Special Guest Post: by Ladies and Gentlemen

Here's to the Sparkling New Year!

drink intro
This is a public service announcement from Ladies and Gentlemen:

Friends don't let friends succumb to another New Years of guzzling bottles of cheap champagne (we all know how that kind of evening ends…). Take the high road (but affordable) and toast the years past and forward with an artful array of tasty mix-your-own cocktails that are guaranteed to get the next 52 weeks off to a good start.

Here are some ideas to set up the ultimate mix-your-own cocktail bar:

drink table

-Set up a bar: Have a designated area. We like to use our vintage ironing board for this purpose. It's portable and stows away, is the perfect height, and has an interesting form.

-Vessels with personality: Pick vessels with various forms and characters to mix things up!

drink tags
-Typewritten tags: You know that vintage typewriter you bought just because it looks so cool…Now here's a good excuse to USE IT! Get some simple tags and type an individual mixing instruction for each drink. You will be rewarded by the praises from your guests. We guarantee it.

drink glasses

-Personalized cups: Pre-mark or allow guests to mark their glasses by getting rub-on letters (by Letraset or Chartpak). Not only does this assure that no mix up happens, it will also keep your guests entertained for good 10-15 minuets. THEN you can bust out your Wii or your good old karaoke machine for the real fun.
Pssst! The letters also come right off in the wash when you scrub it, so don't worry about your glasses!

-Top it off: Provide various toppings and garnishes for drinks loose and nicely arranged: Pomegranate, mint, lemons, cocoa powder, cinnamon or whatever you feel like! This will allow everyone an opportunity to customize and expereiment making their own drinks.

Here are some drink recipes to jump-start your ultimate New Year celebration party!

drinkmixsmall

Irish Coffee (via Drink Mixer)
15 oz Irish whiskey or Irish Cream
10 tsp brown sugar
60 oz hot coffee
Heavy whipping cream
Cocoa powder

Make the coffee (stronger the coffee the better), add sugar and mix Irish cream or whiskey (or both!). Mix.
Whip the whipping cream. Put whipping cream and cocoa powder in separate bowls on the side.

Click here for our other drink recipes!

If Martha taught us anything, it's that it's all about presentation and involving your guests…this is no time to forget that lesson…bust out…go the extra mile. These mixes don't take long, they can be prepped in advance, and will make your bar look totally stocked and glistening! The best part is that now you don't have to spend the whole evening mixing drinks for everyone else…the guests can mix their own darn drinks!
Enjoy and we hope that this can come in handy for any celebrations! Happy New Year!

Jean&Dylan
ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com
ladiesandgentlemen.etsy.com

Editor's Note: A huge thank you to Jean and Dylan for this amazing idea! We are off to buy some new vessels!

drink mix

Jan Halvarson

25 comments:

Helenna said...

Congratulations on being featured in 'realliving' magazine! I am looking forwarding to reading through your blog in more detail, however so far I am finding it full of inspirational posts. I have added you to my list of favourite blogs. Congrats and Happy New Year!

Cheers,
Helenna

Di Overton said...

Happy 2009 (I have written a post on how to survive it)
Hugs
Di

bettyninja said...

ooo even more pics! Great fun post- love it and the pics!

Miss Crowland said...

Great post. WHERE did that doily come from??

Maiasaura said...

Cute post. I also would love to know the origin of the doily. It's fantastic.

'Cuz I Felt Like It! said...

Genius, pure genius!

Jan Halvarson said...

Thanks everyone, I've got that same question in about the doilies, myself and hope to hear back from Jean about them soon!

Jean said...

Thanks for all the positive feedback. The Doily was made by this lovely women name Rose Perish, where I collaborated with her to do these series of doilies. I also have other ones like, "woot woot!" "blah blah blah" and also some slightly angry(but funny) ones...like "piss off" "yo mamma" and "wft". :P
Her hand work is amazing, and if anyone is interested, please email me. jhclee@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

LOVELY ideas for tomorrows celebration. Thanks for sharing. Its so much fun to read your blog! So inspiring.

brandeye said...

this is so great. looks fab! love the old ironing board.

Anonymous said...

I love all of these ideas- especially the letters on glasses, and the typewritten tags. Very nice- thanks!

Anonymous said...

ideas just in time for a party tomorrow evening. we also got dried hibiscus flowers for in he champagne. oooh fancy. :)

Anonymous said...

Fantastic ideas, especially the plum wine. And congratulations on being featured in Real Living.

Kat said...

I will absolouteley try this tomorrow for our NYE party :)

###### said...

I am going to buy myself some letters for glasses. I forgot all about those. Thanks for reminding me. Great blog!

Michelle said...

I love this idea. How do they keep the ironing board from swaying too much?

ABBY said...

gorgeous post! thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

We have the problem with everyone losing their drinks and forgetting which cup is theirs.. what a simple solution. Better than my multi colored rubber bands! I love it!

Coco Cake Land said...

such a cute party-infused post! i, too, am amazed by the boo-yah doily thing!

Anonymous said...

These are the most adorable party ideas! Each one is so cute, but I especialy love the ironing board. I will be trying out all of them. Thanks so much!

http://www.makemineeclectic.wordpress.com

Sandy said...

OK, that doily-- WANT!

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Thanks for all the comments on the doilies. This doily was made my by
mother. You can see them at
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5382085

She has made just about 2000 custom name doilies.

Thanks
Cindy

Melanie said...

Fabulous post! And I'm totally in love with the images in it!

Anonymous said...

wow, you really are very creative. your ideas are just amazing. who would know that you can use an ironing board to serve drinks on

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Oh MY...I must have a Booh-Yah! doily. HYSTERICAL!

This post, and your entire blog, is just lovely. I'll be borrowing these ideas for sure (and serving the cocktails from my Booh-Yah, or Fo Shizzle, doily. ;-)