Subject: Calling All Maddicts!

Mel -

So a friend of mine is hosting a Mad Men party and has solicited my input for coming up with party ideas. Her basic premise is that we all wear Mad Men-inspired clothes and have cocktails and hors'dourves, but she wanted to think of a few other things so it's not just a night of eating and drinking (which would still be awesome, let's be honest!).

My initial thoughts:

• If possible, have a small child mixing cocktails and serving drinks, a la Sally Draper.
• Have the same small child dress up in a ballet costume and perform a small recital
• Maybe have modern drinks, but give them old-fashioned names, like "Gimlet." (That's the only one that comes to mind.) And obviously she would need to have Heineken.
• OR she could make pitchers of already-mixed drinks (so many magazine articles say this is easiest on the hostess) and then call them things from the show: Betty's Crazy Juice, Sterling's Gold, etc.
• We could do some sort of Mad Men trivia, which would be way fun and separate the Maddicts from the casual viewer. Interspersing some trivia about that time period might also be nice if there are any non-watchers in attendance.
• One time in Real Simple they suggested playing old Christmas movies for a holiday party (like Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life) but have them on mute so they're just in the background. So maybe she could play one of the seasons on DVD...
• Setting up a photo area where couples can get their pictures taken in their Man Men outfits. Maybe have a winged-back chair where the lady can sit (with crossed ankles, natch) and the man can stand behind. Also, there could be some Mad Men props on hand, like a fedora or an old copy of Life magazine.
• It will be a non-smoking group, so maybe candy cigarettes and ashtrays everywhere.
• Of course lots of music from that time period.

Honestly, my mind is going blank a little bit. All I can think about is Season 4 because it was so intense and so many things changed. Any thoughts???

<3,
K

P.S. I am also planning my outfit. My goal will be to only pull things from my closet and not buy anything. I think I have a surpising number of Mad Men-esque pieces. I feel so classy and Jackie O.!