That Seventies Slide Show & How to Recreate It

Ah, the Great Slide Night. If you grew up in the 1970s, you might remember it. It wasn’t dissimilar to the Tupperware or Avon parties of the era, but instead of selling handy containers and cosmetics over cocktails, you’d be treated to a blow-by-blow account of the hosts’ recent holiday.

Yes, slide shows were an event. A neighbour’s living room transformed into a theatre, the lights went down, the screen rolled up, and the clack-clack of the carousel projector filled the room. People gathered in flares and flannels, fondue forks in hand, while The Eagles or Simon & Garfunkle played quietly on vinyl in the background.

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The good, the bad... and the blurry

At their best, slide nights were a fun excuse for a get together. There would be food, wine, and laughter while distant adventures lit up the wall. Children might be recruited to advance the slides (a sacred duty), and everyone clapped at the end.

At their worst? They became long evenings of one family’s fancy holiday "show-off session”. Hours of temples, monuments and strangers posing stiffly in exotic markets. Guests politely nodded while secretly counting down to the after-dinner mints.

But even the boring bits were part of the charm. Like Tupperware parties, projector parties weren’t really about the product — they were about people gathering, connecting and sharing. In person.

Why they faded

By the 1980s, mini-labs and photo printing took over. Families started dropping rolls of film at Pronta Print and sticking the results into albums. Slide projectors gathered dust. By the 2000s, the digital camera and then the smartphone swept it all away. Now we scroll, swipe, and double-tap — but rarely do we sit together in a darkened room to laugh at the same pictures.

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A more modern projector party

It is absolutely possible back the magic — without the boredom or the not-so-humblebrag. Here’s how to host your own Modern Slide Show Party:

• Make it collaborative: Forget the endless holiday snaps. Ask everyone to bring 5–10 digitised photos each — ideally on a theme. Childhood birthdays, beloved pets, questionable hairstyles, epic nights out. It becomes a shared storytelling experience, not a monologue.
• Celebrate people, not places: The joy isn’t in sunsets or monuments — it’s in faces, friends, and family. A slide night works best when the focus is human.
• Think of life’s milestones: We still do this for weddings, stag/hen dos, anniversaries and funerals — gathering around photos to tell stories. A modern slide night just takes that spirit and makes it joyful and casual.
• Project with style: A digital projector or smart TV makes it easy. Mix old slides and prints (digitised in advance) with recent favourites.
• Set the mood: Retro snacks (vol-au-vent anyone? Or assemble a pineapple hedgehog, with Twiglets and devilled eggs in bowls) with modern drinks (natural wine, craft cocktails). Spotify playlist? Temper the Fleetwood Mac with a little Dua Lipa.
• Keep it short: 30 minutes is plenty. Then move to conversation and dessert.
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Why it’s worth reviving

Slide nights weren’t perfect but they were powerful. They slowed life down. They gave families and friends a reason to gather, laugh and actually look at each other’s photos together.
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And maybe that’s what we miss most in our digital age. Not the clack of the projector or the smell of cigarette smoke in the curtains, but the sense of shared experience.

So dig out those old slides, digitise them and invite your friends over. Make it collaborative, make it themed, and make it fun.

Because photos were never meant to live just on screens, they were meant to bring people together.
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