Y2K party ideas: how to throw a noughties night

A Y2K party is the easiest theme there is, because everyone over a certain age was there and everyone under it has seen the photos. Low-rise jeans, a Nokia, a CD someone burned for you, and a reality TV show on every channel. You don't need a venue or a budget. You need a playlist, a dress code and something for people to do once they've finished admiring each other's butterfly clips.

Here is how to throw a noughties night at home: what to wear, what to play, what to eat and drink, how to decorate with what you already own, and the games that make it a party rather than fancy dress in a kitchen. We know the era: our Y2K quiz was the night that started our live quizzes, and we made a whole game set in a 2000s reality TV house.

The dress code

Say "Y2K" on the invitation and let people interpret it. Then give them a list, because someone always asks.

• Denim on denim. Double, triple, the full matching outfit.
• Low-rise everything. Flares, a belt with a big buckle, a top that stops above it.
• The velour tracksuit. The pink one, ideally, with something written on the back.
• Accessories. Butterfly clips, tinted sunglasses, a trucker cap, a bandana, a pashmina, frosted tips for the brave.
• A pop star. Britney, Christina, a member of a boy band, a reality TV contestant. Easier than a costume, and half the guests will recognise it.

Bonus points for a flip phone or a Nokia brought along as an accessory. Hand out a prize for best dressed at the end of the night.

The playlist, era by era

The noughties weren't one sound. Split the night into eras and it tells a story as it goes.

• The millennium pop years (2000 to 2001). Bright, choreographed, made for a hairbrush. S Club 7, Steps, Britney, Atomic Kitten. Play these early, while people arrive.
• UK garage. Craig David, Artful Dodger, So Solid Crew. The moment the kitchen becomes a dancefloor.
• The reality TV pop stars. Hear'Say from Popstars, Will Young from Pop Idol, Girls Aloud from Popstars: The Rivals. Everyone knows the words, even the people who say they don't.
• R&B. Destiny's Child, Usher, Nelly, Beyoncé's first solo album. For the middle of the night.
• Pop-punk and indie (2002 to 2004). Busted, Avril Lavigne, The Killers, The Libertines. For the end, when everyone is shouting along.

Make a shared playlist and ask every guest to add one song when they RSVP. You'll get the songs you'd forgotten, and people arrive invested.

Food and drinks

The food of the era was beige and proud of it.

• Party food. Chicken nuggets, potato smiles, mini pizzas, cocktail sausages, and a chocolate fountain if anyone owns one, which someone always does.
• Sweets. Fruit Salads and Chewits, Push Pops, anything sour. Keep some back for the taste test.
• Drinks. A Cosmopolitan, the Sex and the City cocktail; a pitcher of something blue; alcopops in a bucket of ice for the full nostalgia. Have a big jug of something alcohol-free that looks just as fun, so nobody is left holding a glass of tap water.

Decorations from what you already own

You don't need to buy anything. Ask guests to bring what's in the loft.

• CDs. Hang them from string by the window and they catch the light like a cheap disco ball. Use the cases as coasters.
• Fairy lights and anything inflatable. An inflatable chair, if anyone kept one, is the centrepiece.
• Old magazines and posters. Stuck to the walls, the cheesier the better.
• A disposable or digital camera. Put it on the side and let anyone take pictures. Look at the results the next day, not on the night.
• Name badges with your old MSN screen name. Everyone writes theirs on arrival, with a status message underneath. The best conversation starter of the night, and the most embarrassing.

The games

A theme party needs something to do once the outfits have been admired. Pick two or three.

A Y2K quiz. The easiest win. Teams of four to six, mixed so the people who were teenagers in 2002 are spread across them. Our 50 Y2K quiz questions with answers are five rounds of ten, free to use, every answer checked, and the free round above is one more.

The sweets taste test. One person per team in a blindfold, one retro sweet, one guess. Do you know your Fruit Salad from your Chewit?

The Snake high score. If anyone still has a Nokia that turns on, a tournament on Snake. If not, there are versions on a phone.

Pop Idol in the living room. Karaoke, with a judging panel of three: one nice, one blunt, one who cries. Scores out of ten, held up on paper.

The diary room. A phone on a stand in a quiet room, and guests go in to confess, nominate, or complain about the other housemates. Watch it back at the end of the night, with permission.

THIS IS REALITY 2000. Our own game, and made for a night like this: a social deduction party game inspired by 2000s reality TV, for 4–12 players, 1–2 hours. You play one of twelve outrageous housemates, from Viv Savage, The Bigmouth, to Nicky Fowler, The Snake, each with their own storyline and secret objectives. There are challenges, quizzes and games, then votes and nominations, and the house decides the winner. We made it during the pandemic for Zoom and it is relaunching, as both a hosted experience and a play-at-home version. The THIS IS REALITY 2000 page has the twelve housemates, a quiz to find out which one you'd be, and the playlist.

A running order

1. Arrive. MSN name badges, a Cosmopolitan, the millennium pop playlist.
2. The quiz. Three or four rounds while people are still fresh enough to remember things.
3. The taste test and Snake. Between rounds, or after the marking.
4. Karaoke. When the garage section of the playlist runs out.
5. The prizes. Best dressed, quiz winners, highest Snake score.
6. Pop-punk to the end.

For a bigger group, or a night at a venue, our Y2K quiz is the hosted version, with Teletext questions, Star Turn and a host in a tracksuit. For a quieter night with a smaller group, party board games for adults has how to pick one.