New Year&#39;s Eve 2011: Sparkly Dinner Party

New Year's Eve has always been a special evening for me. We celebrate it every year with good food, family and friends. A few months ago, I came across this fantastic blog called, Hostess with the Mostess. I love their design tips for all types of celebrations. This post of HWTM in particular was the perfect New Year's Eve photo shoot with lots of fun inspiration for a stylish and festive dinner party. It was styled by Courtney from Pizzazzerie and she shares all the following details below.

Using an old terra cotta pot, I made a festive holder for the evening’s sparklers (pictured at top, in image #1). I spray painted the pot navy, added a dusting of gold glitter, and filled it with dried black eyed peas. Black eyed peas are customarily eaten on New Years Eve for good luck – food so their presence added a fun little twist!

“Pulling together the pieces for a glittery New Years Eve dinner party was very fun! Kate of Custom Paper Works and I came up with a festive color palette of black, gold and navy (or “midnight blue").

I knew I wanted to incorporate large wooden letters somehow, so I decided to use them as table decor. A bit of spray paint + craft glitter = a very easy DIY project! Pairing black spray paint with royal blue glitter also created a nice “midnight blue” color. (This idea would work well for other occasions too… a couple’s initials for a wedding, words like “JOY” or “BE MERRY” for a holiday party, etc.)

Champagne is definitely a New Years Eve MUST, so I used two oversize champagne glasses as holders for noisemakers and party horns. Even adults can have a little fun with these traditional New Years Eve “toys”!

I worked with Pink Cherry Mama on the little wooden New Years Eve signs decorated with navy ribbon. I adore her work and couldn’t wait to stick these cuties down into some appetizers. They were perfect!

Kate’s custom gold menus turned out gorgeous – they were circular and designed to look as though you were viewing them from the top of a champagne glass!

To make the place cards/napkin rings, I attached each of Kate’s round name cards onto a 5-inch strand of ribbon, then glued the ends of the ribbon to the back of the name card to form a loop. Cute & easy!

I made my own “NYE poppers” filled with navy and black m&ms. Wrapped in gold wrapping paper and tied off with ribbon on each end, they doubled as festive party decor when placed in a large martini glass.

Kate also made “Grab a Sparkler” signs for the vases. The sparklers were grouped and tied with navy ribbon… all dressed up and ready for guests to grab just before midnight!

The Midnight theme was also carried out with the adorable navy blue clock cookies by The Cookie Jar and “Midnight Reverie” dark chocolate bars by Ghiradelli, which made delightful favors!