Transport back to the 50’s and host the ultimate retro diner themed party! I was first inspired to pick this theme for my party after visiting Daddy O Doughnuts– the cutest little retro doughnut shop just outside of downtown Toronto. After visiting there, all the ideas starting flowing, and the fun part of planning the flashback to the 50’s began!
Once I had the theme, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I could do with it. I didn’t want to impose on my guests to have to put too much effort or money into their themed outfit, but still wanted them to have fun with it. With that being said, everyone gave it 110% and looked so amazing!
If you have followed along with any of my previous parties, you will have noticed that once the theme is picked, I pretty much go into full party planning mode. It starts with the colour theme all the way through to decorations and on-theme food and drinks. Right away I knew I wanted the classic aqua blue, pink, red, black, white, and of course checkered!
The fashion in the 50’s really looked like so much fun, and a lot of the old styles have come back. One quick look for an outfit at the mall made me realize how full skirts, polka dots, neck-ties and cat eye sunglasses were taking the shelves by storm, and I was allllll for it!
With that being said, it is usually the girls who are more into dressing up, and had more options when it comes to variation on 50’s inspired looks- I think us ladies killed it! The boys actually knocked it out of the park too with their James Dean digs and totally played the part of cool greasers.
Food is always an important part at any party and I had so much fun coming up with the menu. I kept it pretty simple with a major nod to classic diner grub. I went with sliders, fries, hot dogs (which were on a functioning hot dog roller), movie-theatre popcorn, fountain drinks, homemade soda floats and milkshakes, snow cones, cotton candy, and of course, all the retro-themed candy from that time that I could possibly find! I found the cutest red plastic baskets with the classic checkered paper liners in them along with condiment bottles at Party Packagers. I picked up the mini glass coke glasses that were 2 for $1 from the Dollar Tree and the float glasses from Bed Bath and Beyond. One search online and I found a ton of Coca Cola themed kitchen items, which ended up working out perfectly on the food table and really fit in with the theme.
The decor surrounding the rest of the party were old vinyl records lent to me from my grandma and my fiancé’s parents, it was really special to be able to have actual records from so long ago out on display! We also came across an old camera and camcorder when we were digging for records, and of course, no 50’s party is complete without an authentic turntable!
When I decided on this theme I instantly remembered this incredible old ’55 Chevy painting that my brother had in his room, and luckily after all these years he still had it. It was so cool to see that the headlights and taillights still light up too! I also made a backdrop that was designed to look like stools in a diner (I ordered the stickers on Amazon and added them to plastic table cloths), it was finished off with a plastic checkered table cloth. While I was looking online I also came across this 10-pack of cardboard cut-outs that I tied with fishing line and hung around the party. I kept costs down by building my own backdrop, most complete ones I saw were $50.00 and I made this one for around $15.0 total! It’s a fun for guests to take pictures in front of and was a huge part of the overall decor.
No birthday party is complete without a cake and this was definitely the centrepiece to my entire food table! I was lucky enough to have the creative mind of Sweet and Shy Cake Co. behind the amazing retro diner-themed cake. Check out Shay of Sweet and Shy Cake Co.’s Instagram for pics of all her sweet creations! I had given some ideas but really let her take the wheel on this one, and she did such an amazing job picking up on all the small details of the theme. Once we dug into the cake we were hit with this amazing orange creamsicle flavoured icing (talk about the icing on top of a cake). Such a small little detail did not go unnoticed and it was such a personal and thoughtful touch! I just loved the name banner at the top of the cake and could not have been happier with how it turned out .
Having help cut the cake HAHA
Cake c/o: Sweet and Shy Cake Co.
I am so grateful for all my friends who made it out through a terrible storm to come help me celebrate, and to my fiancé of course for helping me pull off yet another themed birthday bash (when will I be too old for this?! NEVER I SAY!)
This was one of my favourite themes to do yet, and I already can’t wait to start planning the next one!
Thanks for stopping in!
And of course, the super talented work on Facetime With Daniela for giving me the most flawless makeup ever (no filter required!) Check out her Instagram to follow along with all her luxury makeup artistry!
xoxo,
Sara
