes featuring goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, fruity vinegar, pesto. A lot of mainstays of Mediterranean cuisine--fresh herbs, olive oil, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts--became trendy during that time. And it seeemed as though everyone was serving mousse--chocolate, but others as well--during that time.

Chicken Marbella from SP is one of its most popular mains.

[pickychicky1979]

I just pulled out the SP cook book this morning to make chicken marabella. there are cheese straws, lots of mousse's etc in cookbook as mentioned.

[StheJ]

Anything with sun dried tomatoes.

[dmd_kc]

Dunno about fun, but sushi always says '80s party to me. Also, salmon mousse on cucumber slices.

A friend's mom was a caterer during that time, and she made "crab rangoon dip" that was actually really awesome. It's a basic cream cheese/garlic/crabmeat dip, served warm with fried Chinese noodles.

[Nursemegg]

Cajun food. It was all the rage in the 80's. Go ahead and blacken something!

[TongoRad]

Definitely first thing that came to mind- blacken something...anything...everything!