Happy Monday and HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!! This year I'm featuring our own celebration for our own family with you all. Since our girls were little we have "rung in the New Year" at 9pm PST...which is midnight in New York. As the kids have gotten older we have incorporated a "Family Dinner" into our celebrations and this year was our biggest dinner to date so I wanted to share it with all of you!

 The color palette was silver and white. I already had the silver "chargers" and the white dinner plates. The white dinner plates are a wonderful investment if you ever give dinner parties or family dinners. They coordinate with everything! The rest of the items I either already had in my cupboard or bought at discount places such as Marshall's and Goodwill. 

 The "tray" in the center is really a picture frame! I just "framed" silver paper and then added the centerpiece which is just a round tube vase half filled with plastic "crystals" I had leftover from a wedding and a silver taper candle. 

 The favors were SO easy. I just used regular paper Party Cups and set one into a smaller glass so I could get an even line. Then I drew around the top of the glass to give me a line to cut down onto as well as "scoring" the paper cup so it would fold easier. Then I just cut even slices down to the line, trimmed off the lip of the cup and then folded the pieces down into the middle. I used double stick tape to seal them after lining them with a square of silver tissue paper and Hershey Kisses and then tied on the white curly ribbon. Easy peasy and it cost less than a buck a favor and took about 30 mins to do. 

 The numbers were a last minute find. If you have been watching my Facebook tips then you know my tip today was to add numbers to the glassware for your party so when I happened upon these number tiles I just knew they would fit into our tablescape perfectly! The kids were completely thrilled by them!

 We used the common space in our complex which still has it's Christmas Tree up. Once all the candles were lit and we had the light of the tree it was just beautiful.

 This simple banner hung over the fireplace. It took me about 10 minutes to do using white cardstock and alphabet stickers. Super easy and super cute!

 Whenever possible, remember your space includes overhead as well as in front and to the sides of your guests. Leftover paper lanterns from a different wedding with little mirrored tiles glued onto curly ribbon hanging down were the perfect touch for our room.

 For one of the more popular details I just used lemon juice and large crystal sanding sugar. Just dip the glass edge upside down into a bowl of lemon juice and then into a bowl of the sanding sugar then pour the bubbly in! We had kids at this party so we used plastic champagne glasses and filled theirs up with Sparkling Apple Juice instead of the Champagne that filled ours. The big silver bells were gifts for the kids too. At the end of dinner we "rang" in the New Year with them!

 A little indulgence was on the menu tonight. Crab and shrimp cocktail kicked off the celebration in high style!

 Next up was a Tri-tip. I wanted a meal that would be easy to make with very little preparation or cooking time needed. Because of the complicated tablescape I knew I didn't want a complicated dinner.

 It was done to a perfect Medium-well in just under an hour which was perfect timing for our sides as well.

 Two types of baby potatoes, carrots, onions and parsnips roasted in butter and garlic for an hour while the Tri-tip roasted as well. They cook at the same temperature so all I had to do is put them in the oven and let them roast so no slaving over a hot stove before the party which was wonderful!

 You may have noticed a bit of a "comfort food" theme here as well. What a great way to ring in the New Year than with a family favorite. This is my mom's 4 cheese Mac and Cheese...it's famous in our family and treasured since she hardly ever makes it. Some kinda good, that's for sure! This was the perfect side dish for the kids as well as the perfect main dish for the one vegetarian in the family.

 Remember I said easy? Cupcakes are the super easy way to have dessert without going to great complicated lengths to get it. These French Vanilla cupcakes took 20 minutes to bake earlier in the day. A quick swirl of white buttercream and then top them off with pre-made sugar snowflakes and a sprinkle of that large crystal sanding sugar and they were good to go! I just made them in the silver foil wrappers so they would match our color palette to perfection.

 As the night went on we enjoyed the candle light, our family and the champagne. It was so nice to have soothing music in the background, good food and this beautiful tablescape to enjoy all evening long.

After ringing in the New Year with the kiddos we adults sat back and enjoyed the time together. This is the advantage to having dinner around 7-8pm and then celebrating the same time New York celebrates. Once the kids are in bed the grown ups still have time to hang out with each other and just enjoy the last of the Champagne and the last of the old year.

Happy New Year to all of you out there enjoying spending this time with Cherry! Stop on by our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/thecherryontopevents , on a daily basis for tips and tricks and come on back here next Monday for another Party Plan.

Have a GREAT 2013!

Cat