A Seventies Night...

My friend has a cafe in suburban Stafford here in Brisbane and each month organises a dinner. The cafe is usually only open for breakfasts and lunches so these dinners are an extra. Last month the theme was The Seventies. Diners were urged to get out their ‘flares and platform soled shoes’ and come along to dine on popular 70s dishes and to take part in Trivia questions too.

Now it’s no secret that I lived through the 70s and I know that the fashions were quite varied through that decade. I also knew that platform sole shoes for me are now definitely OUT as would be most of the fashions of that era.

Despite big culling sessions last year, I knew I still had some 70s artefacts that I offered my friend to add to the evening’s decor. 

A tablecloth made by my mother’s friend in 1971 for my ‘glory box’, 2 Oroton coin purses, a pottery vase featuring the red, orange and browns of the 70s, a crocheted knee rug I made my mother in the mid 70s using a Women’s Weekly pattern and a pottery box which the staff at my school gave me as a wedding present in 1972.

When I dropped off these items to my friend, she showed me some of the 70s recipe books that she had trawled through to come up with the night’s menu. Aussie readers will recognise some old favourites. 

But what to wear to the 70s night? 

I’ve certainly not kept any clothes...they had all shrunk...wink wink 🤣! 

I went to lots of balls in the 70s...

My favourite ball dress! 

( Note the handbag and the earrings...)

In the 70s I wore sundresses and even halter necks...and then there was the shirred dresses too! 

( top right you can just see a pair of platform shoes ...but not the 6 inch cork ones that I owned and had a spectacular trip and fall walking down the street one day 😬) 

All of those outfits in those photos proved that I once had a waist; the operative word is ONCE. My outfit for the night would have to be something that skimmed my figure! Lol.

Then there were the hairstyles of those times. In some of those photos you might have noticed that I had long hair which for special occasions my hairdresser had teased up and then swept up into a mass of curled loops at the back. Most of the time I wore my hair out but did often tie it back into a bun. 

Remember those Alice bands?

In the early 70s here in Australia, wigs became popular. I had a short wig which I tucked my long hair into and thought I looked cool 😎. I also had a ‘switch’ which was a long length of hair ( synthetic like my short wig) which the hairdresser would arrange in curls ready to clip to my own hair. Later in the decade, I also had some terrible perms. 

So eventually I decided on my outfit...a kaftan and a wig resembling a terrible 70s perm. 

(Note the earrings; they still fit!) 😆
My friend’s husband is wearing a South’s footy jersey as that team won the premiership in 70 and 71. 

My Oroton handbag was borrowed back for the night from DD1. It had been a gift to me in 1973 and I gave it to her for the something old at her wedding 2 years ago. 

My shawl for the evening was one my late mother in law made for me in the early 70s.

The short wig I own now came from the Reject Shop but the one I owned in the 70s was bought from David Jones. In the late 1980s that wig found its way into my girls’ dress up box and I found a photo of them wearing it! 

And there’s that very uncool me wearing it in the early 70s...oh dear! Lol

So what would be a 70s night without food? 

Nibblies...remember those loaded up toothpicks stuck into fruit? There were also little vol u vents with asparagus and ‘devils on horseback’. 

Entree was prawn cocktail...


Main course was an alternate drop of Apricot Chicken and Steak Diane. 

Dessert was Bombe Alaska and chocolate mousse...

I took along a bottle of Mateus Rose as it’s a wine that is still sold ( unlike Cold Duck, Blue Nun, Ben Ean Moselle) and in the 1970s it was too expensive for young marrieds with a mortgage to buy. 

During the meal we also had trivia questions to answer...

As you can imagine, we had a wonderful evening with lots of laughter and sharing memories with our friends.