the eibls: NYE PARTY

One of Patrick's best friends from college got married over the holidays! They planned a beautiful wedding for the beginning of January. The groom honored Patrick as a groomsman so we wanted to offer to them a wedding weekend party of whatever their choosing would be. We co-hosted with a fellow groomsman and his wife who also live in the area and threw a celebratory New Year's Eve bash in their honor!

Below are all the details. I've included the invitation, menu, a link to the master recipe document, and pictures!

The Invitation and Menu

The Food Spread

The Bar Spread

Savory & Sweet Spread

Tortellini Skewers | Cocktail Weenies, Chips + Salsa, BBQ Sliders

Chicken Salad + Pita Chips | Palmetto Pimento Cheese + Crackers

Cheese Straws | Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

Chocolate Tray: Oreo Truffles & Fudge | Sugar Cookies

We hosted just under 40 people for the affair. We decorated the house and had 2015 paraphernalia as photo props. As you can see there was plenty of food as well. Visit the master recipe list document here. Some of the appetizers and desserts I had made before and we've shared on the blog; others were a simple throw together, and some were new recipes. I'll link to everything below or give a quick summary for what we did (and visit the master recipe list link above for it). I've also included in italics what I made ahead. By doing a lot of prep work ahead of time I was able to save myself from a hectic rush before the party... there may have still been a rush before the party but it wasn't hectic!

Cocktail Weenies | Cheese Straws

Veggies & Dip

Ratio of 1:1 sour cream and Greek yogurt mixed with a Ranch seasoning packet.

Serve with vegetables of your choosing; we did red bell peppers, broccoli, baby carrots, and cherry tomatoes.

The dip was prepared a day in advance.

Tortellini Skewers

Toss cherry tomatoes and cubed mozzarella with extra virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning blend, salt and pepper. Meanwhile prepare tortellini according to package directions. To serve skewer a tomato, mozzarella bite, and tortellini on a toothpick.

The tomato mixture was prepared a day in advance.

Chicken Salad + Pita Chips

I make my chicken salad to taste - use shredded rotisserie chicken meat, some mayonnaise, a little Dijon, some chopped pickles, salt and pepper.

Pimento Cheese + Crackers

Took a shortcut here and used Palmetto pimento cheese.

Chips & Salsa

Combine in a food processor: 3 roma tomatoes - quartered, 2 jalapenos - seeded and diced, half red onion - quartered, 2 cloves garlic, juice of half a lime, salt and pepper.

Serve with chips of your choosing.

The salsa was prepared a day in advance.

BBQ Sliders

Another shortcut - pork BBQ from Qshack in the crockpot and served with coleslaw.

Shrimp Cocktail

Another shortcut - purchased tail-on cocktail shrimp and served with a Heinz prepared cocktail sauce.

Oreo Truffles | Chocolate Fudge | Sugar Cookies | Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

All desserts prepared a day in advance; cookies and mini cupcakes were frosted day of.

Midnight Champagne Pour