Don We Now Our Frugal Apparel

So.  You want to have a New Year’s Eve Party, but after Christmas, you are soooooooo on a beer budget – even though your tastes run more toward champagne.  What is a Cheap Chicklette to do?  Well, you can watch Fox 9 News tonight at 5 PM, or you can read all about the best inexpensive party tips here.  You could also do both, but that’s your choice.

I got the chance to interview a real, honest-to-God event planner for today’s Fox 9 segment – Laura Mullen from Laura Mullen Event Design.  Not only is she WAY prettier than me, she has awesome cheap party tips, better than Martha, and twice as festive.  Plus, she’s not evil and cranky, either:

DÉCOR TIPS:

Make paper “flowers” from used/left-over or after Christmas sale wrapping paper.  Cut out five or six 5 inch squares from your favorite wrapping paper (Laura used a festive gold).  Then, get about six or seven long bolts (about 8 inches long) from Home Despot.  Next, thread the squares through the bolt and sandwich them with the screws.  Fold and scrunch up the paper and fan it out into a pretty, petal arrangement.  Confused?  Then watch the segment – you have to see it to believe how easy it is.

Another tip from Laura – buy plain votive/tea light candles, sometime available at AxMan for $0.10, and place them in plain glass holders from WalMart for $0.57.  Pretty and CHEAP.

FOOD TIPS:

Pop up a HUGE pile of popcorn, butter it well, and top it with a spice mixture (this fills up a lot of people for a little money).  Laura made her mix from salt, turmeric, cayenne and other curry seasonings.  YUM. 

For the sweet tooth bunch, buy packaged vanilla meringues and a big bar of Belgian chocolate from Trader Joe's and macaroons from Super Target.  Break up the chocolate bar (I’d use a hammer, but Laura puts the bar in a paper bag and bangs it on the floor), and arrange the broken-up chocolate and the other treats on a large serving tray for an elegant look (easy and cheap, but looks great when displayed together).

DRINK TIPS:

New Year’s Eve is all about the bubbly, but champagne can be spendy.  Trader Joe's Prosecco ($6.99) served with a bit of fruit juice (pear, cranberry, apricot, passion-fruit – you name it and 1-2 bottles of the juice/nectar will last all night since only using just a splash per drink) is a festive and tasty drink.

For the daring party-goers who want some spice, try a Pear and Pepper Proseccos (pear juice & Prosecco topped with some fresh ground black pepper).  It sounds weird, but tastes oh-so good and spicy.  We TOTALLY drank our drinks once the shoot was over.

For other great party tips, or to just HIRE Laura, go here.  And tune in tomorrow to Cheap But Not Easy for my year-end send-off.