Whether or not you’re thrilled with the actual nominees, don’t scrimp on the spirit if you’re inviting people over to watch this year’s Academy Awards on March 23.

Start the pre-party buzz with invites that evoke the mood of your affair. To recapture some of early Hollywood’s lost glamour, head to The Shop at the Union. There, you’ll find elegant invitations featuring 1930s starlets ($15/eight). If rating the red-carpet fashions is more your speed, the Shop at the Union also has colorful invitations featuring ’60s-looking execs dishing gossip ($12.50/12). Think stamps are for suckers? Use the free Evite Oscar template to create and send e-mail invitations.

When it comes to dŽcor, posters of this year’s Best Picture nominees would certainly be a no-brainer. At the Nostalgia Factory, you’ll find posters and ephemera for all five films, including a set of three Chicago theater posters ($65) that feature RenŽe Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere vamping in front of a neon ŇCÓ and the Chicago skyline. At Shaw’s, pick up potted orchids ($29.99) to grace your table and give a subtle nod to the nominees from Adaptation.

Of course, with Gangs of New York up for Best Picture, you might prefer to retreat to the golden age of moviemaking. If so, Pottery Barn has a Casablanca ice bucket ($22.95) and Casablanca paper cocktail napkins ($3.49/16), both featuring the image from the original movie poster. Pottery Barn also has Hollywood plates printed with original movie-poster images of King Kong, Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, and An American in Paris ($29/set of four). For those who want a more impartial movie theme, Pottery Barn has Hollywood glass picks ($5.99/set of four) and stirrers ($5.99/set of four) topped with a black glass star.

As the night wears on, questions are sure to arise about who won what in previous years. While you could settle squabbles via computer through IMDb.com, it’s easier to keep a reference book on hand. There are plenty to choose from at Barnes & Noble. The Film Encyclopedia (HarperResource, $30) by Ephraim Katz is certainly an authoritative guide. And the Yellow Pages–size VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever 2003 (Gale Group, $24.95) is wonderfully indexed and cross-indexed by film name, cast, director, writer, cinematographer, composer, and awards (including nominations). Edited by Jim Craddock, the book also has a category index with listings from the expected (Western, sports) to the less so (going postal, single parents, wedding hell).

Where to find it:

• Barnes & Noble, various locations; www.barnesandnoble.com.

• Evite, www.evite.com.

• Nostalgia Factory, Charlestown Commerce Center, 50 Terminal Street, Building 2, Boston, (617) 241-8300; www.nostalgia.com.

• Pottery Barn, various locations; www.potterybarn.com.

• Shaw’s Supermarkets, various locations; www.shaws.com.

• The Shop at the Union, 356 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 536-5651, ext. 164; www.weiu.org.