Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Mad Men Christmas Party

Hi beautiful readers!

I am well aware that Christmas has come and gone, but better late than never on this post.  This year the hubs and I wanted to throw Christmas party and go all-out classy.  Mad Men is one of the few shows that we both enjoy watching (he can tolerate waay more intense shows like Dexter and Breaking Bad that stress me out) and we have enjoyed following the show for years.  I am a lover of all things vintage so a 50's and 60's theme proved to be a perfect theme.

I started by searching Pinterest for other bloggers who had thrown similar parties, and I found a ton of great ideas from menu items to decor and even playlist suggestions.  If you would like to see my party planning board go to my page (andrea_britton) and board is called Mad Men Christmas Party.  You can also check out my Mad Men playlist on Spotify.  


I made my own snowflakes out of popsicle sticks and spray paint and hung those throughout the house with some red garland.  We tinseled the tree and used a lot of red and black in the plates, tablecloths, and napkins to go with the color scheme of the show.

The menu consisted of 50's and 60's party food including meatballs, pigs-in-a-blanket, a jello mold, devilled eggs, cold cuts, shrimp cocktail, popcorn balls, and lots more.  I also saw the idea online to make "snuffed-out cigarette" cupcakes which were delicious! 


Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures throughout the night as I had hoped, but here are some photobooth favorites!



I made some of my own props and purchased the rest from Target. 


The photobooth was a large canvas IKEA print that we covered with silver paper and then lined with tinsel, purchased from Party City.  All in all it cost less than $40 to make.  


Here is a photo of the unfinished project.








In addition to food, cocktails, games, and playing the Christmas Mad Men episodes on TV, we asked everyone to bring a vintage item for a white elephant gift exchange.  There were old teacups, records, figurines, books and games exchanged - oh and somehow a bird clock.  Lots of laughs.

I went for a "Joan look" in a green dress from H&M and a pair of red heels and red lipstick (of course).  I also did a slight beehive to keep the hair retro!  Everyone looked great, all the men suited up nicely and the ladies looked ravishing in vintage dresses.

I encourage you to try a themed party at some point.  People enjoy getting dressed up and being goofy, and it always makes for great memories and photos.  

Hope you enjoyed at least one or two holiday parties!  Maybe next year you should try throwing your own... any questions, let me know.  I'm no expert at party-planning but I have lots of advice to share from experience.  Entertaining is largely trial and error, but well worth the effort.  

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