60th Birthday Party Ideas to Make Your Occasion Unforgettable
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- Updated: 13th October 2023
If you're a child of the 1960s, you have a milestone birthday on the horizon! You'll be turning the big 6-0 within the next few years, which calls for a party unlike any other! After living through the first moonwalk, the formation of the Sex Pistols, Live Aid, the re-opening of Shakespeare's Globe, and the past few decades of turbulence and chaos, we think you deserve a celebration!
Memorable milestone birthdays start with carefully-planned parties, and at Bands For Hire, we're experts at planning unforgettable events. We've compiled a few of our favourite 60th birthday party ideas to help you plan a birthday bash to top the rest. We've included our best planning tips, favourite themes, and impactful advice for creating memories that will last you until your next milestone birthday and beyond!
Are you ready to rock and roll all night? Read on to start planning a 60th birthday party that will get guests of all ages dancing like it's the Swinging 60s!
60th Birthday Party Planning Tips
A 60th birthday is a massive milestone. After all, it's the decade of life when you become a pensioner! After a lifetime of work, love, and laughter, you owe the guest of honour a thoughtfully-planned celebration.
Here are a few planning tips to ensure you don't find yourself winging it as the big day approaches.
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Start Early
The bigger the celebration, the more lead time you need to get the details perfect. If you're planning a blowout bash at a venue, you'll need to start the planning process three months in advance at a minimum.
Venues get booked quickly, so your first step should be to reach out and book your preferred party dates. Reservations for popular locations can fill up months in advance. Have a backup date or two in mind if your perfect date isn't available.
Remember that at a 60th birthday, there may be some older guests on your list. It's thoughtful to ensure that your venue is accessible for those using mobility aids.
Once you have a date and location, you can move on to invitations. You might also send a "save the date" card, especially if guests live far away. Give your guests as much notice as possible so they can clear the date, book accommodations, and find something to wear.
You'll also want to book your entertainment as early as possible to ensure your top acts are available. If hiring a band, reach out to us here at Bands For Hire as soon as you have a date to ensure a good selection of party bands to fit your needs.
You will appreciate having extra time to source decorations, favours, and materials for activities. The sooner you begin, the more time you can spend getting every detail perfect.
Consider Creating a Budget
When you're planning the perfect party, expenses can add up. Many party hosts find that creating a budget is a helpful step. Separating party-related expenses into line items also helps serve as a checklist during planning, ensuring you won't forget a thing.
Be sure to include the following:
- Food or catering costs
- Venue rental
- Entertainment budget for hiring a live band
- Decoration costs
- Party favour costs
- Party activities budget
- Gratuities
When working with a dedicated party venue, find out what they include when you book the space. Many locations have in-house caterers, dance floor rentals, uplighting options, and more. Some have relationships with local florists, balloon shops, or bakeries and can help you get a discount on everything from centrepieces to birthday cakes.
Build on a Theme
Every party improves when you have a theme. It helps to keep the overall aesthetic cohesive and is a great way to create a party inspired by the interests and passions of your guest of honour.
Your theme can be as simple as a colour or as complex as a whole decade! Many milestone birthdays feature motifs inspired by nostalgia, allowing the celebrant to reflect on the most dynamic years of their life. When celebrating a 60th birthday, you'll have plenty of options!
We'll break down a few exciting 60th birthday party themes below.
Theme Idea: Rock N' Roll All Night
The 1960s was one of the most iconic decades for music, and the UK was at the centre of it all. It was the moment when rock and roll emerged as a genre distinct from pop music. Whether your guest of honour is a Beatles maniac, a Led Zeppelin lover, or a folk-rock fanatic, there's no shortage of tracks to keep the venue rocking all night long.
Whether you make your live rock cover band the centre of attention or allow the guests to take the stage and put on the rock concert of their dreams, everyone will leave this high-octane bash with the sound of bass reverberating in their ears.
This party can be a little more casual, with guests dressed in their favourite rock and roll styles. When band T's and ripped jeans abound, everyone will feel right at home immediately.
Rock N' Roll All Night Entertainment Ideas
Your Rock N' Roll-themed party is nothing without a live band! Bring in a cover band or a multi-talented function band that can play a mix of hits from the 60s, 70s and beyond. A great party band knows how to get guests of all ages to take to the dance floor and keep everyone on their feet until the lights go down.
If you're looking for something more interactive, consider live band karaoke or bandeoke. We'll send a crew of rocking professional musicians to play backup for your guests. They'll choose a song from a catalogue, just like during video karaoke, and proceed to rock out with the band behind them!
If your venue offers professional lighting, we highly recommend it for this high-energy party theme!
Rock N' Roll All Night Party Activities
A fun activity for a rock n' roll-themed birthday party is a music trivia challenge. Put your guests to the test with a round of 'name that tune' or music-themed quiz bowl. Each table can form a team and compete for prizes, ending with an energetic return to the dance floor.
Rock N' Roll All Night Food and Drink
This theme leaves plenty of room for partying like a rockstar! Instead of a formal sit-down dinner, consider offering a buffet and allowing guests to graze. An open bar will give guests the courage to rock hard all night long, even if it's been a few decades since they attended their last rock show!
Theme Idea: Swinging 60th
Children born during the Swinging 60s are a bit too young and spry to have seen the 20s, 30s, or 40s, but that doesn't mean they can't appreciate the music and jazzy aesthetic of this energetic era! You might choose a Gatsby-inspired Jazz Age theme with bathtub gin and flapper dresses or a 40s-inspired swing celebration full of flips and fedoras. Either way, a lively jazz band will get your guests out of their chairs and encourage them to spend the night on the dance floor.
This theme is an ideal match for a semi-formal affair. Encourage fancy dress, but be sure that every guest comes prepared to move and groove. At this swinging celebration, expect to see a pile of abandoned shoes next to the dancefloor!
Swinging 60th Birthday Party Entertainment Ideas
For a swinging good time, hire a 20s, 30s, or 40s-inspired Swing Band to get your guests on their feet! If you're looking for a contemporary spin on jazz music, you can consider hiring a postmodern jukebox-inspired band. These groups will play today's hits in a vintage style, so today's top 40 will sound like they came straight from the jazz age.
Swinging 60th Birthday Party Activities
Ideally, dancing will be the primary activity at your Swinging 60th shindig!
A fun addition is to bring in a swing dancing teacher or a few professional swing dancers to give a performance or demonstration. They are sure to impress with their energetic tricks and well-rehearsed moves. Sometimes a little instruction is enough to help reluctant guests find comfort on the dance floor!
This theme is also a match for a photo booth with roaring 20s-inspired props and backdrops. Create a unique hashtag for your event and have guests post their vintage-inspired selfies on social media.
Swinging 60th Birthday Party Food and Drink
In the jazz age, the expectation was that party guests would be up on their feet, either dancing or socializing with a drink in hand. When planning the menu, passed appetizers and hors d'oeuvres are essentials. You'll want an open bar with a selection of vintage-inspired beverages to give your jazzy celebration a forbidden speakeasy feel.
Theme Idea: Diamond Jubilee
If it's good enough for the Queen, it's good enough for your guest of honour! A Diamond Jubilee is a formal celebration that will allow your celebrant to feel like royalty for a day. Pull out all the stops to create an evening of high-class decadence, from a live orchestra to a formal dress code.
Choose a menu full of the best things in life, offer guests the most authentic champagne, and choose diamond-studded, metallic decorations that make any venue feel like a grand ballroom. A jubilee is the fanciest party option—but after sixty years, doesn't your guest of honour deserve a taste of the best?
Diamond Jubilee Entertainment Ideas
When it's time for a diamond jubilee, you'll want your entertainment to exude an air of elegance. We recommend focusing on classical musicians to bring in the most sophisticated performers possible. Welcome your guests to the venue with a quartet or harpist in the lobby, then have a larger ensemble play the night away like on your favourite episode of Bridgerton.
You don't need to settle for classical music, however. You can "plug it in" by hiring an electric string quartet to add an extra pop of contemporary sound to your otherwise classy affair.
Diamond Jubilee Party Activities
At a formal party, guests come prepared for more low-key activities. You might consider scattering some 'conversation cards' on the table to inspire an after-dinner chat among new acquaintances. With any luck, your guests will spend most of the evening on the dance floor and won't need to fill in any silences.
Diamond Jubilee Food and Drink
A formal affair calls for a traditional sit-down dinner. Before that, begin the night with some fancy finger foods straight off the Queen's own menu. You can even pre-set your tables with a tower of treats inspired by a high tea service.
You'll want to keep drinks on the classier side. The right drinkware can help project a sense of elegance and extravagance. Be sure to offer a variety of bubbly drinks in charming beverage flutes.
Memorable 60th Birthday Party Ideas
By the time you're turning 60, you've probably had quite a few birthday parties—59 of them, to be exact! You deserve a unique celebration to help you look back on your lifetime of friendships and accomplishments with pride. We hope one of these 60th birthday party ideas will stand out from the rest and form the foundations of an unforgettable fête!
Nothing is more nostalgic than the music from your childhood and adolescence. Bands for Hire can help match you with an upbeat function band that's ready and willing to play you the hits that underscore your fondest memories. Contact us today to book the band that will transform your celebration into a rocking blast from the past!
