sock hop

When planning or attending a summer sock hop, it’s the small details that make all the difference. Attire should be consistent with the styles of the time in which those dances were held, as should the dance moves. Figuring out an appropriate outfit is fairly easy, but figuring out the dance moves can be a little tricky.

Many dances were made popular during the 1950’s, when sock hops were in their prime. There was the hand jive, the jitterbug, the cha cha, and the bop. While any of those dances would be great to learn for a sock hop, knowing a basic slow dance and fast dance will get you along just fine.

For the fast dance, men, you step in place with your left foot, keeping your heel up, and then you step again, but this time keeping your heel down. You will do the same with your right foot, after which you will take a step back with your left foot. Then, you simply return to starting position.

For the girls, it’s the same basic steps as the guys, only you will begin with and step back on your right foot instead of your left. An easy way to remember the step is right toe touch, right step, left toe touch, left step and right foot back. Guys can use this easy saying as well as long as they remember that it is opposite for them!

Now, for your hands: gentlemen, you will place your right hand on her waist while holding her right hand with your left. Elbows should be bent so that your hands stay at about shoulder level. Ladies, you will place your left hand on your partner’s shoulder and your right hand in his.

The steps for our sock hop slow dance are as follows: men, first step forward with your left foot, and then slide your right foot up to be even with the left. You will then move your right foot to the right, sliding your left foot over meet it. Step back with your right foot, sliding your left foot back to stand alongside the right.

Finally, move your left foot to the left, then taking your right foot and sliding it next to the left to return to your original position. The steps for the girls will be the same, but opposite. Instead of stepping forward with their left foot, ladies will step back with their right.

As become better at these two dances, feel free to improvise a little and to add your own style to them! These dance steps are easy to learn and will make the sock hop a bit more real for you. Remember to pay close attention to detail, however, and to look the part as well as dance the part!

The most important thing to consider in starting a blog is your topic. As we go through this tutorial, we will focus on how you can create a blog about summer car shows or car hops. However, the instructions can be applied to all types of blogs.

Step 1: Assuming you have already decided on the topic of your blog (which we have), the next step is to choose a blogging platform, or the site that will host your blog. The two most popular platforms are Blogger and Wordpress. Either platform would be great for starting a summer car show blog, so choose the one that is easy for you to use and that you feel fits best with what you will use it for.

summer car shows

Step 2: After you have decided on a platform to use, it is time to customize your blog. When doing this, you want to make sure that your blog accurately portrays your subject matter.

With our chosen blog topic, we would be able to do this by displaying pictures of car hops. You can add it in the header and on the sidebar of our blog. You can also display the theme by choosing a name that included something about summer car shows.

Step 3: The next step is to create your first blog post to explain what your blog is about. You could write a post explaining the history of car hops, what goes on during the events, anything you think your reader needs to know about the subject. This first post will serve as the building block of your blog so it is good to include the most basic information about your blog’s topic.

Step 4: Now that you have officially done everything to begin your summer car show blog, all that’s left to do is to keep posting! The only way to get dedicated readers interested in your blog is to be dedicated to it yourself! Be consistent with your blog posts, make yourself a blogging schedule if you need to, just make sure you post often and regularly to keep readers coming back.

And don’t worry about running out of things to write about: the more  you write, the easier it will become. It also helps to be very involved with your subject matter so that you have a greater pool of experiences to draw from. Go to as many summer car hops as you can and become very involved in them and you will have plenty to talk about on your blog!

When you have a car show, however, it is important to do more than just bring in cars. You should have a theme and general idea of how you want the show to run. For example, what type of cars are you wanting to show off?

Antique car shows are perfect for bringing in a 1950s theme. Have your employees wear sock hop costumes and bring in decorations that work with the 1950s theme. Sock hop costumes include poodle skirts, jeans, and ponytails. Sock hop costumes can even include roller skates if you want to incorporate a car hop theme to the show.

Try to incorporate the different cars in the show. Ask the manufacturers if they have any material they would like to give away. Some car manufacturers would love to give away pens, Frisbees, or magnets.

Find other things that you can use to give away to guests. Try to use the different car manufacturers logo on various items around the show. You could choose to give out shirts with your car show event name on it, or even different car logos.

People are there for the cars. Be sure to find ways to show those cars off. If the car show goes during the night be sure to have lights available to show the cars off.

It is also important to have enough people on your staff to answer everyone’s questions and concerns at the show. Be unified so everyone can easily identify your employees. A unified uniform would work well. If you are doing the sock hop theme have everyone dress up in sock hop costumes. If you are staying more modern, keep it simple by having employees wear the same solid colored shirt.

Keep your decorations and themes unified as well. You don’t want your show to look messy. Be sure that everything looks put together so it doesn’t look sloppy.

In order to have a successful car hop you’ll need to do some basic planning first. Once this planning is done and assignments made things won’t seem so overwhelming. The following are some things that ideas to help your activities be a smashing hit.

Publicity is key. Make sure that your event is well know by those who will be attending the event. When people know in advance they are more likely to make sure to set aside time to attend.

Decorations really make a big difference. They can make the difference between a ho hum event and an evening full of pizazz. It can be simple or elaborate, you decide, but whatever you do, do it well.

These can include putting out black and white checkered table clothes. For a center piece add a plastic record in the middle with some mint green and pink balloons. Add some Bazooka bubble gum for an added touch.

Dressing up for occasion also helps people to really get in the spirit of things. Poodle skirts, bobby socks, saddle shoes and chiffon scarves are a fun costumes for women and girls. Cuffed blue jeans, leather jackets, and black sunglasses really add something for guys.

Your food can include hamburgers and fries in a vintage style basket, along with milkshakes with whip cream and a cherry on top. Root beer floats are also crowd pleaser. These can be brought out by a waitress on roller skates to add the finishing touch.

While your car hop is in swing make sure that you play some good “swinging” tunes for everyone to listen to. Once things are planned, assigned and the party is in motion, make sure that you take a minute to enjoy yourself and all hard work you put into it. Now it’s time to Rock Around the Clock tonight.

Music is a good place to start. Decide what type of music you would like to use. Since car hops were very popular in the 50s, you will want to look for music from that time period.

Music will reflect how the activity is going. Music creates the mood. This can make an enormous difference in your event.

Look for music that you like. The 50s held a lot of different styles of music. Choose the style you like best and stick to that style.

For example, softer music started out in the earlier 1950s. Rock and Roll music hit in the middle years. Having a specific year in mind can make your search go smoother.

You could also do a search for popular 50s artists. Bill Halley and the Comets were a popular group back in the day. Other popular choices were Elvis Presley, obviously, and Buddy Holly.

When you have decided on the style you would like, you need to have a good system to play the music on. Buy, or rent, a nice outdoor sound system. The type of system you decide to use will depend on your location. Be sure to test it out before the day of the event to get the kinks out and work on any feedback issues.

Music really is important if you want to really sell a 50’s theme event. Once you have found your music, you can then continue on to find other things to tie the event together. After the music you can move on to find decorations, car hop costumes, food, etc.

Successful car hop shows are ones that are well planned out. Making plans ahead of time can go a long way in making your car show look well put together. A good idea is to have a theme with your car show. Here are a few ideas:

1.) Look to the past car shows for ideas. If recent car shows have been done in your area, do not repeat their theme. A theme, such as car hops, may be a good idea – but only if it has not been done for a while.

2.) Think about specific vehicle-inspired themes. You can hold a car show featuring a specific vehicle or vehicle type. Some popular choices would be mustangs or corvettes.

3.) Classic Cars are a great theme. Restore cars from the 1950’s and bring in a car hop or sock hop theme. Car hops and other activities can bring in more customers and make the car show more fun.

4.) Muscle Car themes can also be fun. These cars from the mid-1960s through the mid 1970s were large, powerful vehicles. Hold activities around the muscle car theme, such as arm wrestling, and award prizes.

5.) Antique Car shows are one of the most popular themes for car shows. A lot of people are enthusiastic about antique cars, and there is a high chance of getting a lot of people to participate. Cater towards the antique theme by having employees wear early ’20’s clothing and hiring out barbershop quartets.

6.) Have a car show for unique vehicles. There are often car shows for normal, manufactured cars. Be different by having a car show based off of various miscellaneous vehicles. These can include police cruisers, taxis, hearses, limos, and even buses. The more rare, the better.

When planning your car show the main focus should be your cars. Car shows are there to showcase the beautiful craftsmanship of the vehicles. Make that your priority with your show.

Other things that bring in business is to have other activities planned. Find one that works alongside cars that will appeal to family members who may not be interested solely in cars. Child-friendly activities can bring out the entire family to the show.

One idea is to have prizes for the best car. Have people bring in their own car for a decent prize. Categories can include the brightest car, or the best overall car. Prizes are good incentives to get people involved in the show.

Another fun activity could be to host a car hop. A car hop is when a server brings food out to your car to eat. A car hop would tie in to the car theme, as well as be fun for the customer. You could even have your server wear roller skates and a sock hop costume to tie it all in together well.

Carnival activities can be another good idea. Face painting for kids, and balloon sculpting are classics. Door prizes and raffles are also good incentives to get people to stay at the show and look around.

You could book a local band to play at the event. The band would like the publicity, and the music would lighten up the atmosphere quite a bit. Having something nice to listen to while looking at the various cars can be a nice touch, if done properly.

Car shows are meant to be fun. Make it a great experience for everyone who comes out. Plan your events ahead of time and make sure everyone has a great time.