“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.”
This vintage style version of the theme, “You Are My Sunshine”, still reminds Miss Party of her mother’s lap and a certain rocking chair, but she would actually bring the old rocking chair to THIS party! It is also a wonderful theme for milestone celebrations in which the guest(s) of honor is cherished by the host and/or hostess, such as a shower, rehearsal dinner or even a lovely wedding anniversary party. A vintage-style wedding reception for a smitten young couple?
The theme’s color scheme is a deeply saturated sunshine yellow and bright white; together, they are happy, fresh, and young-at-heart. Miss Party’s romantic side is drawn to a vintage style for the party because of the sweet and simple imagery that the song conjures. The decor could lean towards American rustic or European country.
For this vintage-style version of the theme, yellow is still king, with white, his queen, however, Miss Party wants you to choose an additional accent color as princess, to be used in touches here and there. This accent color could be taken from the song’s imagery of ‘you make me happy when skies are grey’ and choose a pale dove gray. Or, stay within the spring pastels of soft peach, pink, lovely lavender, or robin’s egg blue. Bring in the third color just in touches here and there, such as a wide double-faced satin ribbon wrapped around the napkins or in the paper cones of caramel popcorn for guests to snack on.
On your next free Saturday morning, grab your cup of joe in your cute, eco-friendly reusable coffee mug and spend a few hours happily scouring junk shops, antique shops (and even your own home) for ‘found objects’ that can be repurposed for your food table displays and centerpieces. An old wooden Coca-Cola crate might hold those paper cones of caramel popcorn. Or a $40 flea market dresser might become your perfect ‘vintage’ dessert buffet table. Pull open a few drawers to hold plates, silverware, napkins, or even a bouquet of yellow and white flowers spilling over the drawer’s edge. Hunt for vintage-looking yellow and white linens, which could be inspired from old European or American patterns to use on tables, or cut down for table toppers.
Get creative for ways to display the theme phrase. You might print the phrase in a retro typewriter font, and frame in an old white window frame to hang behind a welcome table, or make a banner garland printed with the phrase to hang behind the dessert table. Of course food, dessert, and beverage choices should have yellow and white incorporated wherever possible to add to the color scheme. Miss Party can taste the bubbly Limonata or Limonata Punch now!
As a side note for either decor style, dove grey would be an excellent accent color choice if this celebration is for a wedding reception and you want to add a touch of masculinity to the color palette. Miss Party imagines the wedding party: the bridesmaids in sunshine yellow knee-length dresses, the maid of honor a sorbet yellow dress, the bride in a white-white wedding dress, groom in a black tuxedo, best man in a charcoal gray suit, and the groomsmen in medium grey suits. Do the yellow, grey, white combination in deep shades of intense sun yellow, charcoal grey and white at the rehearsal dinner, but pastel versions of lemony sorbet yellow, dove grey and white for the wedding reception the following day, and all of the shades of yellow, grey and white would be reflected in the wedding party. Amazing!!!
