Diner Party

[ZipTheWonder]

No, it's not a misspelled word or a typo.

I'm having some friends in for a Diner Party on Saturday night.  Sliders, home-made potato chips, slaw, fresh lemonade, etc.

The menu is ready, but what can I do to decorate the table and set a fun atmosphere?

I thought I'd try to find some of those plastic baskets for the chips...but beyond that, I'm at a total loss!  I guess any 50's/car-hop/TV dinner/sock-up ideas would work, too.

I don't have time to tile my dining room floor in aqua and white, but short of that, I'm willing to invest some time and a few dollars.  Any ideas?

[Lisbeth]

How about red-and-white checked tablecloths and laminated menus?

[ZipTheWonder]

LOVE IT.  Keep 'em coming.

:::goes off to make a menu:::

[Alida]

Little white vases with a silk flower in it.  Make sure to get it dusty first

[supernova]

Find something that looks like one of those old tableside jukeboxes...

Pink carnations in a real glass Coke bottle...

Do you have a hot-glue gun?  Make some quickie placemats with felt poodles glued to them (think poodle skirts).

Do you have an old vinyl record too scratched to play?  Use it under your flowers.  Or go to the Goodwill, buy several (for 25 cents each usually) and use them as placemats.

And of course you could wear an angora sweater, poodle skirt or pedal pushers, saddle shoes and a scarf tied in your ponytail or around your neck... 

[Lisbeth]

A store like Pier 1 Imports could carry the types of tableware diners have, like cups, plates, etc.  You might be able to get a good deal.

[ZipTheWonder]

My mom suggested buying some vinyl records and stringing them from the chandelier as a 'centerpiece' and using those plastic baskets for the chips...and playing Glenn Miller.  She also said I could use the aluminum TV dinner trays as our plates.


Definitely need to get some cheesy flowers in a glass vase and add bottled Coke to the menu!  Duh!  :::slaps forehead::::

These are great!  More?!?!

[hobish]

If you're serving coffee dollar stores usually have those earthy colored, odd shaped coffee mugs that all diners seem to have. I'm not sure where you are, but i know around here you can buy boxes of individual liquid creamers.

Dang! NJ - along with being where knowledge and culture come to die - is the diner capital of the world. I should be able to think of more...

[kathrynne]

The cheap plastic ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles, probably available at a dollar store if you don't have them around.

We actually have diner-style napkin dispensers, the metal ones that shred the napkins as you take them from either side?

It's way more than you'll want if you don't use cream anyway, but we buy the individual creamers thingies hobgoblinish mentioned at Sam's Club for DH to take to work. Yes, it's a large box.

Bubblegum! Even if nobody wants to chew it, it could be cool to have an apothecary jar with bubblegum or jawbreakers or even rock candy.

Some catalog companies have revived those shiny multicolored aluminum tumblers. We want them, but they're incredibly pricey.


I'm going to try forgetting the nightmare images of decorating with vinyl records, since I love my vinyl and the record player my brother got us a few years ago, but I'll think more on the other aspects here.

[Gigi]

How about wearing one of those nylon waitress uniforms with an apron and a printed handkerchief gathered into a "corsage" and pinned on with a spoon or fork pin? Bright red or hot pink lipstick too.

Metal trays with coke labels. Sugar in a glass pour dispenser. Old license plates on the walls.

[Summrs]

saddle type shoes with socks, too.  (to go along with the uniform in the previous post)

Are you planning on milkshakes?  Pier One or Cost Plus should also have those thick glass V shaped milkshake glasses.  If you go with milkshakes, get some malt powder.  Oh, and a straw dispenser where you pull up the handle and all the straws pull up, too...

If there's a Mr. Zip, does he have, or can he borrow, a letterman's jacket?

[DottyG]

I WANNA COME TO THIS PARTY!!!!

[Buffy2424]

Yes, and a huge pack of pastel-colored straws for the dispensor.  Dollar store, Target, whatever. 

What a cool party idea!  I suddenly wish we were friends in real life.  Hmm, what kind of music to play?  Swing, maybe?  Beach boys?

[ZipTheWonder]

Thanks, everyone, you are SO creative.  I wish I would have asked before I started my planning!  I have a dinner party about twice a year, and it's SO fun! (Well, for me, and I hope it is for the guests.)  `

I made some of the homemade potato chips tonight...I hope I still have some left by this time tomorrow.  They are yummmmy!

[supernova]

Oooh, your local restaurant-supply store will have those paper napkin dispensers, ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles, and they'll be super cheap too!

Google "Yourtown Yourstate Restaurant Supply" and see what you find!

     - saphie