Canning Granny: July 2013

I wanted to throw my daughter a shower but wanted something a little different... and fun. Knowing other friends and family had plans for traditional household, lingerie, and other showers... I came up with a 50s Housewife Shower... the gift requests would be kitchen gadgets, dish towels, aprons, etc. and an old fashioned "Pounding" (to help stock the newlyweds pantry with non-perishable foods, paper products, etc.)

The planning began... I made the above invitation... and settled on a turquoise and red color scheme. In each invitation, I enclosed a blank recipe card and directions to my house... I got a recipe box to have for each guest to put their recipe for an added gift for my daughter, Hannah.

I found an entire 1955 Sears catalog online in pdf format and printed out 8x10 pictures of some of the ads to frame as decorations for the party... and conversation pieces. I also found photos and prices of grocery items, houses, cars, etc. in the 1950s and framed those. Found pictures of 1950s sitcom couples to frame as well.

I made the photo below (using PhotoShop) to go with a vase of flowers for a table centerpiece...

For the menu I wanted typical 1950s food... I chose...

Jello Mold with Fruit Cocktail
Cupcakes
Meatloaf "Cupcakes" with Mashed Potato "Frosting"
Pigs in a Blanket
Deviled Eggs
Cheese Ball and Crackers (recipe)
Butter mints and mixed nuts
Frosted Sandwich Loaf (I used a variation of this recipe)
Pimento Cheese, Egg Salad, and Chicken Salad (served on homemade yeast rolls and croissants)
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Veggie Tray with Dips (I made Confetti Dip and Sharp Cheddar, Olive, and Pepper Dip)
Fruit Tray with Dip (I made a simple 1950s fruit dip, mixing 8 ounces marshmallow cream with 2 Tbsp. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed)

The food table

While looking for a way to construct myself a cute 1950s hat to wear, I found several sites showing how to make "fascinator" hats... I decided to make one for myself, my daughter and my daughter-in-law... it became an addiction and I ended up making 24 little hats... I had enough for all the party guests!

The day for the shower arrived...

On my back porch I filled a huge galvanized steel washtub with ice and retro-sodas in glass bottles I found at World Market (vanilla ice cream was on hand for ice cream sodas as well)

We (I had a LOT of help from my sister, Beth, and my daughter-in-law, Kaila) made iced tea and lemonade and put the makings for Mimosas on ice.

We put on our best 50s duds and waited on our guests to arrive...

My sister, Beth, and me in our 50s attire

As each guest arrived, Kaila had them bend over without bending their knees, and trace their hand on a piece of paper... while I secretly wrote down their comments as they struggled to complete this task... later on we read the comments out loud as "Things that were said on the guest's wedding night, or things they recommended to be said on Hannah and Nick's wedding night"... this activity proved to be hilarious... A few comments that were recorded included:

"I don't think I can do this, make Mama do it!"

"Can you bring it up a little... Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

"Is that the only way to do it or is there a clever way?"

"This is hard, I can't do this, I'm not that limber!"

"My back will not allow that!"

"If I mess up, can I do it again?"

"Are you sure?"

We directed the guests to the "powder room" all decorated with the fascinator hats and had them pick out and don a hat of their choice.

Fun times!

We ate... and drank... We have music channels on our satellite television so we turned it to "Malt Shop Favorites" and had 50s music playing in the background... there was a lot of impromptu dancing... how can you NOT dance to "C'mon Baby, Let's Do the Twist?!?"

We played old fashioned 1950s shower games...

"Plant a Kiss on Elvis" (like Pin the Tail on the Donkey
But with red lipstick and an Elvis poster

Sniff a Spice game...

Common household spices were placed in bags and tied loosely
with ribbon so you could smell them but not see them.

A relay race putting on stockings while wearing oven mitts...

We had three teams... Team 1 were the winners!

Game prizes included homemade aprons... super cute (but I forgot to take a picture of any of them!)

We took the "Are You Ready to be a 50s Housewife" quiz and the "Are You a Good 50s Houswife?" quiz... these evoked laughter as well as groans of disbelief!

I made Hannah a corsage made from measuring spoons, a mini-whisk, and an adorable mini food grater (I found at World Market)

We played the Clothes Pin Game... (everyone was given a clothes pin and instructions not to say the words "wedding" or "marriage"... if you heard someone say one of the "no-no" words, you could take their clothes pin... person with the most clothes pins at the end of the party won a prize.