Throwing a quick holiday get together with friends and family? Below are some tips on how to throw a great soiree on a budget.
Music Sets The Tone.
Infuse your party with a true mix of the holiday classics from Bing, Dean, Frank, Ella, Count, Louie as well as some wonderful lounge remixes of these artists which will deliver very cool, eclectic and funk flavored music. Also, many artists like Bon Jovi, Michael Buble, Katy Perry, Josh Groban, James Taylor and more have recorded your holiday favorites so mixing them in would be ideal.
Setting The Scene.
Scented candles inject “all that’s holiday” in the air as well as holiday touches such as silver, gold and white shimmery ball ornaments. You can use these ornaments in a centerpiece mixed with flowers or on your tabletops in clusters. Votives are a nice, easy and inexpensive way to decorate. You can cluster frosted votives and place “snow” at the base of the votives, which delivers texture to your tabletop. Also, tall Manzanita branches that are flocked are quite dramatic and easy to place in a cylindrical vase.
Serving specialty holiday cocktails such as these are sure to get your guests in the holiday spirit:
Eggnog and Kahlua
Ingredients
1 oz Kahlua® coffee liqueur
4 oz eggnog
Nutmeg
Mix Kahlua with eggnog in a wine glass and then sprinkle nutmeg on top.
Peppermint Martini
5 ounces of Chopin vodka
2 ounces of white Creme de Menthe
1/2 ounce of Peppermint Schnapps
Mini candy canes
Pour all of your liquid ingredients into a shaker 1/2 full of cracked ice. Give a good 20 vigorous shakes and let the shaker rest for half a minute. Strain your lucious peppermint martini into 2 freezing martini glasses. Add a candy cane in each glass for garnish.
Delectable Hanukkah Fare?
Invite your friends and family to celebrate Hanukkah with you by hosting a Latke Vodka party. Trays pass your favorite latkes with different chilled vodkas. Put a spin on your latkes; sweet potato, zucchini, butternut squash and sage latkes are memorable.
Sweet Potato Latkes
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Stir together potatoes, scallions, flour, eggs, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in a deep 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4, spoon 1/8 cup potato mixture per latke into oil and flatten to 3-inch diameter with a slotted spatula. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain.
Entertaining Children?
For a Hanukkah Party, you can have kids decorate their own dreidels and do a gelt hunt.
For a Christmas Party, organize a candy cane hunt and have children make their own Christmas tree ornaments. Nobody will leave empty handed.
For winter climates, you can build your own snowman with all of the fixings: sticks for arms, buttons and carrots for fun features.
Not snowing in Los Angeles? Bring in real or faux snow to add winter fun to your holiday party.