To Please Or To Educate

With the use of 3 basic colors a cohesive theme provides

 a sparkle without becoming messy.

Now that 2015 is firmly underway it's good to look back at the darker days of last year. The Holiday season is a strange sort of time. It's hard to imagine when the sun is returning and Spring is arriving, that we go through such a great deal of effort to create a special intimate setting in our homes and gardens. New Years Eve is the highlight ceremony of all the festivities, so I would like to go the extra mile for this event. A themed Winter Wonderland Ball invitation was send out, describing not only the formal information but also telling a little made up story about King Frost and his Ice Queen. There was a strict dresscode to enhance the feeling of a wonderland setting. The arriving guests were very creative with their outfits, from wireless lights sewn into hairpieces to snowflake make-up. It all looked shimmery and icy! The Beverage table got the 'American Treatment' for these elaborate tables are very uncommon in the Netherlands. 

Beverage table in full service at the beginning of the evening.

Fairy lights and organza pieces created a atmospheric wall, topped with vintage paper guirlandes, pom poms and home made 'Happy New Year' banners. There was enough space on the table for clusters of snacks, drinks and napkins. Selfmade water labels for bottles are easily printed out and glued on. They might be overlooked because they fit in so nicely with the rest. But those are the gems. Things that people take for granted and seem to be effortless, are the ones I might twist my head up for. In the end it was good to see that all bottles were used and some even went home with our guests as a souvenir! The special Blue Curacoa Punch as welcome cocktail went down smoothly and created an instant buzz around the party goers. Because what makes the drink blue and why is it so sweet?

Bottles with DYO labels

And before you know the party is well underway and people are singing and dancing like the clock already struck 12! It all reminded me of the great Salon area where people gathered under the roof of an inspiring host. Just like the Salons hosted by Gertrude Stein where Pablo Picasso and other twentieth-century luminaries like Alice B. Tolas gathered to enjoy refine taste, poetry and art either to please or to educate themselves. Or it might have been a court masquerade because the outfits were extravagant and there were lot's of masks, feathers and furs. Along with starry blazers and shimmering dresses. Either way the music, the setting, the themed decorations and the energy of the guests made it an evening we all will be remembering for quite some time. Making the first hours of 2015 a blast.