PULTEVENT
7 gentle games and photo memories for a 90th birthday party
A golf club function room outside Chelmsford, a Saturday afternoon in March. Dorothy is in the good armchair by the window, the one the steward moved from the bar for her, with a blanket she did not ask for across her knees. Her great-grandson, aged four, is under the buffet table. On the screen at the end of the room, a black-and-white photo of a girl in a school pinafore fades into a wedding photo from 1958, and Dorothy says, loud enough for the whole room, "Oh, not that hat."
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A 90th birthday is not like other birthdays. The guest of honour may tire after two hours, may not hear well in a noisy room, and may not want to be the centre of attention for all of it. The guest list runs from people in their eighties to babies. And almost everyone in the room is there because of something she did decades ago, a friendship, a job, a family.
So the games at a 90th are really about memory. I set them up on PULTEVENT: the laptop runs a console in its browser and puts everything on the big screen, and the guests who have smartphones answer on them after scanning a code, nothing to install. Their phones need internet to take part. Nobody without a phone misses out, because most of what happens is on the screen for everyone.
7 things to put on the screen at a 90th
1 Ninety years, looping
A slideshow of her life plays as guests arrive: baby photos, school, work, wedding, children, grandchildren, holidays, last Christmas. Her name and the date on screen.
How to run it. Scan old prints at a good resolution. One photo a year, if you can find them, is a lovely idea for a 90th.
Guests stop in front of it, point, and start telling each other stories. That is most of the party.
2 Which decade is this
A photo of the birthday girl on screen, guests guess the year or the decade on their phones. Then you reveal the answer and she tells the story.
How to run it. Let her tell the story after each reveal. Hand her the microphone, or sit beside her and repeat it for the room.
It puts her in charge of the round, which is where she should be.
3 Her life and the world
Cards mixing events from her life with events from the world she lived through: the coronation in 1953, decimal coins in 1971, her wedding, her first grandchild. Put them in order.
How to run it. Check every family date with her or with her children first. Get the world dates from a reliable source.
The grandchildren realise how much history she has actually seen.
4 How well do you know Dorothy
Eight questions about her: the street she grew up on, her first job, the dance hall where she met her husband, her famous Sunday roast.
How to run it. Use large, short questions. Read each one aloud for guests who cannot see the screen clearly.
Her old friends win it, which delights them.
5 Voices from far away
Short clips from family and friends who could not come: a grandson in Australia, her sister in a care home in Wales, a former colleague.
How to run it. Ask for thirty seconds each, and ask people to speak slowly and face the camera. Turn the volume up.
At ninety, many of the people who matter live far away or cannot travel. This brings them into the room.
6 The songs of her youth
A sing-along of the songs she loved. Two teams, family and friends, take turns singing to a backing track, and the room votes on their phones for the best.
How to run it. Ask her in advance which songs she loves. Keep them to her era and not ours.
People who will not play a quiz will sing. Older guests often remember every word.
7 The credits
To finish, film-style credits roll up the screen: her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, her friends, the people who organised the day.
How to run it. Write it as 'the cast of Dorothy's life' and play it after the cake.
She sees every name in one place. It is a quiet, proud way to end.
Her life on the big screen
Photos from every decade, big enough to see from the back of the room.
Nobody has to hold a phone
Younger guests answer on phones. Older ones watch, remember and call out.
Short, calm blocks
Ten to fifteen minutes at a time, with long pauses for tea and talk.
Messages from those far away
Family abroad and friends who couldn't travel speak to her from the screen.
Planning around her energy
Most 90th parties work best in the early afternoon, over lunch or afternoon tea, and last about three hours. Ask her how long she wants to stay, and plan for less. Put the games in the first half, when she is fresh, and keep the second half for tea, cake and people coming to sit with her.
Give her a seat where she can see the screen without turning, and away from the speakers.
Hearing and eyesight
Test the screen from where the oldest guests will sit. The text in quiz questions should be readable from there; if not, use fewer words per question. Use a microphone, even in a small room. Many older guests use hearing aids that pick up background chatter badly, and a microphone through a speaker helps.
Read questions aloud. Always.
Getting the photos
Photos from the 1930s to the 1970s are often in albums, in shoeboxes or behind glass on a sideboard. Start collecting six weeks ahead. Her children may need to go through a loft. Scan them with a flatbed scanner or a scanning app on a phone, in good light, without the plastic sleeve.
Ask her about the photos as you collect them. You will learn things for the quiz, and she will enjoy it.
Great-grandchildren
At a 90th there are often children under ten. They will not sit through a timeline. Give them one of the 3D games on the big screen, bowling or the aquarium, in a pause while the adults are eating. Better still, give them a job: carrying the phone for a great-grandparent, or handing out cake.
"Was Nana really a dancer?"
"Look at the photo. Ask her."
Where to hold it
A function room at a club or a pub, a church hall, a hotel lounge, or her care home's day room, if she lives in one and the staff agree. Ask about step-free access and a toilet nearby before anything else. Then about a screen with an HDMI input and the Wi-Fi, which guests' phones need for the quiz and the vote. The slideshow, photos and video messages run from the laptop without a connection.
Getting started
Try the 3-day demo without paying or entering a card. That is enough to load the photos and messages and check it all on a screen at home. If you want to keep using it for other family days, you buy a licence once, and there is no subscription after that. The price is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to put together a 90th birthday on the big screen
- 1
Six weeks ahead, start collecting photos and ask her about them.
- 2
Ask relatives and friends far away for short video messages.
- 3
Build the slideshow, the photo round, the timeline and a short quiz.
- 4
Choose the venue for access first, then check the screen and Wi-Fi.
- 5
On the day, loop the slideshow as guests arrive and run games in short blocks.
- 6
Finish with the video messages, the cake and the credits.
FAQ
Will a 90-year-old enjoy games?
What if many guests don't have smartphones?
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Can we hold it in a care home?
Can family abroad watch live?
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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