Ring in the New Year With a Stylish Fete

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PRESS RELEASE

Ring in the New Year With a Stylish Fete

Libby Langdon Shares Festive Ways to Decorate and Entertain for the New Year

Tired of the same old New Year's Eve party featuring party hats, noise makers and champagne? Let Libby Langdon add some sizzle to your celebration. Libby, an expert commentator on HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style," has created a variety of décor ideas and party themes that are easy to pull off and will surely ring in the New Year with style.

Libby's New Year's Décor Ideas:

Wine Charm Bar: Let your guests get creative and have them make their own wine charms. Set up an area close to the bar with thin 1" hoop earrings, beads and small novelty charms (all available at craft stores). Wine charms are great conversation starters and at the end of the evening your guests can take them home as a fun reminder of the evening.

Individual Flowers: Buy a bunch of flowers with large blooms such as lilies, gerber daisies or amaryllis. Cut each flower at the base of the bloom and put each one in an individual shot glass or small drinking glass. Arrange them in groups of 3 and set them on tables, bars and buffets. It only takes a minute to do and provides a great look for your party. (photo available)

New Year's Garlands: Keep your garlands up and transition them from Christmas to New Year's by simply replacing the red bows with silk flowers. The blooms can be any color but try and avoid red. You will get a lot of use out of your greenery and your home will look festive and fresh.

Beautiful Bar: Turn a plain table into a festive bar with a brightly colored scarf, ribbons or table runner down the center. Top it with flowers, candles, glasses and bar accoutrement. (photo available)

Silver and White Theme: A simple way to decorate for New Year's is to keep all décor silver and white. Group silver Christmas ornaments in silver bowls or glass vases and position white flowers and candles everywhere. It fashions a very elegant look and it's easy to do.

Multitasking Martini Glasses: Don't just use your martini glasses for drinks! Let them do double duty and use them as serving pieces for dips, nuts and olives. They look great on a tray surrounded by crackers and crudités.

"Serving" Spoons: Make individual servings of your hors d'oeuvres and instead of placing them on crackers, position them on spoons. Arrange the spoons on a platter so the handles rest on the outer rim and encourage guests to just "grab a spoonful".

Mirror Image Candles: Buy 12" x 12" mirror tiles at a home improvement store set them on entrance tables, cocktail tables, bars and buffets. Put lots of votive candles or tea lights on top of them and they'll reflect the warm glow of the candlelight.

Party Polaroids: Put Polaroid cameras on tables throughout your home and let guests take pictures of one another throughout the evening. When guests leave hand out the photos as a fun keepsake. Be sure to provide plenty of film.

Fast, Festive Flowers: You can make a quick and gorgeous flower arrangement by taking a bunch of one flower that has a thick stalk, such as calla lilies, sunflowers or amaryllis, and tying the them together with a wide, eye-catching ribbon. Set them inside a glass vase or ice bucket filled only a quarter of the way up with water and place the arrangement in your entry way or on your table.

Star Light: Decorate plain white candles, pillars or tapers, with gold or silver stick on stars. If you are using plastic cups you can decorate them with the stars as well. It's just a little touch to dress up what you already have!

White Branches: Cover tall branches and twigs with silver or white spray paint and while they are still wet sprinkle silver glitter on them. Put the branches in a tall vase and place stones on the bottom to secure them.

Fruitful Centerpiece: Set a bed of artificial leaves or moss down the center of your table and layer baby artichokes, pears, grapes and candles on top.

Tea Light Table: Line up an abundance of tea lights or votive candles down the center of your table. It's simple to do and creates a sleek, modern look.

Cheese Wreath: Lay a grapevine wreath on your table and fill it with a variety of fresh grapes. Surround the outer edges with grape leaves and a variety of cheeses for a decorative appetizer.

Gold Rush: Gild your champagne flutes or chocolate cake with glimmering specks of gold. There is sparkling, edible, 23-karat gold that you can buy in the form of sprinkles, petals and leaves. It can be purchased on the web from sites such as www.easyleafproducts.com. It's chic and perfect for an elaborate New Year's Eve bash!

Libby's New Year's Party Ideas

New Year's Eve Girls Spa Night: Forget spending $150 for a dinner, $100 on a cute dress and hoping to meet Mr. Right at a New Year's Eve party. Instead, invite all your girlfriends over for a spa night at your place to ring in the New Year! Hire a manicurist and a masseuse to come to your home. If you're low on cash check out your local beauty school as there are sure to be some good students who would love the experience and the chance to get some new clients. Ask your guests to each bring a comfy robe, slippers and a bottle of champagne. You provide some simple appetizers and great ambiance; make sure to have soothing music playing and lots of scented candles lit. Have the TV on so you can watch the ball drop. This is the perfect way to celebrate the New Year with your girlfriends!

International New Year's Eve Party: Spice up your same old New Year's Eve party by giving it an international flavor. Research New Year's customs in other countries and coordinate the invites, food, drinks, music and décor to go along with your chosen country. For instance, you could have a Spanish theme and serve tapas, sangria and have lots of brightly colored flowers and scarves on tables or you could choose a French theme and serve fondue, wine and champagne. It's a fun way to incorporate a new twist on your New Year's Eve party!

Sushi Making Party: This is really fun to do with a group of friends. Get sushi making kits and all the necessary ingredients and invite friends to bring over sake and Japanese beer. Give everyone a little "sushi station" and let them make their own. You may have to demonstrate the first time and there will always be mistakes but imperfect ones are just as much fun to eat as the perfect ones! Have lots of chopsticks available and decorate with an Asian theme; vases full of bamboo, a matchstick blinds tablecloth, candles and bright red napkins. Let your guests take home their sushi making kits in a goody bag.

Libby's Ideas for Hosting a Cheap & Chic Cocktail Party:

1) keep it fun and relaxed – make what you can and buy what you can

2) order a cheese pizza, cut it into bite size squares, sprinkle with fresh basil and rosemary and call it "focaccia", keep a back-up warm in the oven

3) make sure when guests arrive that the lights are low, music is playing and drinks are ready to be poured (25 – 40 watt light bulbs will set the mood)

4) buy some black and white postcards and some colorful Christmas stickers – they'll make fun invitations and you'll save on postage (don't send an e-mail invite...some gestures are worth the extra minute!)

5) cut crudités' the night before, wrap in a damp paper towel and store in plastic bags in the fridge – it'll be perfectly crispy and ready to go!

6) Buy a loaf of French bread (bread's an inexpensive "filler" for a cocktail menu), a pound of rare roast beef sliced thick and some prepared horseradish sauce – cut small pieces of the beef, set on the bread and top with sauce

7) Use unusual items in your home in different ways for serving pieces – put cherry tomatoes in a vase, "stand up" your crudités' in a glass, put dip in a martini or wine glass, use a colorful scarf or wrap as a table runner, use a galvanized paint bucket for ice, – use items that will give your table height!

8) Instead of champagne serve less expensive European Proseccos and Cavas. At $7 to $15 a bottle they are equally delicious and just as festive!

9) If money's tight for décor, splurge on lots of candles, set votives in drinking glasses and rim the edge of the glass with sprigs of rosemary. Get one type/color of flowers – Bunches of red carnations are really cheap and they'll last the entire holiday season, just make sure you get a bunch of them!

10) Think outside the box when it comes to décor, Fill a bowl with pine cones and little white Christmas lights, use glass pitchers as hurricanes for pillar candles, cut tall greens/twigs from your yard (or nearby park!) and tie them together with twine for a room corner "sculpture" instead of a tree, buy white paper cocktail napkins and stamp them with your initial in gold ink, fill a bowl with fresh cranberries and nestle tea lights in them, stick little gold stars on clear plastic cups to dress them up...Have some fun and enjoy your guests – a harried host is a killjoy!

11) If you have family heirloom pieces of silver or crystal USE Them!!!! What in the world are you waiting for?

12) Have a Polaroid camera on hand, take pictures when guests walk in, (you can also pass this job off to one of your more outgoing single friends) tape the pictures onto blank pages in a diary. Have guests write a little something next to their picture on the page before they leave, it gets people talking and it gives you a fun keepsake of your party!

About Libby Langdon

Libby Langdon is an interior designer and expert commentator on HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style." She appeared in the first two seasons and recently completed taping seasons three, four and five.

In 2003 Libby founded Libby Interiors and has completed numerous commercial and residential design projects all over the east coast. To compliment her interior work Libby has begun designing her own furniture pieces which can be seen in several of her projects.

Libby's skills were called upon to orchestrate the interior design for New York City's La Masseria, which was recently voted as one of the top ten new restaurants in the United States by Esquire. Working closely with the owners, she was involved from the outset in all design aspects of the restaurant, from working with the architect and builders to designing the logo.

Libby designed the interior décor of the flagship store for famed Italian designer Massimo Bizzocchi in New York's trendy Meatpacking District. Massimo was so impressed by her work he recently commissioned her to design the Massimo Bizzocchi showroom on Fifth Ave.

Libby's designs always express the style of her clients and are frequently covered in national publications. Most recently, Libby has designed private residences in New York's Sagaponack and Southampton as well as an apartment in New York City. She recently designed the Rhode Island ocean front home of PGA golfer Brad Faxon and is currently working on a private residence in Potomac, MD. She was also invited this past summer to be one of the featured designers of the Hamptons Cottages and Gardens 2006 Idea House in Watermill, NY where she designed a stunning guest suite.

Libby is a regular contributor to the nation's top daily papers with designing, food and entertaining ideas. She has been featured in numerous national shelter magazines and her interior designs recently appeared on the covers of Hamptons Cottages and Gardens and Decorating Spaces. She is also a regular contributor and a small space expert to Decorating with Style and other Woman's Day special interest magazines.

A High Point, North Carolina native, Libby spends her time between New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.

Source: Westin Rinehart

CONTACT: Tara C. Silver, Tel: 202-466-1396, E-mail: Tara@westinrinehart.com
2001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 250, Washington, DC 20006

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