Whoooo-hooo! The holidays are behind us and I can breath! Now it is time to clean up, pack up the decorations, and start on some winter projects (like organizing the basement and pulling things out of storage- wahhhh!)
Any how- Two weeks ago I mentioned getting very excited for my 2nd (big deal) NYE party! It certainly was a grand old time. There are a few things I will dump next year, and a few things I will absolutely keep. Here are a few ideas and pointers for your next party (whether it be NYE, a birthday, engagement, or milestone celebration).
Here is a bit of an album I collected from the evening. You can see everything from favors, table settings, and easy wall hangings. Read each image to learn an idea or tip.
I stuffed “Midnight Kisses” Favor bags with chap stick and gold wrapped Hershey kisses. The chap stick labels say “Pucker Up! First Kiss 2015”. Thank you oriental trading for this cheap trick!
Tip: although I set these in a central location – a few cocktails can alter your priorities! It is important as a host to draw attention to the gift or you may end up with many (or ALL) left behind 😦 Don’t worry, I have been forcing them upon all of my friends just days after
This project I had ambiguously made reference to in my past fitness posts with my ‘need’ for tasting wine. I had flat black spray paint at home for other past and future projects. The gold twigs are left from my holiday mantel decor (and come from the dollar store). The numbers were simply cut outs i made from printing the numbers backwards on the reverse side! Cute and simple! Psst – I taped the numbers on, now they are removed and the wine bottles will work as generic decor for my home or future parties! Gold tulle is a cheap way to dress up a plastic table cloth. Eventually the table is covered with plates of food, and the sparkly gold will fill in between.
Good news; those tissue paper tassels are easy and cheap and reusable. Bad news; they are kind of annoying to make. I would do it again, if I plan WAY in advance, and I would probably hire my friends to help in one evening and pay them in wine. Another perk is that I almost always decorate with GOLD. Next time I will only need to make accent color poms to add to the mix.
Free Internet Print Out – plus adhesive spray- plus glitter-plus two dollar frame. I will do this for EVERY party. So cute, SO easy.
And another …
Here is the brown paper table I mentioned … Pre Charcuterie and Cheese … That “2015” banner was only $6 and so I suppose it was an okay purchase. Although you can not purchase the individual numbers and so now it goes straight to the garbage. Next year I will go for a generic “Happy New Year” sign.
This was part of the cocktail table. I am happy with it because the “Cheers” sign was roll over from the previous year, as were the glitter stir sticks. Things that can travel from year to year are SO worth the effort. I also have half of the personalized champagne glasses remaining. They are stored away for the next fancy party. The center is a bowl of GOLD candy which we bought for .15 cents a piece at party city. (PS even the large circle confetti gets stored away for the coming years parties).
There is the brown paper banner I mentioned in a past post. Michael and I got it going so that people would get the gist. I used painters tape to make the black strips just so that i would look more like a decoration rather than an after thought. Spinning “New Year” banner posted on the left and right – you guessed it, from last year!
Although I forgot the favors, I was sure to hand out all the party hats, blowers, and poppers 15 minutes to midnight! Thankfully Mike was smart enough to set a timer so that we would not forget! Note; I would refrain from purchasing the poppers where you pull the string. They are full of colored paper. A strand had gotten wet and landed on our tan couch and left a color stain. Next year I will get something entirely different.
I set up all of the midnight “toys” before hand so that they look like additional decor. Again, only the glasses state the actual year. (I am keeping one pair of these glasses each year as a keep sake. One day I will find a project out of them). Things that did not get used, will be used down the road. Hats, masks, and beads are absolutely re-usable!
Below are a few snaps from a friend and guest at the party:
You can kind of see the results of the ‘help yourself’ table. Although the clean up was incredibly easy, next year I will still use brown paper to save the cloth, but also use plates for appearance sake. The table got very greasy.
This activity turned out great! People had a blast writing very funny resolutions. And some were true, sweet, and pleasant to read! I even rolled it up to save for next year to bring back the memories!
A couple of things:
– ALL TABLE CLOTHS CAN BE KEPT! (are you sensing my theme here? re-use it!) Just wipe them down with Clorox wipes and fold them up. I store a stack in a gallon zip lock bag. I have 6 stowed away to pull out whenever needed.
– The glitter for the cocktail -to me- was SO fun. You can see the pink drink container in a few pictures. Just a tiny dash will do and it shimmers all night long. It is a tiny detail that will travel from party to party for me. It is called “Disco Dust” and you can get it on Amazon.
-Gluing ALL of the champagne glasses together was foolish. I should have prepared only half of them. I now have to store them fully erect, and they take up an extreme amount of space.
-Mostly my pinterest menu was a fail. I ended up throwing most of it out because I couldn’t stand watching them melt away on the table. I also created each dish on a post-flu palette. I don’t think anything tasted that great. Not to mention my friends are seasoned guests and all came with food in hand. Next year, I will do a smaller cheese plate and await whatever yummy dishes come along! This will save time and money!
– Reminder: push your favors on your friends! Or else EVERYONE will be having too much fun to notice.
– Chalk board art is very very time consuming. I am just saying. (More to come on this in future posts)…
– Finally, Do not buy “Werthers” butterscotch candies (even if they do come in a gold wrapper) because your friends will make fun of you.
The party was a blast, and although there were a few lessons learned – there will be many more parties to apply my new knowledge. Please comment below if you need links to tutorials or more details on my projects! People will look forward to going to your parties when they know you go out of your way to make it special just for them! Get creative! Share ideas! and RE-USE RE-USE RE-USE!
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