Retro Holiday Cocktail Party!
I so enjoyed writing about the retro decorations available this year that I wanted to take the theme a step further and create a cocktail party based upon fun, vintage touches! Take a look and see if what’s old feels just right for today!
Four funky and fresh invitations with a vintage feel are available from Invitation Box! The styles include a Las Vegas neon sign, a 1950′s style billboard and retro trees! (Retro Billboard, Retro Trees, Welcome to Vegas, Cadillac Santa, 50 for $108)
Tabletop
Pick up an adorable reproduction pattern tablecloth from 
Retro Redheads! Find cloths embellished with ribbons, presents, Santas and Christmas trees! Layer a topper over a plain white cloth to accommodate a larger table and let the colors guide your choices of paper goods, candles and flowers! (Retro Redheads)
Cocktails and Hors D’Oeuvres
I found the most fabulous website that will answer all of your questions when planning a retro menu! At retrovintagecollectables.com, you’ll find recipes for cocktails whose names you haven’t heard in decades (think Stinger!), a wide array of “canapés from the past” (think Roquefort olives!) and the option to purchase vintage accessories! This site is so terrific that it will transport you immediately back to the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s! Take a look even if you aren’t planning to host this particular party!!
Favors
With another nod to the past, purchase “choirboy” candles for your guests from The Vermont Country Store! This classic decoration will surely bring back memories for all in attendance! Wrap one or two candles in cellophane bags! (Vermont Country Store, set of 3 for $17.95, with Santa and angel styles as well)
I know that your guests will love this unique twist on the traditional Christmas cocktail party, and if you’re like me, you’ll enjoy gathering special items that bring back wonderful childhood memories! Cheers!
You may also enjoy:
- Retro Christmas Decorations and Toys
- Host a Chocolate Tasting Party
- Friday Night Pizza Party
- Get Together with Girl Friends and Get a Job Done
- Busy Bee’s Christmas Gift Guide
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I like ideas from magazines, HWTM and other blogs. For kids ideas I head to Crafty Crow blog and Family Fun magazine. I’m behind the 8 ball this year though…
I am looking forward to hosting our 2nd annual Hot Chocolate Party! This is our second year hosting the get together with our family and close friends and a huge variety of hot chocolate flavours and cookies! It’s a great get to share time with everyone before christmas day since we are all so busy once christmas eve hits and up till the new year!
I always get lots of inspiration from the Crate and Barrel catalog. So chic!
blogs,blogs,&blogs. the starting of the christmas cookie baking starts the season off
I alternate between Halloween and Christmas for my holiday blow-outs, and last weekend was my 2nd Annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. It’s a great way for a break in holiday madness to get the gals together for an evening of fun and mocking.
This holiday season we are hosting a Hanukkah gathering as well as a Christmas gathering. All this and I am 6 months preggers with my first. Phew!
I love to cook and entertain. When I start to plan a party I go to Rachel Ray’s website and now I’m a regular at HWTM.
I love hostess with the mostess and i usually just shop at Target for decor. I might use things in ways they weren’t necessarily intended to get the look I have in my mind.
The last few years I Get my inspiration for decorating from my Heritage. I am Swedish and am trying to reflect that in my Christmas Decor. We have straw ornaments and my daughter dresses as Santa Lucia. I want my children to know our traditions. God Jul!
Every year we have a regional theme for our Christmas party with a signature cocltail. This year we did New Southern cuisine (sweet potato and andouille tartlets, red velvet cupcakes,etc) with a Redneck Margeritta. There wasn’t one leftover!
Previous years we have done takeout pizza and jug red wine (2 weeks after we moved in to our new house), tapas and sangria…. You get the idea!
I love making my guests feel comfortable and welcome as soon as they are in the door. I want the way I have decorated and set the mood to really bring out the holiday cheer. Smells, touch, taste, sound is all very important. I want to be able to smell the food cooking in the kitchen, I always have smell good candles in the living room too. I try to wow my guests with new and fun appetizers and meals I look up on different sites and blogs. The sound is usually lots of talking, loud talking if you are around my family and a lot of laughing. I like to follow everything up with a great dessert whether it be pie, pumpkin cheesecake or easy ice cream sandwiches. Over the past year I have fallen in love with hosting, and Christmas is the best day out of the year.
I always enjoy a Holiday Sweater party. It’s hilarious some of the things that people show up in, and always a great time. The men always have on women’s sweaters, people raid thrift stores. It’s always a great time, and I can’t wait until this years.
I absolutely love the holidays and baking goodies for friends and family and decorating my house. I am inspired by Martha Stewarts holiday magazines every year, she has so many cute tips,tricks and recipes on every page!
Just attended a fabulous girls-only tree trimming party – looking forward to drawing inspiration from RealSimple.
My fav. holiday resource is google!
you can find ANYTHING!
I get ideas from HWTM, Martha Stewart and craft blogs. I’m hosting a cookie exchange party and a new years dinner party!
We love to throw Halloween parties and a Christmas party every year. I love to look through the Martha Stewart and BHG magazines for ideas.
I love to give gifts that require a little creativity. One of my favorite places to shop is the Dollar Tree. I pick up all kinds of odds and ends for A BUCK! and then for one week I let my basement be a complete mess while I craft and craft.
I LOVE blogs for all their inspiration! Hostess with the Mostess, is the best. Inspiration from a color or a specific item to create a theme around it always gets me going! Repurposing anything I can in the process.
HWTM is a great inspiration for me PLUS they pointed me to you! I make my gifts and blogs inspire ideas so I can tailor a gift to the recipient. Martha is a big help, too. I can remember my grandmother having these candles you’ve shown; so many memories!
Since I was a young teen, my mom would put my then toddler brother to bed on Christmas Eve and my dad and I would watch Die Hard and wrap all of the presents from Santa. Now, it is becoming a tradition to host a Die Hard Christmas Party.
While it is not a holiday party, we will be celebrating my sister’s 21st birthday on the 27th. She is currently pregnant so the cocktail party will feature virgin drinks with recipes from Preggatinis, lemon drop cake with a cosmo glaze, and hor’dourves.
I consistently use Hostess with the Mostess, Martha Stewart, and WeddingBee for inspiration.
I love the retro theme of this post, as I too will be attending a retro holiday party this year (a Mad Men theme). Although all I had to worry about was my retro attire, I can’t wait to see if the hostess includes the inspirations for other aspects of the party like this post has!
This year is my husbands and mine first Christmas together Married. We are both college students and full time workers. We are in charge of Christmas this year and we are so excited. We are hosting about 30 people and have so much entertainment in store! We are so excited.
~:: Newlyweds::~
This year is my husbands and mine first Christmas together Married. We are both college students and full time workers. We are in charge of Christmas this year and we are so excited. We are hosting about 30 people and have so much entertainment in store! We are so excited.
~:: Newlyweds ::~
I love the holidays and entertaining. My family will be doing our annual White Elephant Sale using home made gifts only and our annual Christmas brunch. I get a lot of ideas from Martha Stewart. Her and her team are amzaing!
I’m hosting our holiday party for our monthly girls night out gathering! The highlight of my party is, frankly, the invites, which I designed by hand. It was a first time experience, and so rewarding!
I am hosting a baby shower in January. Even though it’s not a holiday party is is super close the the holiday season. I get alot of ideas from the blog HWTM and the Style Me Petty blog. Even though SMP is mostly a wedding blog you can always take ideas and change them up a bit. I have everything ready to go for the shower. Can’t wait!
This holiday season I plan on having a little New Years Eveparty. Just a few of my close frieds. I will be making lasanga for dinner and ordering yummy cupcakes for dessert. I have found that Target has the BEST holiday decorations and fun ideas. I want the party to be fun and shimmery. Just some close friends enjoying the New Year together!
We live near Colonial Williamsburg and we go to their grand illumination every year. This year, I’m inspired by colonial decor (pineapple welcome symbol, simplicity and natural fibers). I mostly shop at Wal-Mart, the Dollar Tree, Target and local arts merchants to combine items on a budget!
HWTM and other blogs – Paper Source and Hobby Lobby. I’m so behind this year – can’t wait until 2010 to get more crafty! Merry Christmas!
Just posted pix of my holiday fireplace mantel… drop by!
My friends and I love having a classy holiday party every year. As grad students we don’t get to dress up too often and it’s always an enjoyable occasion- the tacky sweater idea is a bit over used. Then we lightly decorate- all we need is good food and good company.
Christmas with the family and friends is the onli way to spend christmas. I get inspiration from anywhere and everywhere! Blogs! HWTM! are defn my major sources!
I am having a Christmas Cookie Tasting (less work than a swaP!) everyone brings cookies to share and I supply milk (in cute little cartons), hot cocoa & the music!
I get all my ideas from all the magazines round Christmas time – cut them out and make a big folder with ideas so I can pick stuff up throughout the year. My failsafe Christmas cookbook is Nigella Lawson’s ‘Christmas’ – everything in there is so delicious!
My 15 year old daughter and one of her best friends host a cookie exchange every year (this will be the 5th year). We pick a theme–snowflakes this year–and have as much fun getting ready for the party as we do at the party!!
I love the retro party, I am doing a brunch and that would go beautiful as a theme.
My favorite inspiration usually comes from Hostess with the Mostess! It’s a great jumping off point for my creativity and then I personalize from there.
HWTM and Real Simple are my two favorite places to look for entertaining ideas. Looking forward to hosting a gift wrapping party. So much fun to get together and wrap christmas presents together!
We are having our 3rd Annual X’mas Party this year at another friend’s house and blogs like htwm is where I really go to for ideas and diy arts and crafts for a more chic and sassy alternative.
I use Google Reader for all my design blogs. They are all such a inspiration… I cannot decide which is the most inspiring blog/website…
This Christmas I am hosting a small dinner party for a few relatives. I enjoy getting ideas from a variety of blogs but mainly my ideas come from the Hostess with the Mostess blog…I absolutely love the blog and the web site!
I love etsy for gifts , its also really great for picking up really cute cards for the holidays or tags to put on presents!
I have 4 kids and because of that I am a bargain shopper especially when it comes to shopping for holiday decor.I look forward to auctions and yard sales and i loooove thrift stores like Goodwill and also consignment stores.I have found cute and interesting things that won’t break the bank.I get more for the money and you can’t even tell they are used items.Trash to treasure!
This Christmas will be a little different for my family. We’ll be visiting extended family in another state – so I’ll miss entertaining in my own home this year (say it isn’t so!) But since I am a complete fanatic about the Holidays, we’ll be hosting a Holiday Hangover party about two weeks after Christmas and inviting all of the regulars we’ll be missing this year. The bonus? I’ll have time to do some additional last minute decorating and gift buying with the fantastic after-Christmas sales!!
Christmas is my favorite time of year and I can’t wait to start decorating. My favorite places to go for inspiration are MarthaStewart.com, HWTM, Real Simple, my BHG magazine and Bakerella. They always have awesome ideas for everything from decorations and gifts to parties and recipes.
Adorable invitations! So cute and classic.
we’re doing a throwback christmas as well- bringing out the old decorations and keeping it SIMPLE this year
I love getting ideas from websites like Hostess With the Mostess, Martha Stewart and Real Simple. As well as lots of blogs!
Having a small family get together, with great ideas from busybee lifestyles blog and hostess blog!