Hey everyone! Team LC here. We are so excited to share this Guest Blog with you from LaurenConrad.com member (and crafter-cook extraordinaire) Kristi Murphy who runs an fabulous blog called Saucy Pants. Kristi was cool enough to share her post with us today for all of you to enjoy. There are some really fantastic ideas here and we are thrilled to share it with you guys... Read on, enjoy, and get ready to be VERY inspired! 

As the famous New Years Eve celebration song says, “Should auld acquaintance be forgot…and never brought to mind?” We don’t think so!

Our theory is in life and in design, there are so many beautiful pieces that should never be forgotten!  We brought back some of our favorites for a Retro-Chic New Years Eve Party in the City! We hope you like this urban celebration that is chock full of DIYs that we will be sharing in the weeks to come…so you can throw your very own Retro-Chic New Years Eve Party. Happy New Year! Eeek … I can’t believe it’s almost 2013!

The Setting

Speaking of “auld,” we held the party at an almost 100 year old warehouse in the historic district of downtown Phoenix. The warehouse served as a steel factory and was recently acquired and renovated by the Levine Mechine. This building is also the new home of our office! Whoo hoo! How cool is it?! I love the dichotomy of the industrial setting and the sparkly decor…a match made in New Years heaven!

The Decor

Are you as in love with these Gold Glitter Vases as I am? They are just magical. What is even more magical is we are going to be sharing the full DIY tutorial with you in the next few days, so stay tuned to the blog! For the decor we had to go sparkly of course! What would a New Years Party be without glitter!? 

The black and white table runner is actually black and white striped fabric I bought at IKEA. I am obsessed with black, white, and gold right now.

We hung this Gold Disk Garland in front of the industrial table we borrowed from the building. This is another simple DIY tutorial we will be sharing with you in a couple of days. We also used some of this fabric and a frame to make the awesome DIY Serving Tray you will see below. Any great photo frames can be turned into a party tray instantly.  Just add fabric (preferably matching the table cloth) and you’re ready to serve! Here is the full DIY tutorial for you!

We were super excited when guests asked us where we bought our Gold Tinsel 2013 Sign! There is no better compliment for a DIYer than to get asked where you bought something you made! We made this festive zinger and will also be sharing the DIY tutorial with you in a few short days.

The Drink Sparklers require only skewers and gold mini pom poms, but we will of course share the DIY tutorial with you, so we don’t leave you hanging! These double as decor and drink stirrers.

We used our New Years Party Printable Collection to bring a cohesive element to the party. These printable little numbers just tied everything together beautifully, and they told the guests what was going on! The collection includes pretty much everything you need to get this look at home! It includes a banner, food tent cards, favor tags, mini champagne bottle labels, champagne bottle labels, and wine cooler/beer/pop labels…yes, we said wine coolers. Explanation below. And yes, we said pop. We are Hoosiers!

This Chalkboard Frame was restored from a 150 year old family frame sitting in my dad’s storage unit!! My dad was so happy that I found a good use for it! We will share the DIY tutorial with you of course!

Another way we went retro was by taking a couple of favorite old school New Years Eve photos to make these Old New Years Photo Displays!  Super fun and you can use any of your favorite photos. We used these photos that were taken outside of a discotheque and Grand Central Station in NYC on NYE! Take a look at them in the pics towards the bottom of the page! Hilarious! 

Remember when we talked about bringing back some of our favorites for this New Years Eve party?! One of my favorite pieces of decor in this spread is this Restoration Hardware Gramophone (an early Christmas gift from my boyfriend who obviously knows my taste). It is such a cool vintage piece that really works! For those of you who don’t know what a Gramophone is…here is a little bit of info:

In November of 1887, Emile Berliner, a German immigrant was the first inventor to start recording on flat disks or records. The Gramophone here, borrowed his iconic speaker horn to amplify music from the iPad (or iPhone) with only the power of pure physics…no need for electricity or chords which is priceless for entertaining!

The Drinks

Champagne (of course!), Lillet Champagne Cocktails, & (retro) wine coolers! Yes my friend, wine coolers are back! One of our favorite new restaurants here in Phoenix, Federal Pizza, sparked our idea for DIY Wine coolers. To accessorize the drinks, our printable collection features champagne wraps, wine cooler wraps, table tent cards, and send-away tags (for minis). Turn regular bottles of champagne into champagne designed specifically for your party!

The Appetizers

Speaking of “serving up,” we passed around some healthy (of course) appetizers for our guests to munch on before we doused them in champagne and dessert!

The Dessert

Since we like to do healthy around here, we went healthier on our desserts too! You will save a lot of calories with these recipes! Printable Tent Cards are a great way to display appetizers and desserts!

Photo: Leonard Freed, New Years Eve 1969 Grand Central Station

DIY Tray Tutorial

The Activities

While instant gratification is a constant in the new age, there is nothing like waiting 45 minutes for the authentic feel of a Polaroid photograph. We took snapshots of the guests and each person wrote one new year’s resolution on the bottom part of the Polaroid pic! It was such a fun way to display New Years Resolutions!

Photo: Tod Papageorge, New Year’s Eve, NY discotheque, 1977-78

The Accessories

Guests espressed themselves with Gold-Dipped Feathers that floated around the party. Some put them in their hair. Some put them in their belt loops. All had fun! We will also share this tutorial in the coming days.

Another full DIY tutorial we will be sharing with you all is how to make these New Years Headbands. Headbands are always a crowd favorite. We had so much fun with these! They are super simple to make and there you have it…party started!

The Printables

The elements and design of our party printables inspired the color, look and feel for the party spread. This New Years Eve Printable Collection includes …

• Champagne Bottle Wraps
• Wine Cooler Bottle Wraps
• Favor Tags
• Mini Champagne Bottle Wraps
• Table Tent Cards
• Happy New Year Banner 
  
  

To purchase the New Years Eve Party Printable set, visit our SaucyShop or SaucyPants on Etsy. LaurenConrad.com members receive an exclusive 50% discount by entering code: LCNYE2013!

Happy New Year SaucyPants!!!

Special thanks to…
Party Styling: SaucyPants
Party Printables: SaucyPants On Etsy or SaucyShop
Amazing Photography: Riso Studio
Delicious Food and Desserts: SaucyPants
Building: Levine Machine
DIY Inspiration: The Sweetest Occasion

xoxo
Krisi

How great was Kristi's post? So creative and we cannot wait to give the skinny cupcakes a try!

Are you going to give any of Kristi's NYE ideas a try? Let us know in the comments below.

XO Team LC