The Beatles
My mother was 16 in 1965 and was an original Beatle maniac. She still enjoys listening to their music to this day, and really who can blame her. The Beatles music is timeless. Her favourite album is "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club". Anyway, for her 50th birthday I decided to make a theme party out of all the songs of the Beatles. She loved the idea and was really excited.
The invitations were shaped like the cartoon yellow submarine from the animated Beatles movie of the same name. The faces of the 'fab four', John, Paul, George and Ringo, were in the four round windows of the submarine. Inside were the details of location, date and time and theme of the party.
I moved most of my furniture out of the living room and dining room. Then I covered my dining room table with some crazy "Yellow Submarine" print fabric I found at an amazing party shop and arranged the 'flower power' plastic cups, plates and utensils, I bought at the same shop, on it. I rented life size cut outs of John, Paul, George and Ringo and set them up around the room. There was also a cut out of the Yellow Submarine and another cut out of the entire 'Fab Four' dressed up as Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band. I completed the 60's look with some psychedelic florescent balloons and streamers which I hung around the room.
I filled my five CD disc changer with Beatles albums and put it on random play.
Everyone loved the decorations especially, my Mum. She said she felt like she was 16 all over again. We blasted the early Beatles and danced all afternoon. Mum was laughing and jumping. I've never seen her so happy in my entire life.
I wanted the food to be completely British, so there was tea and scones and strawberries for appetizers. The main course was meat pies, roasted potatoes, mushy peas, and of course lots of beer and wine. For dessert, we had the cake I decorated myself. I made a British flag out of blue and red icing and wrote "The Beatles" across it in white icing. I had a sugar artist create likenesses of the fab four as cake toppers, complete with their guitars. The whole effect was amazing. Mum thought it was so great she had to take picture before we cut it.
After dinner we played Twister and musical chairs using Beatles songs. Twister, turned out to be the highlight of the evening, especially when Mum amazed us by managing to have a limb on each colour.
Some of the guests stayed over and we had our own pyjama party. We all acted like we were best girlfriends. We talked until the late hours of the night until we fell asleep, one by one, in our sleeping bags on the living room floor. The next day my Mum thanked me for all my efforts. She said that for one night she had become a flower child again.
