Party Dip Recipes * Food & Drink

Black Bean Dip Recipe from the Melrose Family blog.

New Year's Eve wouldn't be a party without some party dips. We looked around and found 5 must make dips your party guests will LOVE! 

 It's always nice to have something in the slow cooker at a party. Damn Delicious has this Spinach Artichoke Dip.

 

Buffalo Chicken Dip from Five Heart Home is great with crackers or even better celery and carrots.

How about a sweet dip! Cooking Classy's Chocolate Fruit Dip looks delicious. 

You gotta have some bacon at the party. Crunchy Creamy Sweet's Bacon Cheddar Ranch dip is perfect. 

Happy New Year! 

April- founder & editorial director 

Celebrate * Home & Food

The holidays are all about celebrating. Celebrate family, friends, Christmas, and the New Year with a cup of cheer. Libbey believes every occasion, be it big or small is an opportunity to celebrate life and we do too.
Adding a bit of holiday cheer to your Christmas and New Year's parties with a bit of bubbly is one of our favorite family traditions.
We put together a quick and simple gift giving idea for your party host Most of the items are things you already have on hand. We simply went out into the yard and gather some cedar boughs for the greens and used gift tags and ribbon from our stock for holiday gift wrapping. It adds a sweet touch to your gift too.

Cedar Decorated Gift of Cheer:

• 1 bottle of your favorite sparkling beverage
• Set of 4 Libbey® Glass Perfect Signature™ Auden Flutes
• Cedar Bough Clippings
• Holiday Ribbon
• Floral Wire
• Faux Holly Berries
• Festive Gift Tags

• Cut 3 pieces of cedar about 5-6 inches in length. 
• Layer the cedar pieces then the berries and wrap tightly with floral wire. 
• rim the wire leaving about 3 inches on the end. 
• Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to make a bow with tails. 
• Find the center of your piece of ribbon. Wrap the end piece of wire from the bundle around the center of the ribbon. 
• Tie the ribbon about the bottle in a knot then into a beautiful bow. 

With your stemware in one hand and your festive bottle in the other you are ready to celebrate the holidays!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

xo

One Word 2014 * Increase of all Good Things

Each year I choose one word to live by rather than setting a list of resolutions. Last year's word was JOY. I decided to live my life and make my choices based on JOY. It has changed my life significantly. I learned to end the things in my life that were overwhelming me. I chose to live each moment in joy. It's a challenge to choose joy even in the hard times. I have faced some serious challenges this year and choosing to find joy even when it was very very hard and it made all the difference. It forced me to change my perspective. It allowed me to see peace where I would have once thought it would have been impossible. I was able to show my children that no matter how rich or poor, no matter how limited or abundant life is we are always able to find joy.

One day our water pump in our house went out. Without a water pump we had no water in the house. Since we lived in the backwoods of Vermont getting someone out to repair the pump took a few days. Rather than feel hopeless and upset I chose joy. We had a very beautiful fresh spring stream on our property. It was a great source to get buckets of water to flush the toilets and wash dishes. It was also a great place to bath. Even though the water was cooler (not too cold) we bathed in the stream. I was able to experience something I never would have if I didn't choose joy. I was able to sit in the fresh crystal clear water of our stream surrounded by tall white pines and moss cover rocks and listen to the peaceful quiet of the green mountains of Vermont. It is an experience I will remember forever. It something my kids will talk about in years to come to their children.

This year I chose the word increase. Increase in all good things. I will choose an increase in joy, an increase in love, an increase money, an increase in good food and on and on. I learned that we are by our nature in need of increase. It is a noble and good thing to seek out increase of all good things even money. Through an increase in money we are able to facilitate an increase of developing talents, increase of experiences, an increase in education, an increase in generosity and an increase of all good things.

What is your word for 2014?


From our home to your's Happy New Year!

April
founder & editor-in-chief

Home & Entertaining * New Years Eve Party Box

Create a "party box" for your guests, to be opened during the New Years countdown. Fill it with a noise maker, glow-sticks, confetti, and candy! When the countdown hits one everyone can open their boxes and celebrate the new year! The box will also be a little favor for each guests to take home from your New Years bash.

Step One: Cut a few strips of tissue paper and use fringe scissors to make little strips.

Step Two: Emboss letters on some purple card stock paper and punch out with a scallop circle punch.

Step Three: Glue the fringe around the outside of the box and the layer it twice. 

Step Four: Using hot glue place the part circle on the outside as well.

You have a fun-filled New Years Party Box!

post by Eden Passante entertaining guest editor | photos by Zan Passante  Sugar & Charm 

DIY New Year's Eve Garland * Home & Entertaining

If you're looking to add a little festivity to your New Years Party try this popular, fun and easy fringe garland! There's so much you can do with this simple, but oh-so-beautiful paper garland! Hang a few strands over a dessert table or create a very cool photo booth backdrop and let your guests take pictures all night! You'll be amazed at how charming the garland looks strung and how affordable it is to make. Bring in the New Year with some fringe!

Supplies:

• Tissue paper
• Twine
• Hot Glue 
• Scissors

Step One: Put two pieces of tissue paper together and fold them in half.

Step two: Cut along the folded edge, creating four pieces of tissue paper. This is one square of the four square garland or you can add more squares for a longer garland.

Step Three: Place the four sheets together and cut strips from the bottom, leave about an inch or two at the top of the tissue paper. Don't worry about making the strips even, different sizes create a fun look! When all strips are cut fold the top over twice... this is where the twine will hide.

Step Four: Add a some hot glue inside the fold and place the twine underneath. Press the fold down so the twin is not visible and stays nicely inside the fold! Make sure you leave a little extra twine at the end so you have some to hang the garland from.

Step Five: Repeat the same steps above until the garland reaches the desired length you want! Glue them next to each other on the same strip of twine. It's easiest to do this part on the floor or a really long table, so you're able to lay everything flat.

The finished garland is so pretty! You can make as many as you want and string them all around.

post by Eden Passante entertaining contributing editor | photos by Zan Passante-  Eden is the owner of Sugar & Charm a boutique event design and dinner party company.