It's a NYE Blitz!

I don't know if many of you remember, but not long after I moved here, I went to a 1920s Prohibition "fancy dress" party. I LOVED it! People in London go all out for fancy dress, and it was a great time! The same event group also hosts these "Blitz" parties, which have a 1940s, WWII theme. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Blitz... If you're American, that's probably because it took place in London and we have somewhat of a crappy knowledge of most things in history that aren't directly related to ourselves. (Oops! Did I say that??) Anyway, it was a specific mass air raid on the city here during WWII. The video below is WAY too long, but the first minute tells you all you need to know.

For the past few years, Londoners have "celebrated" this event (or maybe commemorated it is a better word?) by throwing Blitz Parties. It was even featured on BBC!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9031000/9031640.stm

Anyway, Dan and I have been talking about going to one of these for months. Dan came to visit for New Years as the last time we'd be here in London, and we kept tossing around whether or not to go despite the fact that none of my friends were able to join. In the end, Kyle (my brother) bought me an awesome Christmas present: a ticket to the event! So it was settled; we were going! I have a few girlfriends who had gone previously, so I was lucky enough to borrow costumes. Dan's was a combo of new and borrowed clothes! I have to say I think we did a pretty nice job!

Make no mistake: this hairdo was NOT simple. I had to watch numerous YouTube videos (apparently there's a whole group of people who just post "how to" hairdos there) to figure out how to do roll!

It was pouring down rain all night, which made getting down there in the madness of NYE a little bit messy. But once we arrived, I have to say we were pretty impressed with how authentic they made the "bunkers" look.

There were 2 different bands (although truthfully we were disappointed with the amount of time they spent NOT playing).

The party was definitely packed!

We also obviously had to have a little photo shoot in front of the USA jeep. (Seriously....we couldn't figure out why they would have USA jeeps there...). Actually this was a girl that we asked to take a photo, and by the end she had taken like 23 pictures of the two of us! Quite fun!

Everything they do at these parties is on-theme, which makes it even more fun!

This was the drinks menu.

They even had hairdressers there to fix girls hair in 1940s style!

Here's a few more fun pictures from the night...several of them I also posted on Facebook though so don't want to give you too much overload. :)

Wanna see that bright red lipstick in action?

Seriously, by the end of the night, Dan and I were trying to figure out how we could bring these parties back to the United States. Anyone have contacts in events in Chicago looking to get involved in "fancy dress" theme parties? :)

All in all, pretty amazing and unusual New Years Eve!