NYE Party

Well, this is my last blog post of my Christmas break.  I actually have an extra day tomorrow because of the extremely frigid weather in the Northern midwest. All schools in Minnesota, pretty much all of North Dakota, and some of South Dakota have been cancelled.  We are talking -40 to -60 wind chills. Crazy cold!  

Another cold night recently was New Year's Eve.  The past 3 years, my husband and I have hosted a NYE party at our house.  It actually would have been the last 4 years but a New Year's blizzard ruined our plans the first year.  Every year I step it up a little bit and this year was the best year yet.

I thought that I would write a post on the elements that made up our NYE party in hopes that it might inspire you if you plan one next year.  First up, the tablescape. 

Last year, I planned on writing a blog post about our NYE party but sadly I forgot to take a lot of pictures.  This year I made the table really pretty so I am glad that I remembered to take a ton of photos.

Here are a few pictures of the centerpiece.

For the centerpiece I used mostly items I had around the house.  That wood piece was something that I bought a long time ago that has sat on either my dining table or coffee table in the past.  It is usually filled with various types of decorative balls.  The sparkly pine cones were taken from my Christmas apothecary jar arrangements.  The rest of the stuff was clearance Christmas decorations from Target.  The bottles are from my antique bottle collection that sits on the chest on the porch.  The chevron straws are from Target.  The 2014 was made from glittery card stock that I cut with my Silhouette.

I found the gold table cloth from TJ Maxx for $25.  I will definitely use it for other occasions so I thought that it was worth the price.  I made the table runner from fabric that I purchased at Joann's.  I used the same mitered corner technique from the napkins in this post.  The sparkly black ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

I also burned some candles in my Nate Berkus candelabra from Target which I placed on a gold charger that I bought a few years ago.  I decided to be fancy and make a little tower with the plastic champagne glasses in the corner of the table.

Now onto the food.

Here is the menu.  I have included links to recipes for the ones that I found on Pinterest.

Menu

Meatball sliders-recipes used are crockpot meatballs and 40 minute slider buns

Queso Dip

Deviled Eggs

Spinach Dip Wonton Cups

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Ball with crackers

Veggies with Dill Dip

Cowboy Caviar with chips (this is a must for New Year's with the lucky black-eyed peas)-my recipe is one that I got from my mom but there are many variations of this floating around the internet

Champagne Cupcakes with Cool Whip Frosting

Crockpot Hot Chocolate with various add-ins

All of the food seemed to be well received.  I always make a ton no matter how many people are coming.  In addition to the food, the party included playing some games and a new addition this year-a photo booth.

This was very simple to put together. I bought some more black and white chevron fabric and hung it from one of our curtain rods.  I made the props using my Silhouette and I bought the shapes from the Silhouette online store.  I also saw free printable props on Pinterest so if you don't have a cutting machine you could still make them.  I cut them out on glitter card stock which I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  I used the same black and gold chevron straws from the centerpiece for the sticks to hold some of the props.  I used my DSLR to take the photos but any camera would work.  It was kind of a last minute idea but everybody had fun with it.  

So there you have it.  That is how we throw a New Year's Eve party at my house.  Of course the evening included counting down until the ball drop and toasting the New Year.  So my last picture says what I would like to wish all of you.  Here's to a great 2014!