Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New Year's Party Recap. Hello 2014.

2013 was such a good year for us, we decided it needed to go out with a bang. I knew I wanted to do something for New Year's Eve, but with a one year old the options are limited. Everyone is celebrating, so finding a babysitter isn't very plausible. Also, having a a baby who loves her own crib and resists sleeping elsewhere makes going to the houses of others not so fun. Thus, staying home becomes the best option. If you can't go to the party, bring the party to you... right? We decided to throw a little something here. Except, I got on Pinterest (always a dangerous move) and before I knew it my "little something" turned into a full-fledged, planned out, arguably over-the-toply (...toply?) decorated party. And I had SO much fun throwing it! :) Apparently I love party planning. This is just one of many domestic tendencies that I've uncovered since becoming a stay-at-home mom. It's kind of embarrassing how exciting I find Zurcher's to be. I think it also helps that between Christmas and my birthday, I received more party platters and cake stands than I know what to do with. The following are the results of my preparations...

The Food.
Because no post about a party thrown would be complete without showing off the cuisine. 

Honey glazed ham, brisket, gluten-free brownies, mashed potatoes, fruit, salad... a giant cake. What more could a person possibly want? 

I had some fun with gold spray paint to give it a little extra glam factor :) 




The Photo Booth.
We decided to throw a little photo booth together at the last minute. I found these printables here, got some skewer sticks, and found a few extra props at the party store. Oh and our backdrop is just a black table cloth taped to the wall. Real fancy. I am quite pleased with how they turned out :)

Group shots.
The Girls.
The boys were literally throwing balloons at us during this photo.

Seriously. They were really intense. It felt like 7th grade gym dodgeball. 


The Boys.
I love how genuinely excited they were about  the balloons.




Games.

During the night we also played some fun little games. I received inspiration for these here.

Famous People of 2013.
Essentially we came up with noteworthy, memorable, or scandalous people from 2013, wrote their names on a name tag sticker, and stuck them to our guests' backs. Then they had to ask each other yes or no questions, and the first, second and third people to discover their identity got a prize.

My favorites:


Winner: Jesse

Cherry Eating Contest.
We selected three volunteers, put a cherry in a bowl in front of each of them, and told them to eat it first without hands. They all looked pretty confident (and maybe a little confused at the simplicity of the task)--and then we filled the bowls with whipped cream. It was a quick game, but pretty hilarious all the same.




Winner: Austin

Resolutions Game.
We had each person write down 3 of their resolutions/goals for 2014 and put them in a bowl. Then we took turns reading and guessing whose they were. The person who guessed the most correctly won. The most awkward were ones like "lose 20 pounds" and "complain less" because no one really want to guess who it belonged to and get it wrong...
winner: Austin

Ball Drop, Toast, and Lots of Kissing


At midnight we tuned in to watch the (re-run of) the ball drop in New York and toasted to the new year. Klair woke up about 20 minutes before midnight, so rather than miss all the fun trying to get her back to bed we opted to let her stay up for a bit and ring in the New Year with us.

She  was slightly dazed, and super cute. She just cuddled up and laid her head on my shoulder like this for quite awhile. Snuggly baby, happy mama.

New Year's Kisses.






Klair Bear
Because no post is truly complete without a bunch of Klair photos.
She was sleeping last night while we did our photo booth, and before cleaning it up today we decided to get a few New Year's photos of her.

Cute, happy girl.





We had so much fun celebrating. We're grateful to have such great friends. If New Year's was any indication of how 2014 will be, then I am excited to see what the next 364 days brings. 


Happy New Year! 

6 comments:

  1. Wow! Practically a professionally done party! I have to hold myself back at Zurchers too. Looks like you guys had a ton of fun!

    Thanks for stopping by. I love meeting other bloggers and making new "friends". :)

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    1. Thank you so much! That is so sweet of you to say. Yeah it is crazy how addicting it all can be. Pinterest is such a great resource, but it's also really dangerous! haha!

      I love meeting new bloggers too! I'm glad I found your blog!

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  2. what a fun party! your decorations and food look amazing!!

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    1. Thank you, Katie! I can't take all the credit though, Sam helped out a ton :)

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  3. That party looked awesome. My house was WAY low key. Maybe one year when I'm not doing the whole cancer or crippled thing, I'll throw a party as cool as yours. ;)

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    1. Jenna, Thank you! The inspiring thing about you is that you have been through much more than the average person yet you have such a positive attitude and outlook on life. People lean great things from your example.

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