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Tricks For Throwing The Perfect Fifties Cocktail Party

Throwing a Fifties cocktail party can be one of the highlights of your year if you pay attention to a few little extra cute details. The Fifties may have come before the Swinging Sixties but the cocktail parties were somethin’ ELSE! Social events for the upper and middle classes, cocktail parties, featured great food, great music and beautiful, beauuuutiful dresses, gah, the dresses! One of the best theme evenings you could go to is a Fifties night – and not just for the amazing music! With these top tips, you could throw the best cocktail party of the year!

Invites- The Fifties were the decade of formality and etiquette and sending formal invitations out for parties were the norm. Make sure you include the correct details for your RSVP request and ring around the week before the party so you get your party numbers.

Food – To truly impress your guests, make sure you bypass the buffet and go for serving hot and cold finger food passed around by a waitress you can hire. This is exactly what a hostess would have done in the Fifties so emulating that era is a darling thing to do! Fruit kebabs, ham and cheese parcels, and anything in aspic would be a popular option! Offer cloth napkins instead of paper ones for a real Fifties touch of class.Fashion – One of the best bits of a cocktail party was choosing your outfit! As these are formal affairs, strapless dresses with a full skirt and petticoat were all the rage. Throw on some small fancy colour diamonds and you’ll be the belle of the ball for certain. High heels, up-dos such as a chignon and a small handbag would set the entire look off beautifully. Browse online images of 50’s movie stars for inspiration, it’s a super fun way to dress! 

Home –A cocktail party at home would have been the best opportunity a housewife would have to show off the home and all your skills for keeping your home beautiful. Cutting fresh wildflowers from the garden and arranging them around the house would be a classy and gorgeous way of brightening the home without going for standard décor. While you most probably don’t like smoking in the home, dot vintage ashtrays through the room, as smoking was popular in that decade.

Cocktails – If you have a drinks cabinet, it’s time to get those bottles polished! You can put together a drinks trolley and offer martinis, side cars, vodka highballs and whiskey sours for a truly Fifties feel.

Music – You’ll need something to bop to so if you don’t have a retro record player, download some timeless tracks onto an iPod and dock it for the night. Not too loud, mind, as you want to be able to have conversation over the music. Crank it up for dancing later on!Your Fifties cocktail party will go off without a hitch and you’ll be the talk of the town just by following these party tips. Vintage doesn’t get better than the Fifties so it’s time for a shopping trip for a brand new cocktail dress!

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How To Throw A Vintage Garden Party, Darling!

 

When you think of a garden party, usually only two things come to mind. Either a barbecue with water fights, or a posh and elegant affair for the ladies. Garden parties are so underrated, and rightly so given that the weather isn’t always the best and most people don’t have the space in the garden to even throw a garden party – especially those in the city! If you are lucky enough to have a collection of vintage items you can use, then your garden party is already successful so all you have to do next is pick an era! Most people like to go for the twenties and earlier, but you do get those who want to relive the Sixties hipster era!

For a vintage garden party, the best food is usually finger sandwiches and delicate cakes. Think an upmarket picnic without the dodgy sausage rolls. Think twenties elegance while you sit in the garden among the flowers enjoying crustless sandwiches and mini Victoria sponge sandwich cakes. A silver tea service (for the truly vintage) would be perfect for a garden party, even if just as decoration. If you happen to have a collection of cups and saucers, they would be perfect for a dessert service of ice cream or Eton Mess. Bonus points for sending them home as party favours!Given that you’re having a garden party I think it’s safe to assume that it’s sunny outside and the right season for beautiful wildflowers. You don’t have to go as far as hiring out Jason Swanson painters to do the exterior of the house, but getting in some vintage tablecloths for table tops and even to act as fabric for a picnic will do the job! Pastel hanging lanterns for the trees if you have them will also be an excellently economical way to decorate. Bunting is a popular decoration for a garden party so match your pastels and you’ll have an elegant outdoor display.Your party will be a picture of elegance and poise and if you have any shabby chic furnishings you can bring from the inside to the garden, you can save yourself some money on decoration as this would be an exquisite piece for food to be on outside. When it comes to music, you could choose to hire in a vintage band, or pop on some old records. If you don’t have a record player, downloaded music will work but there’s nothing quite so lovely as the scratch of a record on a vintage record player. It gives the party and atmosphere a little authenticity. Your garden party can be a huge success as long as you follow the rules of elegance and beauty for the era which you pick. You can also add in little additions like mini pies and quiches for something different to sandwiches and cake. I doubt anyone is going to complain about the range of cakes and puddings you can offer for your party so go and enjoy yourself, darling!

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Get Married Like A Movie Star – Injecting Some Hollywood Glamour Into Your Wedding Day

Weddings are such joyous occasions. They are also one of the rare chances we have in this life to go all out and really bask in some old world glamour. Whether you go for a few Hollywood touches or completely live that Movie star fantasy all day, it’s always good to get glamorous!

Red Lipstick – So one of the most glamorous thing you can do in to make yourself into a gorgeous Hollywood starlet from the 50’s for the day. It is all about the makeup, which is so classic it goes with a lot of different style dresses, as well as just the 40’s and 50’s ones. The most important feature of the look is a gorgeous red lipstick. This looks so timeless against the white or cream, of your dress. But to rock a red lippy, you also have to get the rest of the face right. First, you will need to make sure that your teeth are pearly white and in the best condition. You will also need a good full coverage foundation, which you have left to set on your face. This will stop it smudging off on your dress. Then you need perfect dark shaded eyebrows and a strong mascara, along with that gorgeous cat’s eye flick of eyeliner. Use a matte lipstick shade for that will last all day even after kissing your groom.

Dress – If you are looking for some serious old Hollywood glamour, then go for a satin bias cut 30’s style gown. These are usually well fitted and often have a low back.  This is the quintessential movie star outfit to slink down the aisle in. Gooorgeous! If you prefer to wear something with just a nod to star glamour, then pick something that makes you feel like a beautiful bride. Lace or satin work well, as do 60’s style chiffon gowns. Remember it’s your time to utterly shine!

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Make an entrance – Don’t forget that movie stars like to make an entrance. We are talking Limos and red carpets here. Organize your car well in advance by contacting a company that offers Limousine Hire. Ask your reception venue to provide a red carpet that you and your guest get to walk on. Just make sure they know not to put it out if it is raining!

Decorations – One you have made your entrance, then you can make your way into the main reception space. If you want your guests to get to feel like movies start as well, you can theme the decorations in a Hollywood style. Maybe consider naming the tables after famous film star couples like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, or Kirk Russell and Goldie Horn? Just maybe don’t use Brad and Angelina though! You could have an Oscars-themed wedding cake? How about life size cardboard cutouts of your favorite film stars from history like Garland and Monroe? Or, what about having a projector screen with your favorite movies playing in the background during the meal? Whichever way you choose to inject Hollywood glamour into your day, you gotta know that it’ll be you who feels like the true star…and so you should!

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You Say You Wanna Dive Into The Sixties?

It’s a biggie. The V&A’s current main exhibition; ‘You Say You Want A Revolution?’ is epic, I mean, it really is huuuuge! My Mama and I spent last Sunday in sunny Kensington and took in all the sights and sounds of this ace exhibition; a good day indeed. The V&A is always utter perfection when it comes to these giant offerings, the scale was that of the McQueen and the Hollywood *still my all time favourite exhibition* ones, you need a good couple of hours to get round it and get it all up in your face and ears, it’s worth it, it’s always worth it with that place. This show covers so much, you don’t know where to look first, and you’re handed headphones on your way in so there’s constant audio too. The numerous rooms cover the latter part of the sixties, conveying the importance and effects of this massively important era, and they present it through fashion, film, music and political activism from the time. Behold the beauty of the vintage clothes that make up part of the show, perfectly selected to give just the right amount of mixed media. I mean, this exhibition can please most people, any age. The ones who lived through it will be queuing up for a hit of sweet nostalgia, vintage fans, music lovers, people keen to learn about the history, this show has a serious pull to many. It covers loads, there’s even a piece of the actual Moon from NASA in reference to Apollo 11 off of 1969. the actual MOON! I was staring at that for a while let me tell ya! It has outfits from The Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album cover, a Barbarella outfit, a jumpsuit worn by Mick Jagger and actual handwritten song lyrics from John Lennon and the like. Oooof! It’s really very cool. One room is set up as Woodstock, with fake grass and a big stage streaming footage of the event, full marks to whoever curated that neat little idea! It’s a grand show, a really thorough exhibition, lots to read, look at, listen to and watch. It was almost too much, but I guess it means a second visit is a good idea if you wanna soak it all up real good! I’d say go, do it, go dive into the 60’s for a few hours and become absorbed. Be careful with those headphones though, I took mine off at points just to focus on the visual as it’s all quite in your face. My Mum didn’t though, and her, along with some others, sporadically shouted conversation forgetting they had headphones on; ‘Your Dad wore that aftershave‘ pointing at a Brut ad. Yes, Mum, he did, but the whole of the V&A doesn’t need to hear about it. A good exhibition indeed.  

You Say You Want A Revolution? is on now at The V&A until 26th February 2017

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Best Friends Forever? A Pampering Party Forges The Bonds

One of the best, most simple pleasures in life is to have a group of friends that you’re in sync with. You don’t have to be clones of one another. Preferably you won’t be. It may be best if you think of the Spice Girls. I know they mostly ended up hating one another, but you all have your role. Nothing as binary as “I’m the funny one, she’s the sarcastic one, you’re the sweet one”, but they define themselves.

Friendship groups like this work because you can hang out as pairs. Everyone might have their OTP, but you can call any one of them and know you can talk. And you can talk to different friends about different things. Relationship problems? That’s Sandra. Workplace issues? That’s Rita. Forgotten the capital of Finland? Ask Pamela. (Yes, I’ve taken the names of the imaginary group of friends from Mambo No. 5. And it’s Helsinki.)

With friends like this, you can call and hang out pretty much any time. But it’s also vital, for the sake of team spirit, to have a planned meetup every once in a while. You set the world to rights and plan other things – girly holidays, nights out, even weddings. And one of the best ways to spend a day with friends is an at-home pampering stint.

The Venue

Well, it’s at one of your houses, obviously. It’s up to you to decide whose. Maybe one of you has a bigger house. Maybe one of you is located more conveniently for travel purposes. Maybe one of you has family who are in and out all the time. Avoid that one, this is a team event. Maybe you just do it on a rotation basis. There’s not a specific set of rules here, you can’t codify friendship. That much.

The Essentials

You wouldn’t play tennis without racquets, you wouldn’t go skiing without alarming dayglo bodysacks. And you don’t have a pampering day without the essentials. You need food – takeaway and sweet treats are essential here, pampering has no place for cooking. Something to drink is vital – whatever each of you is into, make sure there’s a supply. And pampering isn’t right without big bathrobes – Richard Haworth hotel linens are among the best options.

The Time

Any decent gathering of friends has within it the potential to take on a life of its own. It can go on for some time, including into the early hours. So it’s best to plan it for public holidays or times when you’ve all got freedom from work. But we all have busy lives, so it is important to take time where you can find it. It’s not always easy, but it is so worthwhile.

Whenever you have a friendship group like this, you know there will be trials and tribulations. There may be fallings out, there may be shouting rows. And as you get older, your interests may go in different directions. But as long as there is that thread of friendship, you can be a team for decades. You just have to make sure you nurture the connections. Time with good friends is so very, very precious. 

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