Fiesta Friday/Real Party – Toast In The New Year Brunch

The perfect way to start 2012…have a few friends over for a New Year brunch! That’s what we did on Sunday.  A few guests were still hurting at 11 a.m…even we were a little slow, having to get up early to get ready.  So, I opened up my bag of party tricks and pulled out everyone I knew, so hang on….

I had no idea the color scheme…I didn’t want it to be all glittery, that seemed too New Year’s Eve. Did you check out my inspiration board? So many ideas, I couldn’t narrow it down. But then I spied retro appliance scrapbook paper and with all the bright paper lanterns I have, it seemed perfect to have pops of color against silver.

 

Nothing says brunch like a mimosa bar…using these fruit labels from Eat Drink Chic, guests made awesome cocktails.  The small bottles are just mini Martinelli’s jazzed up with the scrapbook paper.  The backdrop is a wonderful cloth shower curtain I found months ago on serious clearance at Target. It was one of my you-never-know purchases.

Glitter stickers always make a party more fun…I wanted to use numbers for a countdown, but I couldn’t find glitter numbers ANYWHERE!

The kids’ table had to be, well kid-friendly.  When I spied these little frying pans at Michael’s, the wheels started spinning…they would make the perfect place settings.

I made the candy eggs and wrote their names with edible markers.  Kids can be picky and distracted at parties, so I figured cereal would be enough for most of them.  They did sit down long enough to eat the candy egg but most of them didn’t finish their cereal.

 

I made the topiaries by simply hot gluing a 12-foot garland (on after-Christmas clearance) around a large styrofoam cone.  A few party blowers, hats for the boys, tiaras for the girls and we were set.

 

Sidebar…so I have to say, I’ve decided that hanging stuff up with packing tape is no longer an option and decided to have a more permanent (although removable solution) with Command cord clips. They have a hook clasp that allows them to make the perfect ceiling hooks. My ceilings are vaulted so they aren’t even noticeable. I used the small ones and even for my large lanterns they are pretty strong.

Now, onto the big kids’ table…silver wrapping paper runner, check.  Mini ornaments and party blowers, check. The world’s most inexpensive cloth napkins…use solid color bandannas. Next to making them yourself, if you are lacking the sewing skills hit up your local craft store.  I found mine at Hobby Lobby for 2/$1.

The clear chargers are actually serving trays I found at Dollar Tree.  They had square ones too, so you can imagine the mental debate I had in the aisle trying to decide.  If you haven’t noticed, I also swapped out the paper from the large party blowers with scrapbook paper.

I even broke out our ‘good’ silver AKA the ones we only use at Thanksgiving. And sorry, I’ve had those leaf plates for a seriously long time, so I can’t tell you where I found them.

Find a place that has a bevy of pre-made food and make that your friend. I’m learning that it is ok to purchase stuff like frozen quiches and French toast sticks.  Why on earth would you make them yourself?  Make Trader Joe’s and Costco your friend.  I mean it, make that your 2012 resolution…I don’t have to make everything myself.

 

As I’ve said before, people will eat anything on a stick, although it doesn’t take much to get one to eat bacon.  We skewered strips and baked them in the oven.  Not only did all the fat remain in the pan but it was the cleanest way I’ve ever seen it be eaten.  And yes, those are said French toast sticks in syrup.

 

OCD party moment…the muffin liners are deliberate, blue for blueberry, brown for chocolate chip, pink for strawberry cheesecake.  Don’t worry, I have a bazillion cupcake liners, I do that kind of crazy all the time.

Look at my hubby putting the skewers out, he made them himself! He was so proud…

One last candy mold moment…party favors.  Sigh, I know. Curse you Bake It Pretty…it’s all your fault!

Happy New Year to everyone!