The Shindigz Party Recipe Site has added another chef and his first treat is this quick and easy Bacon Avocado Dip:
Your Friends & Family will beg you for the recipe for this Bacon Avocado Dip!
Get the complete recipe today at Shindigz Party Recipes and enjoy tonight!
You could be just like everyone else to ring in the New Year. But why settle for the usual? Transform your great room into New Years in France! Wow your friends and neighbors by throwing anything but an ordinary New Year’s party to ring in 2013.
Prepare for Paris
One of the best ways to transform a place is using gossamer. Use black gossamer to disguise your great room. Wrap around walls and furniture you won’t be using to make your room look a little less like a great room and more like Paris at night. Decide what your guests will be doing for the majority of the evening- will they be dancing? Playing games? Watching television? This will have an impact on how you will arrange your room. Be sure to plan ahead of time so you know how things should be arranged.
Eiffel Tower Envy
The most recognizable symbol from France is the towering, gorgeous Eiffel Tower. This is a 
must-have for your party. One option is an Eiffel Tower Wall Graphic. The removable wall graphic is seven-feet tall and is perfect for a great room. If you don’t want something on the walls and are looking for a three-dimensional Eiffel Tower, check out the Lighted Eiffel Tower. This decoration is a towering 12-feet tall and is surrounded in twinkle lights! It will be the perfect focal point of the great room at your party.
Don’t stop at one, eye-catching Eiffel Tower. Use mini towers all over the room. The Eiffel Tower Tea Light Holder will add a romantic touch to your party. Place on the coffee table or book case for a nice, dim glow. If you like, print out some of your favorite online photos of the Eiffel Tower and scatter them around the room. They will make for a great conversation piece.
The City of Light
If Paris is the City of Light, lighting is going to be an important part of transforming your great room. At the very least, you should line the room with small white lights. Another great idea is to use the La Tour Mini Lamp Posts to light the room and/or walkway to the room. These stunning lights are 2-1/2 feet high and if your room is dimly lit, will help party goers see where they are walking.
Magical Music
While you’ll surely have the television on for the big Times Square ball drop, something else will have to fill the space before and after. Play some French music to set the mood. If it’s not something you want to pay for, check your local library for CDs with French music. Also, many television packages include music channels. Check and see if yours offers a French channel.
Do your internet research for other ways you can transform your great room into New Years in France. It might not be as exciting as the real thing, but with the right decorations and atmosphere, you can create a spectacular night in France in your very own home.
Shake out the winter blahs with a hot Havana party that’s full of tropical warmth and Cuba’s unique Caribbean flair.
Havana Party Settings
Consider a Havana theme for cigar parties, winter fundraisers and New Years’ celebrations. Lots of color and music with distinctively Cuban rhythms are key.
In warmer climates, apply your Havana theme for a party around the pool or at the marina with nautical party supplies and palm tree décor. Colder locales can shut out the snow and cold by bringing the party indoors and re-creating the Tropicana.
What About the Tropicana?
In the era of lavish hotels and casinos (1930s-1950s) the Tropicana was the center of the nightclub universe.
The Tropicana originally consisted of a casino, an indoor dining room and stage and an outdoor dining room and stage. It is the outdoor venue, set among the royal palms, beset with voluptuous, scantily clad showgirls, that is pictured when imagining Havana’s exotic nightlife.
The legendary Tropicana is still in Havana – minus the casino – and the outdoor stage is a lovely setting to re-create, even for indoor events.
Start with the Palm Horizon backdrop silhouette, with its amazing 8-foot by 32-foot dimensions, to suggest the outdoor venue, and the Havana Nightclub Bandstand, shown above right, as your showstopper piece.
Take your cue from the bandstand piece for your color palette. You’ll be able to find bright pinks, greens and yellows in solid color tableware, for example, that you can mix-and-match to your heart’s delight. Place these bright pieces against midnight blue or deep purple table covers and skirts, and tropical luau centerpieces.
Back a stage/DJ area with colorful metallic fringe curtains, and finish decorating with strategic placement of free-standing palm tree décor and theme mylar balloons in palm tree, parrot and flamingo shapes.
Havana Food & Drink
Cuban culture took the hamburger and transformed it into a frita. We recommend you find a recipe for fritas, such as this one from Three Guys in Miami, and grill them small as sliders in keeping with one of the popular trends in party food.
Along with your fritas, Cuba libres would put a fun, Caribbean twist on the burger-and-cola tradition. Build a Cuba libre in a tall glass with a squeeze or two of lime, a few ice cubes, 2 ounces of your favorite rum (we prefer a dark, molasses-y rum for this) and enough cola to finish filling the glass.
Take a hearty bite out of the Big Apple by making your next bash a New York City theme party.
NYC Themes Just Right
There are nearly as many city theme party ideas for the Big Apple as there are occasions. Pear Pair up a corporate mixer with a sophisticated Madison Avenue theme, a winter formal with romantic Central Park, or a New Year’s Eve with a Times Square experience. A graduation might recall fond remembrances of a visit to the Empire State Building or Statue of Liberty, while a fundraiser event might provide a 1920s-style NYC jazz club scene.
Once you’ve decided – or to help you decide! – take a preliminary trip to City Theme Party Props to take a peek at our inventory.
Did You Peek at the Props?
That’s fine! City theme props, kits and decorations are gorgeous, and there’s such a collection you’ll need to consider the party space and how many skyscrapers it can hold. Once you’ve determined your space needs and accommodations, select your buildings and monuments, newsstands and taxis.
Note that choice of props will also help you dress the party up or down.
Watch for the new props that come with activated sound chips that provide bites of traffic noise or saxophone jazz.
Making More Beautiful Decorating Music
Whether photorealistic or stylized, simple or busy, the backdrop must harmonize with the props. Recently introduced city party backgrounds, such as City Limits patterned flat paper rolls, can help you get the job done with a minimum of time and expense.
To re-create NYC’s nightly glow, backlight your props with red spotlighting and a plain background. Shindigz tends to favor a flat paper in Thunder Gray for this type of lighting effect, which you can see in catalog photos of some of the city prop kits such as Twilight in Central Park, shown above right.
Supply an abundance of twinkling city lights with street lamps, lots of string lights and lit centerpieces from city party tableware.
End on a High Note
An apple martini cocktail, AKA appletini, seems just right for some adult Big Apple themes. Here’s a recipe from The One Minute Bartender:
p.s. Personalized martini glasses make terrific city theme party favors!
New Year's Party Kit
New Year’s Eve is always one of the biggest celebrations of the year. Everywhere you go around the world people celebrate the start of a brand new year. Having a New Year’s party is fun and exciting. It allows you to celebrate the holiday with your friends and family to make it a memorable night. When planning a party you’ll need to stock up on New Year’s party supplies.
There are plenty of New Year’s party supplies to choose from. Before shopping for the party first determine how many people you’ll be entertaining. This is helpful in knowing the number of items to buy. You’ll also need to know the approximate number of adults versus children since you may want to purchase some special favors just for the young ones.
When choosing New Year’s party supplies consider having a theme. You can often purchase many items that coordinate together to help create the party atmosphere you desire. Think about the supplies you’ll need to get for the party and make a list. This will aid you in shopping for the things that are essential.
Some of the essential New Year’s party supplies include paper plates, napkins, cups, champagne glasses and serving items to aid in food and drink distribution. Many people like to have a buffet style food service at their party. For a buffet you’ll need to set up a central area that will hold the party food. Opt for easy to eat foods in small appetizer servings that allow guests to try a little of everything.
When setting up the buffet table you’ll need to start with a table. A large table that is located central in the room allows people to mingle and to reach food from all sides. Decorate the table with fun New Year’s party supplies. Cover the table with a disposable table covering or a tablecover roll that keeps in the New Year’s theme. Then add some paper plates, napkins and utensils on the ends of the table where people can easily grab them.
Plastic Champagne Glasses
Some additional New Year’s party supplies include decorations for the walls and table. A centerpiece is a nice addition to the table to make it look festive. Put some decorations on the walls and hang some from the ceiling to add interest to the room. Be sure to put some decorations on the door so people feel the fun party atmosphere as soon as they enter.
Create a special space for beverage distribution. Try to keep the options simple to allow guests to get their own drinks. Large plastic tubs are great for keeping beer, wine or non-alcoholic beverages on ice and ready for drinking. Other New Year’s party supplies include plastic Champagne glasses for toasting at midnight.
Add some other fun New Year’s party supplies in the form of noise makers, party hats and balloons to create a festive atmosphere for everyone to enjoy. Using disposable or recyclable products makes for easy party cleanup. Find out how to order New Year’s party supplies online by visiting http://www.Shindigz.com.
