A Mad Men Affair

   Mad Men is quite the show, and I absolutely love it, most definitely because it is set in my favorite decade.  I also love throwing parties.  Keeping these two things in mind, I had a Mad Men Party in January.  Much to my delight, everyone dressed up (all the boys wore suits!) and we had so much fun!

I unfortunately did not take nearly enough photos of the decorations, but there are a lot of my friends!

If you are interested in throwing a Mad Men party, or a 1950/60s party in general, I'd love to see it, and I would love for you to take some of my suggestions!

Music:
   Grooveshark "Mad Men" playlist and my dad's Beatles record albums


Decorations:
   Fun vintage items borrow from Nancy (my boss) including books, a TV light, a World's Fair bottle from alcohol, and vintage Barbie dolls.  I also had my portable Royal typewriters on display.

I printed out a bunch of old advertisements I found on the internet, some were even featured in Mad Men!

The bathroom had two beauty advertisements, as well as a lipstick holder (so cute, and now on consignment at Re-Threads Boutique) and an old hairdryer/rollers.




Food:
   My friends came over in the late evening, so I planned to serve snacks and desserts.  We had crackers and cheese, chips and dip, and Planters peanuts.

Dessert included homemade rice-krispie treats, brownies, and oreos.

I had coke, and some small tips to make mocktails.
I also have a punch concoction that is always a hit at my parties, courtesy of my friend from Juniata.  It's a combination of orange juice, raspberry lemonade, and sprite.  Frozen berries and balls of raspberry sherbet are added as well.  If you want to make this, I just added everything to taste; there are no specific proportions of each ingredient.  However, I'd definitely recommend it for any party!


Clothing:
   I instructed the girls to wear simple cocktail dresses or pencil skirts, or to go more housewife with full skirts and cardigans.  I also lent out some of my vintage aprons that I have picked up at my boutique!

The dress I wore I had bought, shocker, at Re-Threads Boutique.  It is from the 40s/50s, and the consigner had brought in three white and blue vintage dresses at the same time.  I adored all three, and ended up buying two of them.  This one was in the shop for a few months, and I got it on a final sale which I was ecstatic about!  The apron is also from my shop.  My hat/hairband was my grandmother's hair piece for her wedding.  She then had it dyed, and wore it for my parents' wedding.  It's simply darling :)

Photo-booth:
   I have decided that the photo-booth is a must at my parties.  They bring out a lot of fun ideas from people, and the pictures turn out great!  I have made lips and mustaches on sticks for people to use as props in the past, but this time I left out vintage hats, a boa, and a pair of cat eye glasses.

    

I gave out candy cigarettes to the girls and bubblegum cigars to the boys (I bought these at local candy shops) at the beginning of the night.  They were also used in the photo-booth!

I loved this party so much because my friends really got into the costumes!  I'm always looking for good party to throw - which is very appropriate, since it's my birthday next week and I've been avidly crafting and planning for another shindig!

Have a great Thursday!

~M. Margaret