Charlot was not an original clothing designer. She was a singer and actress in an opera company. She worked that way until the Second World War was over and she got married to her husband Philip.

She was, however, sensitive to fashion. She was very particular about the clothing she wore while up on stage. She hired dressmakers to look at her designs and sew dresses based on them.

When her husband lost his job, and she had limited funds, she decided to continue creating her own designs instead of purchasing dresses. She was limited in what she could do, however, since she never had learned how to sew. Her mother owned a factory that gave her access to free felt material, so that was the material that Charlot decided to use with her full skirt.

Felt is a material that does not require hemming because it can be cut in a full circle. Charlot decided to make her first skirt during the Christmas season by adding cute Christmas appliqués to the skirt. She liked it so much she made three more like it and sold them at a Beverly Hills Boutique in town.

After the holidays she was asked to design some more skirts using a popular dog theme. That theme eventually turned to poodle themes. Thus, the poodle skirt was born.

Charlot’s designs began to grow in popularity. More and more stores wanted her designs in their store. By the time she turned 25 she already had her own clothing factory and 50 employees under her wing creating poodle skirt designs.

Juli Charlot is a great example of how to overcome challenges. She didn’t know how to sew, but she loved creating fashionable items to wear, so she came up with a design that she could do on her own. She did eventually learn how to sew later on in life.

They work for both adults and children. Poodle skirts look great on little girls. Girls will have a blast dressing up in their skirts and twirling in front of the mirror.

They also work well with adults. They come in a variety of styles, sizes, and colors. That way you can choose a poodle skirt that matches the personality of the person you are giving the skirt to.

You can choose to get ones that are authentic like they actually were in the fifties. Originally they came in bright colors that also had a colored appliqué that was metallic. The appliqué was that of a poodle, often shown with a bright collar and leash that wound its way up to the waist of the skirt.

Another good gift would to purchase some petticoats for the skirt. Petticoats and crinoline were often worn underneath the skirts. They fill the skirts out a little more and make them look more full.

Petticoats are also nice for giving the skirts movement. Since the skirt is round or circular, petticoats and crinoline really make the skirt have a more dramatic appearance. They are really fun to dance in.

Poodle skirts look great with other 50’s costumes. You can pair it with the complete attire package. Throw in a beautiful blouse, matching cardigan, and a pretty scarf. Footwear can also come in handy with 50’s costumes. Find some saddle shoes with bobby socks to pull off the look.

Gift shopping can be a real headache. Save yourself the trouble of stressing over a gift by finding a cute poodle skirt today. You won’t be disappointed.

First of all, the 1950’s have a lot of things to offer. There are fun 50’s outfits that you can purchase to wear to make the event fun. Plus there is good Christmas décor, and beautiful 50’s Christmas music that you can listen to.

Food – Serve a traditional, holiday meal that would have been served in the fifties. This can include holiday glazed ham, parsley potatoes, eggnog, green salad bowl with French dressing, individual plum puddings, broccoli, fruit cocktail, potato cubes or roast potatoes, and Parkerhouse rolls. Choose your favorite array of food items and be sure to serve on nice china.

50’s Outfits – Ask guests to dress up in traditional 50’s outfits. Adult men can wear suits and fedora hats, women can dress up as fifties housewives with heels and full dresses that reach a little below their knees. Teenagers and children can have fun with greaser outfits, poodle skirts, white t-shirts, slicked back hair, ponytails, and rolled up jeans.

Christmas Decorations – Decorations always help a party start off on the right foot. Use Christmas decorations that would have been used back in the 1950’s. These include gilt paper dollies that are red, white, or green. You can also use candles, pine cones, and fun place settings such as napkins that have the guest’s Initial on it.

Christmas Songs – Nothing brings us back to the good years of the fifties like holiday music can. Choose songs that were played on the radio during the fabulous fifties. There are literally dozens of holiday favorites that you can choose from.

One of the most popular Christmas artists during the fifties was the charming Bing Crosby. He sang the classics, such as Away in a Manger and Deck the Halls, but he also has other holiday favorites such as “White Christmas”. Other favorite artists from that time period are Burl Ives, Dean Martin, The Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Gene Autry, Nat King Cole, Bobby Helms, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Brenda Lee, and The Ames Brothers.

Party Favors – Wrap party favors in Christmas boxes, which you can find at dollar stores. Purchase miniature classic cars from the fifties era and write the guests name on it with the date of the party. You can also choose to do a Christmas theme for favors, such as a Christmas coffee mug with a yummy treat inside.

Start with a great invitation. Invitations are the first thing your guests will look at so be sure that you have a fun invitation to share. You can make hand-made invitations or purchase ones that have a 50’s theme.

Another important aspect of sock hops is the costume choices. 50’s attire is mandatory to pull off a successful sock hop. This means wearing bobby socks, saddle shoes, cuffed jeans, leather jackets, poodle skirts, and cat glasses.

Dances need really good music to dance to. Stick to the popular classic choices with your music. Elvis Presley and Bill Haley will definitely liven up the dance party.

You could hire a choreographer to teach some fun 50’s dance moves to people who are interested. There are quite a few fun dance steps including the bop, the hand jive, and the cha cha. Some people like to have the choreographer teach guests the dance moves an hour or half  hour before the dance starts so they can use those moves during the dance.

Food and refreshments are also a necessity. If you want to keep it light you can choose to serve ice cream sundaes and milkshakes. For more of a meal you can have the famous 50’s meal of hamburgers, French fries, and coca cola.

Dances need good decorations to keep them fun. Transform your dance location into a 50’s hangout spot. Hang up music notes, records, silhouettes of dancers, and classic cars.

Make your sock hop a fun place to be. Planning ahead can really help make everything come together nicely for your dance party. Brainstorm what you would like to see and make it happen.

“Grease” Party – Get a group of friends together for a fun 50’s movie party. You can have some friends dress up as the good-girl Sandy with poodle skirts, cardigans, and ponytails. Others can come dressed up as the pink ladies or grease members. Add some soda and popcorn and you have the perfect Grease party.

Car Hop – Host a carhop or look for a carhop in your area. 50’s costumes work perfectly for carhops. Dressing up in 50’s attire makes the car hop look more authentic, and makes it a much more fun experience for everyone involved.

Sock Hop – Have a fun sock hop dance party. Pull together the amazing music from the 50’s. You can even host the dance in a gym and ask guests to take off their shoes for the event.

Costume Party – Costume parties work all year round. Have a fun party this year by asking guests to come in costume attire. You can have a themed costume party or have everyone choose their own costume.

Drive-In Movie -  Does your town have a drive-in movie? Dress up in vintage clothing and go as a group to a drive-in-movie. If you don’t want to go to an actual drive-in you can rent a projector and play the movie off of the side of your home or a large sheet or screen.

Dance Recital – Use a 50’s theme for you upcoming dance recital. 50’s music works for individual recitals or group recitals. Swing dancers, in particular, love using the 50’s theme with their recitals.

There are a lot of different activities that you can go to and wear your amazing costume at. Have fun with the activities you host, and keep your eyes open for fun 50’s activities in the community. You can have a lot of fun by following through with these good, wholesome activities.

Having a few extra costumes on hand is always a terrific idea. Children love to dress up spur-of-the moment. When you have costumes for them to dress up in already you don’t have to worry about hunting down items last-minute.

Dress-up clothes can also be handy for adults. How many times have we forgotten about costume parties we have been invited to? A lot of times we don’t remember until the day of, and it can be stressful trying to run around and find a costume to wear.

Having an adult poodle skirt solves this. You already have a costume that you can fallback on. Poodle skirts work for 50’s parties, dress-up parties, couples parties, etc. They are great items to have in your closet.

You can purchase both adult and children poodle skirts online. Searching online saves you time and energy from trying to hunt down the items. They also allow you to do quick price-comparisons between stores.

If you have more time to spare you can try antique shops to see if they have any. Specialty stores might also have some for sale, though they are probably going to be on the more expensive side. Thrift stores might also carry some.

Some people also choose to make their own skirts. It takes a little more effort on your part than buying one already made, but it is doable. You can buy patterns again online or fabric stores, or you can make it from scratch if you are familiar with the type of pattern you would like to make.

Have fun with dressing up for the holidays. Your children will appreciate it as well. There is nothing more fun than getting all dolled up for some serious dress-up time during the holiday season.

Ugly Sweater Party – Have fun with those ugly, old, cheesy sweaters that people wear around Christmas. Guests will have fun dressing up in sweaters they no longer want to be seen in public wearing. Have some hot cocoa with donuts and have the main activity be socializing, though pictures of the event will be necessary.

Winter Wonderland – Host a winter party for your guests. String up winter decorations, such as snowflake ornaments and snowmen. Be sure to serve yummy wintery foods, such as soup.

Decade Party – Ask guests to dress up in different decade costumes. For example one couple could be asked to dress up in 50’s costumes and poodle skirts while another family could be asked to dress up in 80’s attire. You could even choose to have everyone dress up from the same decade. If you decide to do that it’s a good idea to choose a popular decade that has easy to access costumes. The 50’s are a good choice since poodle skirts and grease outfits are easy to come by. Poodle skirts especially are easy to recognize as a costume from the 50’s.

Christmas Traditions From Around the World – Use a Christmas theme for your Christmas party, but add a twist to it. Host a Christmas party that incorporates Christmas traditions that different countries have around the world. For example, you could incorporate France’s tradition of serving fish as the main meal on Christmas.

Holiday Crafts – Get together to make holiday crafts. Everyone likes having holiday decorations and crafts to put up around the home for the holidays. Look up cute craft ideas on craft sites that cater to the age of your guests.

Twelve Days of Christmas – Use this classic holiday song as your party’s inspiration. Use the entire song with decorations, invitations, activities, and menu. If your guests are the types that enjoy caroling you can also add that in to the activities.

Themes create unity with parties and make them really stand out to guests. If you want to leave an impression choose a theme and have fun with it. If any of our readers have any more party themes for the holidays we would love to hear your ideas.

During the 1950’s teenagers had quite a few options as far as 50’s outfits were concerned. There were the preppy outfits, the jock outfits, and the new greaser outfits. Each of these styles was a popular 50’s fashion choice.

Girls who were more on the preppy side wore skirts and blouses. They wore soft cardigans over their blouses. They wore their hair curled and sometimes put a bow in their hair.

The skirts varied in styles, but the most popular option was the famous poodle skirt. The poodle skirt was often made out of felt or wool, or heavier material. The term poodle skirt came from the appliqués that teenagers liked to add to their skirt to make it more personal and cute. These appliqués were things such as poodles and music records.

While this was the everyday wear for teenagers, teenage girls still had to don fancy cocktail dresses for entertainment purposes. Cocktail dresses are dresses that have full skirts that required crinoline or petticoats. The petticoats gave the dresses the fullness they needed.

Teenage boys also wore preppy 50’s outfits. This usually consisted of button down shirts that were collared and loose-fitted pants. Jocks often were seen wearing their letterman jacket.

Greaser 50’s outfits were also a popular option for teenagers. James Dean and Marlon Brando were the inspiration for this type of style. Teenage boys would often wear tight-fitted rolled jeans that were blue and a white or black t-shirt. They would often wear a leather jacket with it.

Girls that liked the greaser style wore similar 50’s outfits. Teenage girls that wore greaser styled clothes wore tight jeans or capris instead of full skirts. They also opted for t-shirts instead of button down blouses, and often wore high heels instead of white tennis shoes.

Strolling right down memory lane can be  memorable experience for all.  With a few simple things to think about and prepare you’ll quickly be ready to amaze everyone with you’re great entertainment.  These include invitations, decorations, costumes, food, music and games.

There are many creative ways to invite your guests to your party. You could use black construction paper to make a record, inviting people to come for a “swinging party.”  You could cut out a picture of a clock and inviting people to come “rock around the clock” at your sock hop.  There are many possibilities.  Just put something along with your 50’s theme.

Next you need to start thinking decorations.  You could set your room up like a high school gym, or a diner.  Add an old-fashioned jukebox and you have a decoration and entertainment in one.

Costumes really help people to get in the spirit of things.  Encourage your guests to come in costume by offering a prize for the best costume.  Poodle skirts and ponytails are very popular costumes for the ladies.  Boys can don white shirts and jeans with the legs rolled up.  Throw on a Letterman’s jacket or a black leather jacket and your set.

Food is one of the best parts of these parties.  Simple hamburgers and fries will work wonders.  Put them in an old fashioned basket with paper and your set.  Have someone bring them out on Roller-skates and voila, definite crowd pleaser.

Make sure that you have plenty of music from the 50’s to liven things up.  Elvis is always a winner.  There are several fun things to do such as the limbo or the twist that will help guests to mingle and get in the spirit of things.

This holiday season instead of just thinking of something fun to do, do it.  This is the perfect time for a sock hop.  With a little planning you’ll soon be able to rock around the clock with friends and family this fall.

Bring in a jukebox. A jukebox will pull in the 50’s theme easily. You can bring in an actual jukebox to double as a CD player, or put a stencil of it on the wall.

Decorate room with records. If a jukebox is not your cup of tea, you can still decorate and bring in the classic 50’s theme by portraying music records in your room. You can display a few on the wall, or display record covers as part of the wall art.

Make your photos look antique. If you have a favorite family picture opt to put it in black and white instead of in color. If you want to go the extra step you can even set up a photo session with your family wearing 50’s style clothing in the picture. 50’s style clothing can be bought online or rented at costume shops.

Use a Moonbeam clock instead of your usual alarm clock. Moonbeam clocks were introduced in the early fifties and are still being replicated today. You can find them for a decent price online.

Use an older, vintage phone. You can replace your cordless phones with an older looking phone that has a spin dial. You can find these types of phones in vintage shops or online.

Frame posters of famous 50’s icons. There are a lot of easily recognizable 50’s icons, such as Elvis. Instead of pinning those posters to the wall, make them look more like art by putting them in a nice poster frame. The same can hold true for any stock photos you find of people that are dressed in 50’s style clothing.

Incorporate classic cars in to your decorating. You can do this by posters of classic cars on your walls, desk, or dresser. You can also use model classic cars on any shelves for a nice 50’s touch.