How To Throw A Mad For Mid-Century Holiday Party? The most popular parties are ones that build the anticipation of your guests with the promise of an event that they will want to take part in. If you, like me, have a penchant for all things mid century modern, and adore the AMC TV Show “Mad Men” this idea will be just the ticket.
Today I will combine my two loves: Mid Century Fabulousness and Christmas Parties!
We are pleased and proud to have KOOP KOOPER, the cocktail universe’s high priest of all things hep, swingin’ and swank, and cyber disc jockey of his radio show the ‘Cocktail Nation’ as our special guest on this weeks Holiday Party entry.
We want to throw a Christmas Soiree in the theme of AMC’s “Mad Men” TV Show and all things
Mid Century fabulous, what would your recommendations be…
For music? I personally like the more swingin’ material you can get from the Ultra Lounge Series. There are three albums that are worth getting. Lots of great songs so you can plug and play and get down to the serious work of entertaining your guests and of course digging the Egg Nog. Yes, I agree! and the Ultra Lounge Christmas Collection is well, the ultimate!
For Cocktails? Naturally you should always have the Egg Nog on the go, it’s always a favourite and I would think that it’s almost expected. Mulled Cider is a popular drink as is the Candy Cane and the Champagne Cocktail is a standard that you should always have ready for your guests. I do believe that at any party, to be a good host you must always have a wide variety of drinks to please the various tastes of your guests so never forget the basics…beer, wine and spirits. You don’t ever want to run out so always over cater, you can always use the additional booze at your next event.
For Food? You know what? I’m not much of a fan of the dinner party. I always feel that the food gets in the way of good times, great laughs and fantastic stories. For my party this year I will be offering a variety of finger food. The ease of the preparation and the lack of a need to get the timing right is perfect. These days most people struggle to make appointment times so why bother. Set your time for your party late in the evening and let the guests arrive when they feel like it and plan for a late night! Good thoughts, I would go for trays of appetizers, including dips and tapas, prepped in advance so I can enjoy the party too!
Attire? Since all of my friends are Retrophiles who love the fifties and sixties I can always count on them to turn up in spectacular style. If you want to encourage people to dress up then make sure you put it on the Retro Christmas Party invitations and when you talk to your friends in the weeks leading up to the event make sure you tell them what you are wearing. It plants a seed and gives them an idea of what they should wear. Studies say that 82% of people stress about what to wear to an event. I can guarantee they actually want some direction on this matter. For ideas of clothing style check out the photos of my swank friends on my book Koop Koopers Cocktail Nation, The Interviews.
Decor? I wouldn’t worry about what you have in your pad, it’s the way you place it. You may need to shuffle some things around to open the place up for maximum social activity. The last thing you want is people not having an open physicality about their position in party. Think of it as party Feng Shui. Place things in such a way that people can easily mill about and that they can enter and leave conversations easily. Got a new piece of artwork or gadget? Place it in a prominent position in the room. A talking piece is always a nice opener for people who might not know each other. And at this, the most wonderful time of the year, we all want to display our retro Christmas decorations, so plug in the color wheel, point it at the aluminum tree and rev up the Model Train!
Thank You Koop Kooper, The Daddy-O of the Radi-O! Original interview and post published in November 2012.
