The theme is the easy part. What ruins a party is the forty minutes in the middle where nobody knows what happens next.
0:00–0:20 — Arrive and make. Children trickle in over twenty minutes, so the first activity must work for one child or twelve. A badge or name tag to colour is perfect: no start time, no finish time.
0:20–0:50 — The big active game. Do this while everyone is fresh and before food.
0:50–1:10 — Eat.
1:10–1:30 — Quiet activity. Colouring, a hunt, a puzzle sheet. The room needs it and so do you.
1:30–1:45 — Cake.
1:45–2:00 — Parents arrive; hand out the bags.
Call the rooms levels. Call the snack table the power-up station. Give out "extra lives" instead of stickers. Children do the rest of the work themselves — the theme is a frame they play inside, and it costs nothing.
Have one more activity prepared than you think you need, and never start the last one. Running out of plan with twenty minutes left is the single most common way a good party ends badly.
Two hours including food. Longer is not a kindness to anybody in the room.
No. Naming two things is enough for the theme to land. Over-theming becomes admin for you and is invisible to them.
One thing they made, one thing to eat, and one printed thing — a certificate with their high score on it outlives every plastic toy in the bag.
Part of our guide to Retro arcade party.