1920's inspired New Year's Party?!
Answers: I have the basic outline for my Jazz Age inspired party and am really excited but I need creative idea's to set my party over the top? Any suggestions, all are appreciated.
1) Embrace the era with decor in shades of black and white primarily - make your own linens by hitting a wholesale fabric store and buying by the yard. Mix it up, rather than being too matchy-matchy, and choose different textures of rich fabrics. And instead of hemming everything, just pin feather boas to the bottoms of each piece for a finished look.
2) For centerpieces and accents, tis the season: buy Christmas ornaments that look like disco balls in various sizes and use them to fill glass cylinders and other containers (try Hobby Lobby and similar places).
3) Back to the feather boas, I always insist that guests get a favor, and at $2-3 each, you can give a boa to each of your guests as a party favor - perhaps along with a mix CD of music from the era, just visit iTunes.
4) If you have a few extra bucks to spend, hire a live jazz singer - a three-piece ought to keep things hopping.
5) Instead of a full bar, have two or three signature cocktails, such as Sidecars, which were very popular in the day. And for a final touch of class, have hors d'oeuvres and cocktails passed by tuxedo'd wait staff (about $20 per hour, four hour minimum). You can use your own food, but having the wait staff pass is just plain elegant.
Set your basement up like a 1920s era speakeasy. Be sure have some authentic drinks and music from that era. Also ask your guests to dress the part.
You could learn & then teach your guests some of the popular dances of the era (the Charleston is the obvious one) and maybe have little "cheat sheets" of slang.
Dress the part in a flapper dress - lots of fringe - maybe have some photos of movie stars up, get a wig or do your hair in a bob, etc.
I'd recommend playing party games that they played then, but I don't know what those are! :)
How about food that was from the 1920s?
Try doing a search on the internet and I am sure that you will get some.
Have fun