Essentials of a 40's Party

[Mrs. Merl]

Today, I have been skimming the threads for anything related to quintessential 40's foods, drinks, etc. I hope I am not out of line starting a new thread, forgive me if I am.

My parents are celebrating both their birthdays with one big 40's Wartime Bash.

We would love to have some suggestions for iconic 40's finger foods, drinks, novelties, and anything else that would just SCREAM the era.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[jamespowers]

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Throw-a-1940s-Themed-Party
This might give you a few ideas for just about everything but getting a 40s era cookbook is the best idea. You can not only see what was involved but how to make it.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

That is a pretty nicely done blog. We are a little past that point though. I was hoping for a bit more in the way of what the Lounge has to offer in the area of details. For example:

My parents have a "pub" in their basement, very little decoration is needed, so my mom is going to hang some iconic war era posters.

Dad and his friends are big War memorabilia fans and have things like A-2's (some with custom pin-up painting of their ladies on the back.) Mom is a master costumer and will be rocking a great pair of 40's style overalls (as though she stopped into the party on the way back from a day working at the factory.)

Some of the details we are thinking of include things like SPAM, deviled eggs, war-era broadcasts in between the musical stylings for the evening...

Soooo, we are looking for some conversation worthy details!

 

[sheeplady]

That is a pretty nicely done blog. We are a little past that point though. I was hoping for a bit more in the way of what the Lounge has to offer in the area of details. For example:

My parents have a "pub" in their basement, very little decoration is needed, so my mom is going to hang some iconic war era posters.

Dad and his friends are big War memorabilia fans and have things like A-2's (some with custom pin-up painting of their ladies on the back.) Mom is a master costumer and will be rocking a great pair of 40's style overalls (as though she stopped into the party on the way back from a day working at the factory.)

Some of the details we are thinking of include things like SPAM, deviled eggs, war-era broadcasts in between the musical stylings for the evening...

Soooo, we are looking for some conversation worthy details!

Have a blackout? Tape over the windows?

You might get some ideas from Good Housekeeping from the era- HEARTH has all the issues from the 1940s: http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/h/hearth/browse/title/6417403.html

You might even want to search something like "throwing a party" and/or entertaining on the HEARTH site and restricting it to the years you want. Original source material would be best.

If I remember correctly from when I collated some of the stuff on there, there is quite a bit of information on entertaining.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I will check out that link. Thank you.

No need to black out windows, there are not any. Though, they are thinking about having an "air raid" sometime during the evening.

 

[Shangas]

I think you can buy hand-cranked pneumatic sirens (of the kind used during air-raids) on eBay.

Also, refer to recipe ration-books for food.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bottled beer -- cans were for military use only for the duration. Or a wooden keg with a spigot hammered into the bung.

Sardines.

Pretzels.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Excellent! These are good details! You folks are a wealth of knowledge! (Mom will shudder over sardines, but I think they are delish!)

 

[St. Louis]

I just had a 1939 party here a couple of weeks ago. I think the most important thing is the music. I played records, but also have a CD player hidden inside a repop radio. I paid a neighborhood kid to keep the music coming all evening, and I'm convinced that was the main ingredient to creating atmosphere.

Keep the lighting low and warm (no fluorescent bulbs if you can help it.) If you can't redecorate to the forties then at least get rid of, or hide, plastic and modern stuff.

I have a huge collection of mismatched napkins ; people seemed slightly shocked by the idea that they were to wipe their lips on them, but I was able to reassure them that everything was launderable. Cloth napkins, real flatware, real dishes, all go a long way toward bringing people back in time. I normally put doilies and lace-edges mats everywhere--on chairs and the couch, on top of furniture, etc., partly to save the furniture and partly to freshen up the room. Those are very inexpensive and add a great touch.

I throw this party every year, but this spring I didn't have as much time to prep as usual. I kept the food fairly straightforward: celery with cream cheese & Pimiento; fresh vegetables with dressing (dips come in around the early 1940s so you could use them); a pound cake with sugar and berries; basically all recipes I culled from Lucy Allen's A Book of Hors d'Oeuvre, which was first published in the early 20s and republished with new recipes in the early 1940s.

Fresh cut flowers add a great period touch.

 

[Fibber Mcgee]

If its a wartime party you need to think more of what you can't have than what you can ( rationing ). But I would stick to old brands like Jello and Chase& Sanborn to name a few. I also think the music is key and if its on a 78 even better. This is a great idea for a party . Wish I was there.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Thanks for some more ideas! Decorating is really a matter of adding details as the pub is all wood with stained glass fixtures over the overhead lighting. The sound system is already hidden, mom was talking about picking up a repro radio, which would be darling.

Love the suggestions for brands. That was something we were kicking around was what brands would be appropriate for the era. Mom and I talked about what beer producers there would have been, what potato chip brands, stuff like that.

Thanks for the increasing ideas.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most beer and potato chips would have been regional brands -- given you're in Colorado, you probably won't have too much trouble thinking of a popular regional brand that's still widely sold. You might look in old newspaper ads for what regional brands of chips and such existed -- national snack-food brands didn't come along until the late fifties.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I guess Coors it is. Too bad it is not a better beer... Maybe we will be creatively anachronistic and get some "regional" microbrews...

I might call up my great uncle and see who he used to sell potatoes to - he had chip contracts for his potato farming.

 

[Shangas]

I'm not sure about America, but in England during the middle of the war, rationing was extremely severe. People were existing on stuff like potato sandwiches. National loaf. An egg a week (if they were lucky), SPAM, and whatever the Yanks shipped over from the States...

The diet was healthier, but extremely limited.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Well, out here in CO, I think things were a little bit more easy. Pretty agricultural in most areas at that time.

I was also thinking somethings like maybe pickled beans and the like. That might have been on hand.

 

[GHT]

I will check out that link. Thank you.

No need to black out windows, there are not any. Though, they are thinking about having an "air raid" sometime during the evening.

Windows were taped criss-cross diamond fashion, to reduce the risk of flying glass caused by bomb blast. if you have no windows but you are thinking about an "Air Raid." then gets some sacks, fill them with sand and sand-bag the surround of the entrance door.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, out here in CO, I think things were a little bit more easy. Pretty agricultural in most areas at that time.

I was also thinking somethings like maybe pickled beans and the like. That might have been on hand.

Home-canned goods would be very much at home for such an event. Anything with a make-do-and-mend theme would fit.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Thanks folks. I will see where we can pick up a few things.

 

[newsman]

Most beer and potato chips would have been regional brands -- given you're in Colorado, you probably won't have too much trouble thinking of a popular regional brand that's still widely sold. You might look in old newspaper ads for what regional brands of chips and such existed -- national snack-food brands didn't come along until the late fifties.

This is a great thread! My wife and I were thinking of doing a 40s party.

It's sad to think what happened to American beer culture. Back before they made it illegal to drink there was some pretty decent American brews that are long since gone. Flipping through old Life Magazines you can find names of beers who might be made again some day since the rights are owned by larger companies.

Carling's Black Label (Make mine a Black Label, Mable!) is owned by Strohs Brewing for example.

It's not period...but I think (as a home brewer) the best American ale...that might represent the time is Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

A person could scrape the labels off to make it look more authentic. But it is a solid classic American Ale like someone might have back then.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Fun fact about Carling's. When prohibition ended in 1933 or 34 the Peerless car company was going out of business. So the top management decided to turn the auto factory into a brewery, and made a deal to produce the Canadian Carling's ale under license.