New Year’s Eve Celebrating and Entertaining

New Year’s Eve celebrating and entertaining.

Maybe it’s much too early in the game,

Aah, but I thought I’d ask you just the same

What are you doing New Year’s Eve?

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella asks it, and revelers answer with a chorus of festive New Year’s Eve celebrating and entertaining.

new-years-eve

Pinterest

As for Dave the Builder and me, hardcore party animals we are not.

Our party of choice is to host a casual come as you are ringing in the New Year open house in at home style with a few family members, close friends and beloved neighbors.

I keep the decorations traditional, festive, sparkly, and inexpensive.

Gold Glitter Ball Confetti

silver tissue pom poms

Gold and silver glamour is the party color palette, and gold glitter ball confetti and silver tissue pom poms signals we’re gonna party in style like it’s 1999 and beyond.

1999

Speaking of party tunes, here’s our updated New Year’s Eve playlist.

New Year.

Classic tunes.

Good times.

Fun and stylish decorations that you can pick up well in advance or even the day of hit all the right New Year’s Eve celebrating and entertaining and decorating notes.

Metallic and/or glitter spray paint and a collection Styrofoam balls in various sizes makes a fun NYE DIY project that results in focal point presence.

Holiday clearance sales quickly become a decorista’s best friend.

Hit up a holiday clearance sale for everything from party supplies to glitter accents to string lights and lanterns.

A quick and easy table decoration tip that always looks grand is to intermingle battery operated string lights and flameless LED battery operated candle filled lanterns or glass holders from table end to table end (think table runner).

ombre pillar candles trio

Don’t you love the no worries convenience and safety of using flameless candle?  I haven’t used a real candle for luminary purposes in years.

Flameless LED battery operated votive and tea light candles give good style, eliminate safety concerns and unless the batteries die, light the party night.

sand-timer-and-prosecco

A sand timer and clock become perfect centerpiece accents and sidekick to a bottle of New Year’s Eve bubbly.

Jaeger-LeCoultre-clock-1

Wine corks make a stylish place card holder.

wine corksMichaels

You know me and leopard- leopard print love it!

leopard accent plateLeopard Salad Plate

black-gold-cocktail-napkin

White tie formal with the decorative yet casual oomph party boxes and table decorations are a big hit with the New Year’s Eve party crowd.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Gold glitter favor boxes, white and gold gift boxes, and/or black & cream pinstripe round wine boxes.

white gold gift box

A nice selection of sugar paper™ boxes are on clearance at Target.

Black & Cream Pinstripe Round Wine Box

Fill each box with white and gold paper shreds, black-eye peas, and gold or silver jingle bells (a great take on traditional noisemakers).

gold jingle bells

Hobby Lobby

Camellia brand blackeyes

For the table, fill the bottom of clear candle holders with black decorative sand and add a flameless votive and glitter noisemakers.

If decorative sand is not your filler of choice, fill the candle holder about ½ way up with black-eyed peas.

Finish with dollar store silver trays filled with gold chocolate coins or fortune cookies for a festive look and good luck.

coins-1

trays-nickel-plated

fortune-cookie

We ring in the New Year and the dinner bell with a buffet style supper.

Our pork and beans Louisiana Lagniappe New Year’s Eve buffet includes baked ham, pork tender, blackeyes, coleslaw, and buttermilk cornbread muffins.

foodie-gift

The closest thing to black tie required at our what are you doing New Year’s Eve gathering will be these Tuxedo and Cheese and Crackers appetizers.

Get the recipe from Kitchen Mason.

tuxedo-cheese-crackers

Tuxedo Cheese and Crackers

southern-comfort-drink

Southern Comfort Sparkler

1 ounce Southern Comfort

¼ to ½ ounce peach schnapps

3 dashes black walnut bitters

4 ounces Brut (dry) champagne, chilled

1 dash lemon juice (optional)

In champagne glass combine Southern Comfort, peach schnapps and bitters.  Add cold champagne and lemon juice, if desired. Makes 1 cocktail.

~Recipe by Chef Mary Payne Moran via Traditional Home 

oreo-cookie-clocks-12-600x900

Our New Year’s Eve themed dessert comes to us compliments of this recipe for Chocolate covered no-bake Oreo Cookie Clocks from Pint Sized Baker.

You had me  at chocolate-covered.

And no-bake.

And Oreos.

As the year draws to a close, the question on many a New Year’s Eve  celebrating, entertaining, or relaxing mind is what are you doing New Year’s Eve?

However you celebrate it, enjoy and Happy New Year!

Love your style!

A Delicious Mocktail For New Year’s Eve 2015

The Places In The Home New Year’s Eve celebration pales in comparison to the rowdy and lively parties in Times Square or on the Vegas Strip, and that’s just the way we like it.  Give me a few appetizers,

cheese-strawsEmeril’s Easy Cheese Straws

everything-twistsEverything Twists

creamed-spinach-dipCreamed Spinach Dip

Brown-Sugar-Poppyseed-Hot-Ham-Cheese-Party-Rolls-Buns-Roll-Ups-01Hot Ham & Cheese Party Rolls

chocolate-dipped-mandarinsSalted, Chocolate-Dipped Mandarin Slices

a fabulous New Year’s Eve celebration themed tunes playlist,

and a delicious mocktail such as the Peach Sunrise Fizz.  Throw in the bangs, pops and sparkles of the neighborhood fireworks show and I’m good.  Party animals we are not, but we do give New Year’s Eve a run for its money 50+ style.

mocktail

Jumex peach nectar is a staple in the Places In The Home pantry.  I use this stuff in everything from cakes to marinades to my New Year’s Eve 2015 mocktail.  A quick survey of ingredients on hand brings forth this delicious mocktail with a zippy zing for proper party measure.

sugar-in-the-raw

Sugar in the Raw is another must have on hand holiday helper.  Did you happen to see my Facebook post featuring my Christmas Fresh Apple Nut cake iced to perfection and topped with Louisiana pecans and a generous sprinkling of Sugar in the Raw?  Take a look here.  Open a couple of packets of these chunky brown sugar crystals and pour into a saucer.

sugar-rim-glass

To zing the taste and the pretty factor up a notch or two, add the zest of one lemon to the sugar.  Squeeze the juice of the lemon into a small bowl.

fresh-lemon-juice

Dip the rim of the glass into the lemon juice.

cocktail-glasses

Fill the glass with ice.  Pour the glass ¾ full with the peach nectar.  Add a generous splash of lemon-lime soda and a generous pour of grenadine (pomegranate juice, sugar and water) or cherry juice.

grenadine

Give the Peach Sunrise Fizz mocktail a quick stir and garnish with fresh lemon twist.

peach-sunrise-fizz

Dave the Builder and I will be raising a glass to you as we toast the arrival of 2016. Here’s to New Year 2016- a fabulous year for us all abounding with peace, joy, love, health and great style!  Thank you for your support and loyal readership. Cheers!

Love your style!

New Year’s Eve Soiree Suggestions

These New Year’s Eve soiree suggestions center around hosting a great get together that is as simple in prep and serve as it is in style and taste.

I think host and hostesses shy from the concept of simple thinking simple translates to open bags of chips tossed about with a if you want it get up and get it yourself party vibe, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Simple entertaining is the first cousin to comfortable times spent at home with friends over good eats and drinks mixed with great conversation, music and merriment.  Simple takes the lead of the evening setting the tone, the feel and the mood.

It’s a perfected manner of entertaining that should appear to be exactly what it is intended to be- a casual and comfortable gathering of friends with the emphasis on let’s have fun.

PERFECT_CHEESE_BOARD_PIC_02How to build the Perfect Cheese Board

I love the casual glam look created by pairing a denim shirt with the sparkle, glitz and glamour of holiday appropriate jewelry and accessories.

Apply that same philosophy by pairing up otherwise ordinary goodies with serveware befitting an all that glitters New Year’s Eve celebration.

View More: http://kristaajones.pass.us/nyeThe Glitter Guide

For example, these porcelain dip bowls in gold and silver from Target retail for $2.99 each. I also noticed a Nate Berkus serving tray on clearance for under $10.

Make new and affordable entertaining friends while ringing out the old, a few in silver and a few in gold.

New Year's Eve Soiree Suggestions

Who doesn’t love to sip a cocktail or mocktail from a salt or sugar-rimmed glass?

Pop a good time for New Year’s Eve with casual fair and flair.

new-years-mocktails_shirley-temple

Cheers to my very favorite unleaded drink of choice, the Shirley Temple.

A good Shirley Temple takes me back to summers at the Broadwater Beach Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Homemade-Fortune-Cookie-RecipeHomemade Fortune Cookies

Festive fortune cookie favors carry out the theme of good luck and fortune for the New Year and New Year’s Eve party goer.

Della Gossett, executive pastry chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago Beverly Hills, shares her recipe for homemade fortune cookies with the readers of POPSUGAR.

Talk about luck!

black-eyed-peas1New Orleans Style Blackeye Peas

A midnight black-eyed pea buffet is always a part of our New Year’s Eve party plans.

Starting the New Year off in a simple and casual setting with a bang of tradition, a dash of festive ritual and a dish of good luck is resolution number one.

Love your style!

New Year’s Eve Celebration

What “they” say is proving more and more to be true.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it applies to my planned appetizer tray for our small at home New Year’s Eve celebration.  The crowd loved it at Thanksgiving so much it has been requested for our New Year’s Eve culinary celebration.

appetizer tray

Simple works, and thank the entertaining gods it does!  Seafood dip picked up from the deli, pita chips, white cheddar Melba toast, and port wine and pepper jack cheese balls will start the hors d’oeuvres ball drop.  I found the recipe for Fireside Cheese Spread over at Taste of Home and it looks like it will be a delicious addition to the lineup.

new year's eve celebration

 

We will be having a rather laid back celebration this year with good music and great company.

 

That’s our house blend.  My crystal ball tells me the combination will go well with a pepper jack cheese ball, spiced pecans, dates and a newly discovered treat, sweet potato tortilla chips.  What holiday cheers do we have here?

Pomegranate Fizz Cocktailvia

 

Pomegranate Fizz Cocktail

Ingredients

2 cups of pomegranate juice

¼ cup of grenadine

1 bottle of champagne

mint and pomegranate seeds for garnish

 

Directions

In cup, combine your juice with grenadine and set to the side. When you are ready to serve, pour mixture into a glass and top with champagne. Garnish with pomegranate seeds and fresh mint

recipe via Guest of a Guest

Here’s a celebration saver tip for when the bubbly isn’t so bubbly:

If the champagne goes flat it’s a raisin to the rescue!  Before pouring, drop a raisin into the champagne bottle. The carbon dioxide adheres to the raisin and it’s Don Ho time. Tiny bubbles, get it? 

Pouring_two_champagne_glassesvia

What are your plans for ringing in the New Year?

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