Ring in the New Year with a Holiday Party
Editor in Chief Janice Leary
Asst. Style Editor Nicole Ocran

Welcome in the new year with a festive celebration!

Since you already have your theme, you should start planning for your party by working out all of the logistics.

Here are some questions you need to answer:
1. What time will the party start?

How long before the ball drops do you want to start your party? Think about whether you will be serving dinner to your guests, or just a few appetizers.

2. Where will you be holding the party?

This depends on how many people you are inviting. Decide whether you would like to hold and intimate gathering with your closest friends or if you would rather open the party up to your friends and then some.

3. What will you be serving your guests?

Are you going to start the night off with dinner or just serve a few appetizers?

4. What activities will you be hosting?

Before your party:
Send out invitations! It’s always nice to have an invitation mailed, but evite.com is also useful in party invites and guests can RSVP so you’ll have an estimate as to who is attending.

The day of your party:
Set up everything that you will need to have your party run smoothly. Decorations should be hung and tables should be set. Foods like chips, cookies, crackers can be laid out during the day, but other perishable hors d’ouerves should be set out 15-30 minutes before the party begins.

Activity ideas:
Having you and your guests get together and sing karaoke are a fun way to embarrass yourselves.

Evite.com suggests has many great ideas, including keeping your New Year’s resolution easier with a ‘Resolution buddy’! Guests write their name, email address, and resolution on a slip of paper and you place them in a hat or bowl. After guests pick a name (that is not their own), then that’s your resolution buddy. It is basically your job to be a nag and check on them throughout the year.

Party’s over!
At the end of your party, give guests a little gift like chocolates or a candle. A bag with a few trinkets are also a nice thank you. Be sure to include a small card with greetings for the New Year.

A more personal gift you could give to friends is a mini memory book of photos of good times and inside jokes. You can find a set of 3 Cahier Moleskine Pocket plain notebooks on moleskineus.com for $6.95.

One last tip on how to open a champagne bottle:
1. Start with a chilled bottle of champagne
2. Take the foil off of the wire cage at the mouth of the bottle. You can loosen the wire cage, or take it off, however some the cork on some bottles can pop off then depending on how they were handled previously.
3. You can place towel on over the mouth of the bottle before you open it to catch the cork and any champagne that may spill in the process
4. Get a firm grip on the cork and the body of the bottle and slowly turn the bottle to remove the cork. If you firmly pull the cork out of the bottle as it loosens, it is more likely to spill out.
5. Pour and enjoy!