Sock Hop Party Part 1

Today is this little girl's birthday.

3! I can't believe it.

We had a "hoppin" weekend. On Saturday we had her 50's Sock Hop dance party. She was so excited! I think my favourite moment was when she saw her friend, Makenna, get out of the car and she broke out in giggles.

We've learned that the best time for having a preschooler's party is 10am-Noon on a Saturday. Most people are free and the kids are happiest. However, when it's raining and cloudy, it's not the best light for pictures. So if "flash" pictures annoy you. I'm so sorry. I took as many as I could without, but some were impossible otherwise.

Since there is so much to say I'm going to break this into two posts. I'll cover the decor and food today and then tomorrow we'll talk about the fun stuff we did.

As you all know, I'm in love with my Silhouette. I gave it a workout for this party! I used it to design the invitations, which I showed you in this post. Using that same template I carried the theme throughout the rest of the decor.

I used names from 50's songs to name all the food. Just a side note, if you're planning a party, look at the top 100 songs from each year of the 50's. There are some fantastic food names in the titles that would create a fabulous menu. I had already chosen my food and was looking for things that could go with it, but if you're wondering what to serve, check out the songs for inspiration. The names of all the foods we served are below with the pictures of the food.

“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” cake by Tuneweavers

What goes better with a sock hop/soda shop than a burger? Really, I just didn't want to make a record (she doesn't know what they are!) and deal with all that black icing! Yuck!

You can't see my dyed-coconut lettuce, but it was there. I used brownie for the middle layer coated in a light icing and crushed up oreos for the "meat" look. The mustard, ketchup and mayo are icing. The onions and pickles are gum drops that I rolled out and then cut with a circle cutter. The sesame seeds are rice krispies.

  “At the Hop” Fries Cookies by Danny and the Jr's

And you can't have a burger without fries! I cut out sugar cookies with a crinkle cutter. I made "ketchup" with dyed corn syrup (I didn't expect anyone to eat it, it was just decor)

 “Around and Around” Potato Chips by Chuck Berry

“The Twist” Popcorn Twists by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters

I served potato chips and popcorn twists in my record bowls that I was telling you about. But apparently I forgot to take a picture of them in the bowl. Whoops.

 “Tutti Fruitti” Jell-O by Little Richard

I cut Jell-O into notes (I used the recipe I talked about here). I have a distinct memory from my 6th birthday eating Jell-O that was in the shape of notes. It's a very fond memory so I had to recreate it!

“I Like My Baby's Pudding” Pudding by Wynonie Harris

Pudding cups (kind of looking like rootbeer floats. I saw that idea somewhere, but I forgot to put in the straws and then by the time I remembered the party was already going).

Then some candy, which was called “Sweet Nothings” (Smarties, the Canadian ones) by Brenda Lee and “Candy”  (gum drops) by Big Maybelle

And to drink we had “Juiced” (juice) by Jackie Brenston and “Soda Pop, Pop” Rootbeer and Cream Soda Floats by Tommy Sands (and the boys drank coffee, but I didn't name that anything special). I didn't get pictures of the beverages, but I'm pretty sure you can imagine.

Truth by told, the reason I hung balloons here was to hide the picture hook from the one I took down to make room for the banner. Shhh, don't tell.

I used the 45's template from the invites to make a Happy Birthday Banner as well as a few extras to hang around the house.

I wanted to give the feeling of a dance area and a diner. So I bought scene setters (since they're larger and cheaper than anything I could make with paper).

The music ones I hung in the living room and the diner ones I put in our dining room. If you've never used them (I hadn't) know that the colours are best on white or light walls, our walls are a darker brown so it wasn't the best pop of colour, but it did the trick for 3 year olds. I just wish there was a way to get the creases out. Anyone know a trick??

And of course, no sock hop would be complete without a Juke Box! I added musical notes that I made on my silhouette.

Those same musical notes appeared on the food table in mini, sprinkled around. The "mobile" hanging from the light was all stuff made on my silhouette. I made a checkered table runner with paper and another jukebox was the centre piece.

This was another one I made on my silhouette and then I just attached it to a gift bag. Worked great! I put candy sticks and sticks with notes coming out the centre. I had plans to fill it with candy sticks, but it was too top heavy and I was too tired at that point to come up with an alternative, so there are only 5 skewers, which I forgot to send home with the kids.

I even designed menus based on the food we were eating. I don't really know how authentic the prices are. Some I found online. Others I just guessed/made up. :)

And lastly I designed a sign pointing the way to the dining room. Ignore the creases, please. Mady stepped on it when it was rolled up in the bag!

For favours the kids took home bubbles (shaped like guitars and microphones) and lollipops and a hula hoop. I hung the hoops along the banister for added decor.

The ceiling housed a big bag of balloons for a balloon drop that we had during the dance party, but that's getting into tomorrow's post... ;)

So that's the decor and the food. Tomorrow I'll show you the party in action. My girl had quite the smile plastered on her face!


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