On February 15, 2004 my friend Kerrie (pictured on the left) had her birthday party at the The Waldorf Towers. I helped her to plan and host this party which turned out to be the chance to experience the luxury life at least for one night. For those of you who don't know, the Waldorf is an official NYC landmark, as well as being the official hotel of U.S. Presidents when they are in New York City. So far there have been six decades of American Presidents staying there, not to mention many Kings and Queens from other countries. The only other place in the world that has hosted more heads of state than the Waldorf is Buckingham Palace. Besides having a reputation for huge, opulent guest suites, it is also well-known in the society circuit for hosting grand balls and galas. Harper's Bazaar said in 1897: "Nowhere else in the world has any hotel come to play so important a part in the social life of a great city." The NY Daily News said in 1981 (on the 100th anniversary of the Waldorf): "The hotel has become a symbol of all that is grand about New York."

Prince Rainier & Grace Kelly held their engagement party there. Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby used to perform and live there. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was presented as a debutante in the hotel's Grand Ballroom. Among the nobles & celebrities who have stayed and lived in residence at the hotel are the Duke & Duchess of Windsor, Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip, Winston Churchill, the Dalai Lama, Albert Einstein, Cole Porter, Elizabeth Taylor, Ginger Rogers, and the list goes on and on...

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Suite

The birthday party was held in a 3-bedroom Empire Suite on a top floor, which was only accessible via a private elevator, for which you had to have a key card. The private elevator was not visible from the main lobby-- you had to enter through an unmarked mirrored door, which made the event all the more exciting since the guests did not really know where they were headed as they were being brought up one by one. Each bedroom (1, 2, 3) had its own private bathroom, and two of the bedrooms also had private dressing rooms attached. Besides the bedrooms, the suite had a large living room and separate dining room. We counted a total of 13 closets in the suite. Here are the views from a window at night and during the day. The regular tenant of that suite is the CEO of Verizon. Here is the video of the hostess giving the tour of the suite:
Stream Download (9.6 MB)

Dress Code
The dress code for the party was "Suspenders and Toques".

Men
The birthday girl requested that all the gents wear suspenders over non-white dress shirts, with bowties optional. To encourage them to adhere to the dress code, she told them that she thought men in suspenders looked very sexy. And then she added that, since it was her birthday, they should humor her. Seven out of the nine guys came in suspenders, much to the embarassment of the two who did not!

Women
Miss K is also very taken with women's vintage fashions, so she requested of the ladies to come wearing toques and ladylike shoes. For those who did not manage to procure such hats before the party, she brought a charming round hatbox containing her own personal collection of toques, and allowed the ladies to select one of hers to wear for the evening.

Here are the group photos of both men and women posing in their party outfits.

Here are some miscellaneous photos of the people at the party.

Activities

Charades (Rules)	Casino (Roulette Rules Blackjack Rules)	Limbo Video: Stream Download (13 MB)
Twister (Rules) Video: Stream Download (1.5 MB)	"The Twist" Dance Contest Video: Stream Download (6.3 MB)

Birthday

Since Kerrie is a ballroom dancer, it is a tradition to have a "birthday dance" where various people cut in to dance with her. She selected a swing song called "Bad Girl Shoes" by her late friend Peggy Cone for the dance. After her "birthday dance" with the guys ended, she replayed the same song and this time instructed all the ladies to grab a guy to dance with. Afterwards, she said it was fun having a birthday dance, but would never wear that outfit for dancing again-- the vintage hat was knocked off her head, her strapless silk blouse kept getting pulled down, and her pretty yet flimsy shoes kept falling off as she twirled. Here is the video:
Stream Download (6.3 MB)

We also followed the more well known tradition of presenting the birthday cake. Here is the video:
Stream Download (0.8 MB)

Perhaps the nicest part of being the birthday girl is opening the presents.

Conclusion
This was the most original and fun party I have ever been to. K impressed me with her creativity and thoroughness in planning this party-- she selected the site, envisioned the theme, designed the dress code, came up with activities and games, provided hot hors d'oeuvres & an amazing cake, and thought of what prizes to give to guests. She even made her research available to guests prior to the party, so that they were well prepared upon arrival. Info available on her website beforehand included: photos for understanding the dress code, play rules for the featured games, a food & drink menu, and a downloadable version of the Birthday Dance song (in case people wanted to come up with moves in advance!). The background music (20s-40s) was also selected way in advance and nicely complimented the vintage theme of the party as well as the charming setting of the Waldorf empire suite.

The funny thing is that there were exactly 9 women and 9 men at the party, the total of which equals the number of wine charms that K bought for the party so that people could identify their glasses.

The party went on without a hitch. There was always something to do and no one was being bored. This is the party that I will remember for a long time!