From the Pinterest Files....

Even though I don't attend many and certainly don't throw any of my own, I love parties. I would love to do some event and party planning and specialize in vintage-themed celebrations of various types. With it being summertime, it's always a great time to have a party with a fun, unique theme and what better time (other than Halloween) to have a vintage-themed get together? Here are some pins and boards with various games, decor, and inspiration to help you integrate vintage themes into your own parties. I tried to include a little something from different decades in case you favor a different era than I do. Let's get started!

Follow Deb's board 1930s Vintage on Pinterest. This board is full of 1930s goodies, from authentic dresses to party themes, games and ideas so that you can throw your own. There are a few pins that look like they might have been '20s inspired as well, but either way I loved looking at the different decor ideas. They'd probably be really easy to DIY and the decor options would be creative conversation starters for those who don't know much about vintage or the decade you chose for the party.  Yes, this is from Etsy. Shut up. lol I can't stay away, okay? I really like this party invitation, which is styled like a circus ad. This has been the format for circus ads and printables for goodness knows how long, and I think this is a super fun way to style an invitation for a child's party. I actually never would have considered styling an invitation that way, but I like that you can send out this fun vintage party invitation and still have a perfectly modern-day celebration.  Follow Beth W | Fresh Farmhouse's board Vintage Party Dresses on Pinterest. This board is full of vintage party dresses from the '50s, with a bit of everything from cocktail dresses to regular party dresses, prom dresses to evening gowns. I think a few of these would also double as suitable vintage-inspired wedding gowns today. I included this board so that if you choose to throw a vintage celebration and want to dress the part, you'll have some inspiration and direction on what sort of fashion options to consider.  This pin links to a Hubpages article showing you how to throw a 1940's themed party, complete with decoration and theme options, food and drink, and fashion options. At the bottom of the page are other helpful links on throwing vintage parties. I've actually included this link in my Vintage Spotlight for this month, so this was a helpful sign that I chose a good link. lol I think this is both informative and inspirational in terms of helping you understand the time period as well as the fashion, theme and hair options you'd need to have an accurate vintage party.  Follow Elke Nominikat's board 1960s - Food, Fashion, Fun on Pinterest. This board has over 100 pins on everything '60s--just as the name of the board suggests, there are some food ideas, including some not-so-appetizing aspics, a good deal of fashion inspiration, and other fun pins from the decade. I think if you want to throw a '60s themed party, this is more a reference board for fashion ideas and party food. I have to confess that this is one of the decades that I haven't researched quite as much as others, mainly because it isn't one of my favorite decades. Judging by some of that food, including the aforementioned aspic, I still might not do any research. LOL Just kidding. Well sort of. You can miss me on the entire concept of eating anything that contains gelatin-like congealed meat juices.  This is a pin linking to a blog post where these appetizers were served as part of a Prohibition or speakeasy-themed party, and from the bit I have read about '20s related party foods, this post is pretty accurate. Most of these appetizers are staples that have lasted throughout the decades and you can still get away with serving many of them today. These aren't fancy appetizers so they're still easy for you to make the same morning as the party without having to spend all day in the kitchen. Not too much else to say about this pin, I think it's a good reference point for your '20s or '30s themed party.  Follow Eileen Smith's board Music of the 1950's 1960's on Pinterest. If you're throwing a party with a '50s or '60s theme, I included this board of music from around that time so that you can put together a playlist. A lot of these videos also have the ability to play from their place on Pinterest, so you won't have to follow the external link to YouTube unless you're downloading the songs individually to your computer. There is an array of different kinds of songs, slow and fast, pop and soul. This is a board of over 200 pins so you should have a lot of inspiration on creating various playlists to last your party through the night.  Come on now, you had to know that something medieval-related was going to make this post. Now what I like about this pin is that this was a spread at an actual medieval-themed party instead of just one of the stock photos for the inspiration articles I usually post. This is a link back to a quite hilarious blog post complete with lots of photos on how to put together your own medieval-themed buffet with some modern-day food additions. At the bottom of the post are some links to the drinks, desserts, invites and decor they used for this medieval gala.  Follow Fletcher Creat Home's board VINTAGE FONT on Pinterest. This isn't party-related, but if you're the DIY type and want to create your own vintage-themed invitations, you'll be no short of ideas for fonts you could use if you check out this board. Some of these fonts are free and others are on paid sites. Some of the purchasable fonts have free versions created but you'd have to Google the font name to check. There are over 200 vintage-inspired fonts on this board and even if you choose to have your invites made professionally, you could print out a few of your favorite fonts for a vision board to show your designer. This board has come in handy for me as I'm choosing some new fonts for the blog design (which unfortunately is still in the beginning stages....to say I'm a beginner at blog design would be a severe understatement despite graphic design experience lol) so you can also use these fonts for graphics and other print material if the font designer allows it. I included this board though because there are a lot of fun fonts that would look great on a vintage-themed party invite.  And finally, this is a pin showing different kinds of popular vintage cocktails. I thought this was cool because many of these drinks now have modern-day variations and the originals aren't quite as popular as they were back in the day. I think if you want to have an accurate vintage-themed celebration, you should have drinks that are appropriate for the time period as well. Not only does this pin show 15 of the more recognizable vintage cocktails, it also gives you the recipes and instructions on how to make them correctly. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but this would also make for some cool kitchen art if you have a wet bar in your house. 

7/16 Mandy's note: I apologize that this is so late. It was late last week because of things going on in my personal life but over the weekend I came down with another light case of the sicks, it seems like a bit of chest congestion, but the fatigue that came with it (in addition to the fatigue I already had due to a few of the health problems I'm dealing with) has been completely zapping my energy. Things aren't really going too well in my life and if not for the sickies taking my energy away, life in itself is doing a wonderful job of accomplishing the same thing. I'm trying to get back on track before SUTS begins; I don't want to have another blogger meltdown like I did last year. LOL Just bear with me, please. I'm feeling a little better today and I'm hoping the double post will help get my brain back on track.  But anyway, that brings this week's Files to a close. I hope you enjoyed the pins and boards; it was actually a bit more difficult than I expected to find good ones that I thought would represent the month's theme. After that initial patch of difficulty was over, though, it was hard to stop. LOL I wanted to include so many more, but I have to save something for this month's Vintage Spotlight so I had to stop myself. Let's see if I get caught up per usual on Etsy when it comes time to do those Files next week. See you Thursday!