{"id":1113,"date":"2011-11-29T16:49:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T21:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/?p=1113"},"modified":"2015-07-17T16:18:27","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T16:18:27","slug":"the-retro-chic-guide-to-holiday-entertaining-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/the-retro-chic-guide-to-holiday-entertaining-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Retro-Chic Guide to Holiday Entertaining \u2013 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Maybe you\u2019ve noticed or maybe you haven\u2019t but there is currently an infatuation with the mid-1960s.\u00a0 The era\u2019s influence is everywhere from fashion to home d\u00e9cor to design and of course television with AMC\u2019s Mad Men pretty much pioneering the movement.\u00a0 With the holiday season naturally lending itself to decking out your home, sporting more dapper duds than normal and most importantly entertaining; it\u2019s the perfect opportunity to throw yourself a holiday shindig that any Kennedy-era advertising exec would feel at home at!<\/p>\n

Before we go any further you have to remember that the traditional social graces of the 1950s and earlier were only starting to mix with the beginnings of what would become the psychedelic, swinging, do your own thing late 1960s and 70s.\u00a0 That means entertaining was still proper and even a get-together of friends at someone\u2019s house before Christmas had a certain amount of formality to it.\u00a0 If you really want to capture the authentic feel of a holiday house party circa 1965 keep formality and grace in mind when you are considering options for each of the following:<\/p>\n

Invitations<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you want an authentic Camelot-era experience you need to send actual printed party invitations<\/a>.\u00a0 No questions asked.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have Facebook events, e-vites of even email back then and you just didn\u2019t call people up on the telephone and tell them you were having a party and it would be cool if they came.\u00a0 You sent invitations \u2013 that was part of the formality of the era.\u00a0 Your invitations don\u2019t have to be real fancy, a note card style invitation<\/a> will do and you can even handwrite some of the details.\u00a0 A slightly old fashioned design would be suitable \u2013 avoid over-the-top retro looking styles \u2013 that kind of look was more of a commercial style than an everyday or personal style.<\/p>\n

Attire<\/strong><\/p>\n

People used to dress fancier more often than they do today.\u00a0 Even young adults of the mid-1960s would have never considered showing up at someone\u2019s house for a party in jeans and a t-shirt.\u00a0 For a winter-time party in most parts of the country men would have at least worn a sport coat or sweater and a tie and women would have worn a dress.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to get into exact styles, you can research that; but with the era\u2019s influence on today\u2019s styles finding something that doesn\u2019t look like a parody shouldn\u2019t be too difficult.\u00a0 Convincing your guests that they should dress the part might be difficult but that\u2019s up to you!<\/p>\n

Food and Its Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tossing a couple of bags of chips and a tub or two of store-bought dip on the kitchen counter will not cut it for a proper Mad Men-esque Christmas shindig.\u00a0 A more formal gathering of the period would have been a full soup-to-nuts dinner party, fine china, real silverware, crystal glassware, table linens and all.\u00a0 That\u2019s probably overkill for most folks today; but an hors d\u2019oeuvre party, which would have been fairly informal for the period, would be fitting.\u00a0 Choose three or four recipes that make more substantial dishes and then surround them with smaller, simpler offerings. The late 1950s through the early 1970\u2019s was kind of the golden age of, well; let\u2019s just call it creativity, in party foods and hors d\u2019oeuvres.\u00a0 If you want to go really authentic hit some used book stores, thrift shops or flea markets and look for some cookbooks of the era.\u00a0 You can also search for vintage recipes online.\u00a0 Photos that accompanied the recipes will give you an idea for how to garnish and present your creations too.\u00a0 Just keep in mind that some foods like Jell-O molds with meat floating in them probably won\u2019t go over too big today.\u00a0 Actually, they probably didn\u2019t go over too big back in the \u201860s either, so use discretion and keep in mind that chips and dips are not a no-no as long as they are presented nicely.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s all the time we have for tonight folks!\u00a0 Tune in again in two days \u2013 same time \u2013 same station \u2013 for the exciting conclusion where we\u2019ll cover the all important beverages, music and d\u00e9cor that will make your retro-chic shindig a smash hit!<\/p>\n

Go to Part 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe you\u2019ve noticed or maybe you haven\u2019t but there is currently an infatuation with the mid-1960s. The era\u2019s influence is everywhere from fashion to home d\u00e9cor to design and of course television with AMC\u2019s Mad Men pretty much pioneering the movement. With the holiday season naturally lending itself to decking out your home, sporting more dapper duds than normal and most importantly entertaining; it\u2019s the perfect opportunity to throw yourself a holiday shindig that any Kennedy-era advertising exec would feel at home at!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13],"tags":[59,83,258,664,677,804,863,977,1220],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9080,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions\/9080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}