Golden Memories Party

There is nothing I love better than spending a day shopping flea markets and antique stores. Not the kind of stores that sell pricey crystal chandeliers or highly polished furniture that belonged to a prince of some far away land. No, I prefer the dusty, cram-packed consignment shops where you can find anything from an old coke bottles to psychedelic lava lamps, ancient cook books, leather boots, abandoned orange crates and everything in between. It’s a wonderland of discovery.

What I especially love about finding treasure in these wonderlands is that every piece tells a story. You might not know it at first but the deeper you dig, the more history you can find. Every treasure is unique and it’s not likely you’ll ever come across anything like it again, especially not on an end-cap at Target. Sure, I love a professionally staged home as much as the next Becky-Home-Decky but to me, a home filled with treasures that have stories to go with them is so much more charming.

Recently, I found an old vintage dresser mirror. It’s not anything special. I paid twenty bucks for it but I loved the aged patina of the old mirror inside it the weathered yellow wood. It has flecks and ripples, rust spots and nicks. Maybe it belonged to a Peggy Sue from the 50’s. Did she gaze into it as she got ready for a hot date to the malt shop? Maybe it was repainted in the 70’s by some beehived Betty wearing a long striped polyester dress that reached the floor… I’ll never know and that adds to the magic of it. It’s a jumping off point for my imagination.

When I’m throwing a party a piece like this can inspire a theme. I recently hosted a brunch for some friends and family so I decided to set up a little vignette with my new favorite mirror on the sideboard beside our dining room table. It was a perfect focal point behind the table that would set the mood for our party.  This party’s theme was Golden Memories, a literal play on the amazing forsythia branches I happened to find in our local grocery store’s floral department.

I always plan parties around themes no matter how big or how small. I’m funny that way and my themes can be just as funny. It’s just a little trick I picked up from my grandmother. She always threw the best theme parties.

Since I have a stash of old photos that my grandfather gave me I decided to string them on the vintage mirror.

I just jute twine and washi tape because washi tape is so easily removed without ruining the pictures and because it comes in so many patterns and colors! (Yes, I have an extensive washi tape collection.)

I placed some old books beside the mirror to give my vase of branches some height. It didn’t hurt that the books were classics and went right along with my theme.

I also placed a few trinkets from around my house in clusters of three. The roses were picked from my garden.

Speaking of roses, don’t flowers the best cake decorations? They are inexpensive and always look like a million bucks, even when the blossoms are open and ready to drop petals at any minute. I also have a kumquat tree in my front yard that has been going crazy this spring so I clipped a few branches and added the bright orange fruit as embellishment. An easy trick to get fruit to stay put on top of your cake is to spear them with toothpicks and then stick the toothpicks into the cake.

Since the kumquats looked so pretty on the cake I decided to use them elsewhere in my party decoration too. I love decorating with flowers and fruit. They look fresh and festive and I don’t have to store them in a box when the party’s over.

Fruit also made an appearance in our champagne glasses. I rolled some of the blackberries in sugar to take the bite off their tart flavor for some of my guests who I know like their drinks a little sweeter than others.

Then I set the table for our brunch. At first I was going to just scatter photos on the top of the table to make a great conversation starter but then I worried the pictures might get ruined by drips and sticky fingers. I could have made color copies and used them that way but in the end I decided to use a giant map of Paris as a table cloth instead.

This would work well for a travel-themed event or a French soirée but I was using it to remember a trip my mom and I went on to Paris several years ago that was definitely a golden memory for both of us. I even marked out places we visited with little tabs.

With everything set up I was ready my guests!  I hope you enjoyed my Golden Memories tablescape!