Hey Y'all! I'm Cotton from Cotton's Pickins and I am so excited to be taking over for Chloe today! As a Sagittarius I tend to be pretty philosophical, so it is no secret that I just love New Year's Eve! For many years, I was also the friend in our circle to host the big NYE party so today, I am going to be sharing with you my easy guide to planning your PERFECT NYE Party!
Before we get to the fun stuff, we must plan!
• First and foremost,
set a budget. Being a hostess, you will have to shell out a little dough to
make this happen. Are you working with a $50 or $500 budget?
• Next, create a guest list.
This seems pretty obvious, but it needs to be done ASAP. This will also
give you a good head count when it comes to buying food.
• Finally, pick a theme.
Going for a classic black and white theme with hints of silver
glitter? May a gold rush theme is right up your alley! My favorite idea for
this year is a Club XIII theme! Plan out some décor to go with your theme, as
well!
Glitter is a NYE Party favorite!
Now comes the fun of creating the invitations!
•Are you going to send the invitations digitally?
Head on over to PicMonkey.com and play around with
their awesome photo editing tools! Just save your final project and include it
in your messages to friends! Or you can even print the design you create (or
pint it at Kinkos) to mail out!
• Not a digital
designer? Take some inspiration from this awesome Pinterest glitter canvas and
create a sparkly sweet invitation! Something as simple as a little silver
glitter circle could be drawn into a fun disco ball! Feeling a little more
adventurous? Try using the glitter to make a champagne glass!
• Of course, you can
always go with the traditional, easy to buy invitation—but what fun is
that!? Whichever you choose, make sure it goes with the theme that you
chose!
Fancy little party-goers!
What we all came for--Food and Drinks!
• Looking at your budget
and theme, what types of food do you plan to serve? Think about have a dessert
party, or even hot appetizers. Also think of different NYE traditions involving
food—my family always has black-eyed peas and hog jowls!
• Plan out the foods you
need to make and which would be easier to buy. DO NOT leave your shopping to
the last minute—the stores will be packed and will be out of some of the
essentials!
•Is your party going to
be open bar? BYOB? Think about these things and also consider your guests
safety for driving home at the end of the night. A budget friendly idea would
be to create a champagne punch to serve throughout the evening. You can use it
for your midnight toast, as well!
• Don’t want to serve alcoholic beverages?
Consider a hot chocolate bar! This would be the perfect
treat to keep your guests toasty but would be quite fun to add treats like
vanilla flavoring, peppermint pieces, etc. too!
Champagne Punch is budget savvy!
Things to do while you are counting down!
• What better way to
capture the memories than a photobooth at home? Follow THIS guide to create
your own backdrop and take turns snapping photos and uploading them to
instgram! Use a fun hashtag (like #Cottondoes2013) to track all of the photos,
too!
• A new year is all
about celebrating the past year and looking forward to the possibilities of the
next. Spend some time before your countdown sharing these special memories or
maybe make a “guess who” game out of the crazy events of 2012.
• Make sure to plan out
your countdown and purchase supplies ahead of time, especially if it involves
sparklers, watching a television special, or traveling to see fireworks!
Now you’re ready to go!
Here are a few fun DIYs to get your creative juices flowing.
I hope these tips help your party plannings! Thanks so much for letting me take over your blog today and come stop by Cotton's Pickins!
I will be entertaining this NYE. Great post!
ReplyDeleteLove these tips and can't wait to try the backdrops!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for letting me post!
ReplyDelete