WILD NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY!

When you are a party animal like me, New Year’s Eve is THE time to REALLY break out and celebrate.  In her comment on my last post, Cherry Kay at Entertaining Women said that the only time she decorates for New Years is when she is having a New Year’s Eve party.  Little did she know (heck, little did I know) that we were hosting a New Year’s party!  We invited the wildest, loudest, most fun people we know to help us welcome 2011.  Actually, our son and his wife and our daughter and her husband did the inviting!  I think they thought it was only fair, since they were all invited to other parties!Our New Year’s Eve guests made Happy New Year cookies (with a LOT of sprinkles on top), had a New Year’s parade in our home, and sang happy birthday to 2011 while throwing confetti in the air at 11:00 p.m. our time.  (I convinced them that when the ball on our t.v. dropped in New York, it was midnight, and 2011 had arrived.  That’s how I got them off to bed by midnight our time.)
Whew!  Having a New Year’s party is a huge chore for the hostess (especially if your guests are your grandchildren, and you will allow them to do ALMOST anything when they visit).  Did you see my floor in that mosaic above?  I’ll be vacuuming confetti and cookie sprinkles until next Christmas!

Some of us were worn out from all of the partying and had to unwind with a good book.

New Year’s Day, 13 people shared our “good luck” meal of Jambalaya, black eyed peas, cabbage, and cornbread, and nobody bit a dime. (If you read my previous post, you know that I mix sterilized dimes into the black eyed peas).

I have to divide my black eyed peas into several dishes, or there is a LONG wait in the buffet line, while everyone tries to fish out a dime for good luck in the new year.  The dimes sink to the bottom, and the spoon just kind of pushes the dimes around.  You can hear them, but catching one is not always easy!  This is one time when it PAYS to be at the back of a buffet line.

My New Year’s Day theme was “make new friends, but keep the old – One is silver and the other gold”. That’s why the table setting was a combination of silver and gold.  (S-h-h-h, Don’t tell my guests -- I came up with the theme AFTER I mixed the silver and gold on the table.  I was just looking for anything with bling!) (You need to remember that I had hosted a wild party the night before.  I may have been too tired to think about what I was doing when I set this table!)

Yes, I lit the candles for our afternoon meal. You can mix silver and gold and you can light candles in the daylight on a New Year’s Day table.  (That’s my rule -- I love making  up rules as I go along!)

This candelabra causes a LOT of smoke if I light candles on all of the arms.  So, I used museum stick-on gunk (I’m sure there is a better name for that stuff) to put NY’s décor on some of the candle holders.



Since I’m such a party animal, I’m ready to host another wild party!  I’ll be hosting my second annual Valentine Party in Blogville on February 11th.  It will replace my weekly Favorite Things link up on the 12th of February.  After all, Valentine’s Day is everybody’s favorite event during that week.  You don’t have to have a human significant other in your life to enjoy Valentine’s Day.  Everyone can join in with something that pertains to the celebration of love.  You may post photos of valentine greetings, your wedding, other weddings, your Valentine’s p.j’s (as long as they are decent like Lynne’s pj’s last year), a tablescape, your pet(s), your grandchild(ren) or anything or anyone else you love; and/or you can write a story about your love, (be it a human or a pet, etc.), or a fictional story about love, or a story about a special Valentine’s Day.  (Just keep in mind that this blog is “G” rated!)
Last year, the Valentine party was soooo much fun!  The party link- ups were fabulous. I’d love for you to plan to link up for the party this year.  If you’ll take my party button with you and post it on your blog with a link back to BH&CWL, all of Blogville will know that they are invited to the party.

I am linking this post to Table Top Tuesday at Marty’s (A Stroll Thru Life) and Tablescape Thursday at Susan’s (Between Naps on the Porch), and Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper.




Thank you for coming to see my wild New Year’s party.  Don’t forget the Valentine party on February 11th.  (Even party animals worry about nobody showing up for our parties!)  laurie