Tips for Throwing a New Year's Eve Party

Throwing a New Year’s party can be a lot of hard work, without adding a tight budget to the mix. You might ask yourself, 'Why do I throw these parties every year.' After the ball has finally dropped, you find yourself bringing in the New Year completely broke, and you'll likely spend the rest of the year hearing about how great your party was while you can only vaguely remember cooking enough food to feed all the animals of the ark! I needn't remind you of your absence during the dramatic ‘scenes’ that usually occur when people get together on a holiday dedicated to drinking. There goes your gossip for the next revolution of the Earth! Well, not to worry. There’s a way that you can have your cake and eat it too! The first thing you’ll want to focus on is the menu. You’ll want to serve some respectable ‘bites’ while keeping your credit card from maxing out.

Try adding a fresh new twist to some of the old classics. Styleathome.com has a great recipe for curried devil eggs that won’t set you back much, will taste delicious, and can be prepared well in advance. Jamie Oliver also has an awesome new look for the standby crudité platter. For more Ideas, visit websites like FoodNetwork.com or About.com’s page on entertaining. Think outside of the proverbial box, and don’t stop until you find what you’re looking for. The second thing that can really affect your budget: décor. The biggest and greatest way you can help your wallet here is to stop by your local thrift shops. Find the home décor section and buy all the cheap used candles you can find, the fact that they’re already half burnt will make your party look like its been going on for so many great hours. You could also use holiday foil wrapping paper to cover a few of your picture frames.

Tying a nice black or grey ribbon around a silver-foil background will bring some uniformity to your décor. For the music just grab a few of your old CD’s and burn a mix that’ll go long into the night. Last but certainly not the least of these important matters, the drinks. You should have one signature ‘house’ drink that you keep a HUGE pitcher of in the fridge. No doubt some of your guest will bring wine and beer and such, so other than that, make sure you have a few bottles of mixing alcohol around for those people who really want to take the party up a notch. Don’t forget, the more they drink, the more gossip for your neighborhood newsletter. Be sure to keep all this in mind when you throw your next big New Years Party on a budget and you’ll be good to go.

Resources: Jamie Oliver’s Crudité Platter http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/cool-crudite-veggies-with-a-minted-pea-a Curried Devil Eggs (http://www.styleathome.com/food-and-entertaining/recipes/recipe-curried-deviled-eggs/a/30178).
Photo: dan