Gasp! Gatsby!

My friend Cheila and I have been talking about doing a Gatsby party for sometime. Due to other priorities and lack of planning and let's be honest....funds....that dream has yet to come to fruition. But looking at how this group pulled their's off makes me want to try again next spring! They really got the details down! Even the vintage liquor labels. I love how the author describes in detail her planning of the event. Very inspirational! Although she doesn't say how they got their hands on SO MANY antique cars.

I wonder if a party like this could be accomplished if you marketed it to a couple counties and charged an admission fee?

Oooo, it could be an annual thing! I'd totally go!

I just discovered that the entire party was an event planned by the Art Deco Society of California. The above party planned their own 'picnic' at the party. Admission at the door was $70. Member price $40. Here were details on the event:

On Sunday, September 13, the Art Deco Society of California will host its Annual Gatsby Summer Afternoon at the historic Dunsmuir House in Oakland California. Now in its 25rd year, the Gatsby Afternoon lets several hundred aficionados of the 1920s and 30s step back to a time when elegance was a way of life and the Charleston and fox trot were all the rage. This is not a spectator event. From 1-6PM the panoramic Dunsmuir front lawn becomes a stage on which all participants picnic, dance and sip champagne, reminiscent of a scene from The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel of 1925. Afternoon attire from 1920-1940 (or reasonable facsimile) is required. With everyone attending this event in period fashions, the effect is stunning! Many guests bring period-perfect picnics, with settings from elaborate spreads, complete with silver, crystal, linens and china, to simple wicker baskets on vintage print tablecloths. http://www.artdecosociety.org/gatsby