wedge salad | Jewels at Home

It’s hard to pick a favorite thing about our recent Mad Men- themed party, but the food was a definite hit. Do check out the other posts on the pre-party brainstorming and the Mad Men party wrap-up for more ideas.

To Drink

True to the spirit (haha) of the show, I’ll start with the drinks! Steve played bartender for much of the evening, which I think satisfied his connection to the TV series – he mixes himself a drink in one of our roly poly glasses for each new episode.

Mad Men Party Bar Menu including both classic and whimsical items | Jewels at Home

Mad Men Party Bar Menu including both classic and whimsical items. No one went for the Mountain Dew…

Mad Men party bar set-up with menu and collection of vintage Dorothy Thorpe glasses.

In the dining room, we had a dry bar including some fabulous California-themed vintage glasses from our local thrift store. I love the whimsical art with Sally Draper serving drinks. It’s from Dyna Moe’s book, Mad Men: The Illustrated World.

Mad Men Party dry bar set-up with vintage glasses and Mad Men-inspired art.

Fab vintage glasses for a Mad Men party.

To Eat

Besides an array of appetizers set out in “chip and dip” format, Steve and I each had our pet projects for the evening’s menu. His was definitely more refined – a Beef Wellington. Since we were eating buffet style (and serving 25), he made a “deconstructed” Beef Wellington, and it was perfection! His have-to side dish was a wedge salad with blue cheese. I confess to eating just the blue cheese and bacon, but the wedge did look good on the table…

Deconstructed Beef Wellington

Classic wedge salad.

My retro dishes of choice were a Waldorf Salad – modernized with some dried cranberries – and a Jell-o mold. I did look up some traditional Jell-o salads, but I couldn’t bring myself to put vegetables into gelatin, even for the sake of authenticity, so I made mine with canned Mandarin oranges and strawberries. It was delicious and definitely a nostalgia item for many in the room.