Great Gatsby / Roaring 20's Party for my BFF!

Hello barbies!

You've all heard all about my beautiful best friend and the formal living room we built onto at our house with the plan of hosting a fabulous bridal shower for her there. I wrote about it and our plans to host the big shower here and here. Well, the day finally came and it was a great time! The bride's friends, family and future in-laws were so much fun and all dressed fully on theme. She and the groom got tons of beautiful gifts too.

The bride wanted a Great Gatsby themed couples shower, so that's what we did. We went with gold, silver, black and white to keep with the Golden Era vibe. We also used a lot of pearls and feathers.

We had spare boas, pearls, hats, headpieces, rings and of course, red lipstick, for guests coming without enough Gatsby attire (although hardly anyone needed it). I also added the "Doll up your outfit darling" sign in a pearl frame.

I made the giant dice pictured by buying 3 moving boxes from Lowes, then wrapping them with inside out wrapping paper (I had to go through my entire collection to find one without hallmark logos or grids on the inside!). Then I used my anchor mixing bowls to trace tons of circles on black paper, then cut them and taped them to the boxes. These were used in our kitchen, which was a casino themed area meant to give the guys a masculine place to play poker while we ladies engaged in some of the girlier shower traditions. I also made the large aces out of poster board and had hubby cut me a piece of mdf so that I could make a casino sign. Lastly, I framed pictures of 1920's era guys playing casino games.

I also made a gold flag banner with their wedding date on it and silver/black and white flag banners with their names on them. The gift table was a black and white overlay, with a gold glittery sign I made that said "something new."

The food was almost all served on our new, 11 ft, Restoration Hardware inspired dining room table (yay!) which hubby built from scratch by himself with locally harvested poplar wood from my nearby home town, Bahama, NC. More on the table in my next post (hubby is guest blogging and will explain step by step how he made it!). The bride's mother, future mother-in-law and groom's restaurant (yes - he owns two fabulous Italian restaurants) made and brought SO much delicious food, which was so helpful. I only bought a few finger foods, made fruit cups and made chocolate and lemon pudding cups. The moms and the restaurant were the bomb!

All in all, it was a great couples shower filled with lovely guests and the world's prettiest bride. Seriously, could my BFF be any more gorgeous?

For any of you who might be thinking about hosting your own Great Gatsby, Roaring 20's or prohibition-era themed party, I think the biggest thing to remember is to keep things as glamorous as possible. It was an era of extravagance - the Great Depression hadn't hit yet and Americans were living large. It was also a time of wild, decadent in-home parties because of prohibition. For fashion inspiration, look no further than my best friend: lace, pearls, feathers, beading, sequins and headpieces are all a must. For men, think suspenders, bow ties, tuxedos (if after 6), slicked back hair, trench coats and hats. Keep the champagne flowing and I'm sure it will be a success!

Thanks so much for reading barbies and remember to stay tuned for a blog post penned by my hubby on how he built our gorgeous, new Restoration Hardware inspired table with his bare hands in under a week for under $200! I'm so proud of him and still just ecstatic to have a dining room! The chairs should arrive this week, so hopefully we'll have a before and after dining room post by this weekend!

Stay fabulous barbies! xox