NYE Party Plan
New Year’s Eve has to be the coolest birthday. Everyone is dying to party with you! My mom’s birthday is December 31st, and I know one other sweet mom with a NYE birthday too! This year is a big milestone birthday for my mom, so we plan to party till midnight (or until we all fall asleep, haha!)
Food
Food is so important at a party. At a cocktail party, each guest will eat about 5 appetizers in the first hour, and about 3 each successive hour. (This is why it is important to get a good RSVP count ... and why we should always respond to the invitations we receive!) You don’t have to have all available appetizers ready for the first few guests. You can bring them out slowly as the evening progresses. I am hosting my mom’s birthday party from 7pm-12pm (since it’s NYE!), so that’s about 17 per person (if they stayed the entire time).
I asked her to send me some of her favorite foods to serve, since it’s her birthday. Here are a few in our lineup for Friday night:
Pineapple Cheeseball with Ham is always a hit, especially one with green onion, ham, pineapple, and pecans! Serve with crackers.
Cranberry Brie Bite: only five ingredients with cranberry, brie, and rosemary = fun and fancy (or try one of the suggested variations)
(Grown-Up Version of Pigs In a Blanket: (that even kids will love!) sounds yummy, especially with everything bagel seasoning! Uses cocktail weinies and crescent dough.
Mini Phyllo Tacos: super easy, filling protein bite with taco meat and cheese, using phyllo dough if you can find it …or puff pastry
Shredded Chicken Toppers: more labor-intensive, but yummy chicken appetizer (I like this because I can make the chicken mixture in advance!)
And just a few more: Bang Bang Cauliflower, Greek Cucumber Bites, Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno Poppers, and Black Forest Ham Roll-Ups are easy to prepare, transport, and serve.
*If you are serving younger kids, try easier fruit and/or veggie trays, a meat and cheese tray (think kid-friendly charcuterie), cupcakes, and cookies. They might also like sliders, mini hamburgers or hotdogs, and any and all miniature foods are welcome!
Drinks
We have a few drinks on the menu! In addition to soda/water/sweet tea, I found a great recipe for blackberry-infused gin (just 750 mL of gin, and a quart of blackberries sealed ..mine’s been soaking all week!), and a sangria. I’m modifying my go-to sangria recipe to make a beautiful pink sangria (one of our theme colors). It is a box of pink moscato (5 liters), a cup of brandy, a box each of fresh strawberries and raspberries, and two chopped Honeycrisp apples (you could use frozen fruit if you like). If it is too strong, I’ll add some white grape juice. I’m not trying to cause any accidents! I also picked up some Bailey’s to add to coffee, and Ches picked out some cognac (we’ve never gotten before..we felt like kids in a candy store with all the beautiful bottles!). For a party for kids, I’d add a fruity drink (juices with sprite, and fresh fruit to match the color palette).
Decor
Flowers, balloons, banners, garlands, and signs are all great ways to decorate! My mom’s invitations were black with (light and dark) pink, white, and gold, so I looked for coordinating flowers. It has been increasingly difficult to order flowers (right now..some aren’t available until February or March!). I found some pink hydrangeas for the kitchen table and pale pink roses for the coffee table. I added greenery to both to fill them out. I also added several balloon garlands, some with black and white striped ribbon, and a big gold balloon Happy Birthday balloon garland, and balloons on lanterns. I will fill helium balloons on New Year’s Eve to add to any other areas..nowhere is safe from balloons, haha!
Entertainment
For my dad’s 70th birthday, we played trivia (all the most fun memories about my dad)! You can play games, trivia, run a slideshow in the background, add a fun guessing game, host a drawing for a gift package, or just post stations around the room with activities or fun trivia about the guest of honor.
