Vintage Homemaking Week: Day Two

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Did you find your way here after reading my Proverbs 31 devotion today called I Don’t Want to Pick Up Any More Socks? If you haven’t read it yet, catch up with the rest of us by clicking here

VINTAGE

Welcome to Vintage Homemaking Week! This series is designed to bring back some of the old-fashioned skills of homemaking for the woman of today.

Each day I’ll feature a post or guest post here on my blog as well as links to some others who are participating. Each individual post will not only have a how-to on a skill of homemaking, but also a great giveaway!

And, there is a grand prize giveaway for one gal who either Tweets, Pins on Pinterest or writes a Facebook status about our series. She’ll win a $50 gift certificate to our Proverbs 31 ministries Online store to buy books and products just for her! {details at the end of this post}

Today here on my blog my ministry partner from Proverbs 31, Sharon Glasgow, will teach us how to throw a vintage party. But first, here are the others posting today in our series:

Clutter_Free_Forever_{Vintage_Tips_for_an_Organized_Home}My friend Ruth Soukup is a coupon clipping, sneaker-wearing, DIY-loving, homemaking mama of two. Her blog, Living Well Spending Less, follows her adventure of finding the Good Life on a budget.  Her passion is her family and creating a home filled with joy and purpose.

Today she is explaining how to live clutter free forever by following the example set by our parents and grandparents.  She is also giving away a $50 Amazon.com gift card!  If you’ve ever struggled with the problem of too much stuff, you won’t want to miss these vintage tips for an organized home.

MomsWhenTheWorldMy other friend—also named Ruth—is a blessed mother to her four beautiful children, and she eagerly awaits meeting her five others lost through miscarriage, in heaven one day. Ruth Schwenk is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. She has a passion for following God, leading worship, rescuing orphans, and inspiring others to create a God-honoring family.  Ruth is the creator, editor, and owner of The Better Mom (TBM), www.thebettermom.com. TBM is a contributor website where a community of over 100,000 moms gather every single month for learning and sharing life together.

As moms, we are faced with a continual stream of media messages telling us we can “do more” and “be more.” We feel the constant pressure of a world that views each mother as “just a mom” and a culture that is turning its back on the family unit. Such messages trickle down even to our youngest children….

Click here to finishing reading Vintage Mama (being a mom matters) at The Better Mom. She is giving away two copies of The Mission of Motherhood and two copies of The Ministry of Motherhood both by Sally Clarkson.

RetroArtofFreezerCookingFinally my friend Kathi (no, not another Ruth!) is also on our blog tour today. Kathi Lipp is a prolific writer and funny speaker who helps women to get organized and grow their relationship with God. Today she is teaching us about freezer cooking over at her place and offering a wonderful giveaway: Her book The What’s for Dinner Solution and a $25 Amazon gift card. Click here to see her post.twfds-giveaway

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Now for Sharon’s party-throwing post. Sharon Glasgow is a member of the Proverbs 31 speaking team and a devotion writer for Encouragement for Today. She is the mother of 5 grown daughters and lives on a farm in Virginia with her husband Dale and their milking goats, chickens and organic fruits and vegetables.

s1Throwing a Vintage Party

Vintage parties are the rage! If you’ve ever thought about throwing one, don’t think about it anymore, just do it! Whether it’s a baby or bridal shower a birthday party or vintage tea- people love them. Whatever party you’ve got on the horizon these tips will help you make it a success. We had a vintage bridal shower and a vintage wedding this year and did both for next to nothing in cost. We made everything ourselves and so can you!

1.     Set the date- Prepare your invitation. The invitation will be the mood setter for your party. Make sure it looks vintage! You can order them online or have one designed by a graphic artist (my daughter made ours). If you want your guest to wear something in particular to the party, tell them on the invite. If you want them to bring a recipe include a blank recipe card in each invitation. The one below was filled out by one of our guest.
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2. How many guests do I invite? Numbers are everything. A smaller party is more affordable but more people make it more exciting. How many can you accommodate?
s43.     Decide what goodies you want to serve. If you want an upscale party, never ever tell people to randomly bring what they want. They may bring Wal-Mart potato salad. Mind you, I’ve never eaten Wal-Mart’s potato salad but I know I don’t want it. I want fresh and homemade delicacies. Think carefully about who likes to bake and cook and who would do it well. Then ask those to make specific items.

Below are cupcakes I made for our vintage party. The guests went crazy over them, ½ pound of homemade frosting on each cupcake!! Famous cupcake recipe here.
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Retro mints are a huge hit!!

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More Idea’s for party foods for your vintage party here.
4.     How to decorate for your party. For our bridal shower party we hung vintage aprons. For our vintage wedding we hung starched dollies.

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5.     How to dress for your party. Vintage or vintage inspired clothes are fun. You can find them for great prices on e-bay. I found the dress I wore to this bridal shower for $10 on e-bay!! I found the dress I wore to my daughter’s wedding for $20.

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6.     Party favors- We didn’t have any party favors at our bridal party but we did at the wedding. We made homemade truffles in the shape of jewels (used plastic ice cube form). Filled them with hazelnut truffle filling and put them inside painted boxes. We made homemade marshmallows with name of each guest on top.

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Click here for more photos and ideas from our vintage bridal shower.  Click here for more photos and ideas from our vintage wedding. And be sure to come to my site today where I am teaching a doily how-to and giving my truffle recipe.

IMG_2830SHARON’S GIVEAWAY: Sharon is giving away a vintage cake decorating kit and a $25 gift card to Ebay to buy a fun retro apron.

To be entered to win this giveaway, leave a comment here on this post about party planning. All winners announced the Tuesday after Labor Day.

To be entered in the grand prize drawing for the $50 gift certificate to Proverbs 31,Just grab a Tweet, Facebook status or Pin below and then tell me by clicking here and commenting that you did so. If you share one way, you’ll be entered once. Share two ways? Twice. All three? {You get the picture}

Here are two tweets to copy & paste into Twitter:

Old-fashioned how-to homemaking skills from over a dozen bloggers! @karen_ehman Its Vintage Homemaking Week at karenehman.com

Homemaking need some new ideas? How about some old? @karen_ehman Vintage Homemaking Week karenehman.com A dozen bloggers & prizes!

Facebook:

Homemaking need some fresh new ideas? Well…….how about some old-fashioned ones instead? It is Vintage Homemaking Week at karenehman.com Over a dozen bloggers & awesome prizes! Baking, canning, freezing, gardening, cleaning and organizing strategies, re-furnishing furniture, throwing a vintage party, retro-hair & make-up and other old-fashioned how-tos! It will spark your creativity and re-energize your home, marriage and mothering. Join us!!!

Pin:   http://pinterest.com/pin/149744756333513747/

See you tomorrow for more vintage ideas!

71 Comments

  1. Love all the creative ideas! After reading a couple of helpful books, I’m finally getting inspired to host or throw parties. A vintage one would be so fun to do with girlfriends!

  2. I feel so uncreative, and this totally helped! My neighbor is GREAT at party planning and I think we could throw an awesome vintage party!! We were looking for neat ideas for the local neighborhood to do a party and this would be perfect!

  3. I love these vintage ideas! Getting ready to do a bridal shower for a dear friend in a few months and I think I will use some of these ideas. Typically, I’m really good at throwing and decorating a party, but my ideas are usually the same. Time to change it up! Thanks for sharing.

  4. So much fun. I love planning parties, but run out of ideas quick. I love this idea and can’t wait to use it. Plus an excuse to have another party!! Love it.

  5. I am a horrible party planner- I usually leave it up to my very talented sister in law, and just do what she asks of me!

  6. I love vintage items. I think this would be a great idea. I have several items passed down from my grandmother’s that would make great party decorations. A lot of stores even have new items that look vintage too.

  7. Party planning can be a bit overwhelming, but I do like the idea of an intimate gathering of girlfriends over for tea and sandwiches. Right now we’re in an apartment so it’s a little difficult to plan for a large party. But one day when we have a larger home, I think it would be fun and rewarding to be the hostess! The recipes here look delicious. Thanks for sharing!

  8. I’m planning an outdoor garden/vintage party for my three friends that are coming to visit, so it was interesting to read this post!

  9. I’m going to keep this around for further reference. Great ideas to use not only for showers/weddings but even fun theme parties!

  10. How fun! I love what one of the commenters said – having a tea party in which each person brings their favorite tea cup and saucer! My daughter is 5 and we had a tea party with the special women in her life – it was awesome! She wants this to be an annual event. =)

  11. I love all that I have read and seen. I am beginning to think I was born in the wrong era…I love all these vintage things. lt is like being at my grandmother’s home. I usually throw small parties…to many people overwhelm me. Thank you for all these wonderful ideas…I am looking forward to using them for home as well as for the ladies of my church. Have a blessed day!

    Smiles & Blessings,
    Robin :)

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