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{via pinwhirlparties.blogspot.com}

This past week, my potato and I have put our preparation in high gear for our cocktail party next Saturday. We started out wanting to have a more intimate dinner party, but there were so many people we wanted to invite (and we wish we could invite more), we decided to expand it into a cocktail party. It will be the first time we’ve had most of our friends and neighbors in our home, and we’ve attempted our preparation in advance so that we won’t miss a beat. Here’s what’s on my checklist:

DECOR & AMBIENCE

Since I’ve already been in decorating mode,we’ve spent the week ordering the remaining chairs for our dining room table, a few art prints, and pictures to place around the apartment

1) Rearranging furnuture to create gathering spaces

2) Rearranging lamps, buying votive candles and softer bulbs to give our apartment a glow

3) Create an iTunes mix of different genres of music

4) Buy flowers, herbs, to create small arrangements throughout the house

5) Scotchguard furniture and slipcovers

MENU

For a guest list of 30 people.We’ve chosen a menu of 8 tapas/appetizer items that are self-serve, bite-sized and easily prepared, so we can spend less time restocking food while the party is in motion.

1) Shop for ingredients needed for menu

2) Choose serving platters, dishes, flatware, napkins

3) Decide on arrangement of buffet table and

BAR

Ourfriends  have a wide taste in spirits (one friend for instance only likes white sangria), therefore our solution was to come up with 4 signature cocktails (bourbon,whiskey, vodka, tequila).  Two of the signature cocktails can be made well in advance. Since the rest of our bar is already well stocked, the rest of our list is as follows:

1) Ingredients for signature cocktails

2) (2) bottles of red and white wine

3) (12-pack) of bottled beer

4) Serving containers for the 2 prepped signature cocktails

5) Additional lowball or short glasses

6) Prepare flavored ice cubes (lime, lemon, herbs etc.) as ready- made mixers

GUESTS

There are still a few people who have yet to confirm, so the next plan of action is to follow up and get a final head count a few days before.

That’s it! We have to finish painting the stairs (the before and after I’ll show in another post) , and other minor decorating accents, but I’m excited & I can’t wait to show you guys the pictures and details of the party in a week!