If you sit down to have tea or coffee at my mom’s house the milk will be served in a small pitcher. It’s not because she’s one to stand on ceremony, many a Chinese take out dinner were eaten sitting around the large coffee table in the living room when I was young, but she just can’t abide a carton of milk on the table. Well, as my sister in law likes to say, “ducks don’t have chickens”. I now have my own lovely assortment of pitchers and carafes and serving pieces that adorn the table when I have guests. The details of a table, like a charming milk jug or dainty cups & saucers, might not be noticed by every guest specifically but they will combine to create an overall impression.
Creative theming requires attention to every aspect of a party’s mood and decor. To put it another way, the dazzle is in the details. Much like when you set your table for company, guests at a large event won’t necessarily see every design detail that went into creating it. However, those design details will combine to showcase your theme.
It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the trick of a seamless event is how little guests notice the small touches that make up the overall mood. If everything at an event compliments the theme, what will stick out to your guests is what is out of place. So, the first thing to remember when you’re trying to dazzle with your details is to make sure your theme is being carried through as many aspects of the event as possible. Adding small touches throughout the event will envelop your guests in the mood you are trying to achieve. Always take a moment to look over your completed plan and final set up for any off theme sore thumbs and try to either change them or diminish their impact.
One of the ways you can achieve this is by remembering that an event’s overall theme can be multilayered. For instance, you may have specific era or a mood you want to evoke. You combine that era or mood with a color scheme that compliments it. To create a cohesive visual impression you weave together mood or period specific decor with your color scheme. Your color scheme can help you create a seamless visual impact without overdoing mood or period specific items. You can then add touches of your theme in your food and beverage choices as well as your entertainment.
As an example, A Sparkling Affair recently coordinated a ‘Rat Pack Vegas Night’ milestone 
birthday party. The host wanted a theme which harkened back to the 60s. After tossing around a few ideas they settled on a Rat Pack theme. What says Rat Pack and gives a party a fun entertainment theme more than Vegas? The first thing we did was choose an invitation. We found a fantastic black, white and gold invitation that featured touches of red, dice and poker chips. From there I designed a Rat Pack Vegas party with a black, white and gold color scheme with touches of red.
While the Godiva chocolate cigar favors in authentic wooden cigar boxes were one of my favorite moments of the event, the real stars were the centerpieces that tied every single 
aspect of the party together. The centerpieces were composed of martini glasses filled with black and white dice and poker chips along with a metallic gold hand of cards. The glasses sat atop vinyl records from the 1960s and out of the center floated balloon bouquets with black, white and gold balloons and a balloon of either hearts, spades, clubs or diamonds. The hands of cards corresponded to the card suit of the balloons and the placecards matched them. The tables were finished with black bow tie napkins, Rat Pack signature cocktail menus and custom gold table confetti. The theme was carried throughout the room with authentic black jack and roulette tables, vintage black and white photographs and a variety of
other details.
The secret of creative theming and dazzling with your details isn’t over theming your event or pushing your décor to the point of gaudiness. It’s adding small touches throughout your décor and planning that create a consistent mood and visual impression. Remember that your goal is to engage your guests and for them to have fun. So keep in mind that a host who is enjoying their party is the best and most priceless décor.
When I was young my parents would buy a bottle of sparkling cider on New Year’s Eve so that my brother and I could have a celebratory toast right along with the adults. As you might expect from a sparkling hostess, as an adult I still enjoy a little sparkle in my beverages. Something about dressing a drink up a bit brings a sense of occasion along with it. The benefit of a lovely beverage bar with anything from water to champagne is that it lets everyone feel a little fancy without leaving behind the fun.
From the obvious lemons and limes to mint leaves and strawberries, you can be as creative as you wish. As an added bonus, many of the fruits and garnishes are going to make your guest’s water not just prettier and tastier, but healthier as well. You can modify this idea by serving bottles of different sparkling and mineral waters along with fruits and herbs for guests to add themselves.
At a brunch or afternoon event Mimosa and Bloody Mary bars are popular options. For your mimosa bar you start, of course, with sparkling wine. Consider choosing a few different sweetness levels (i.e. brut, extra brut, dry). Display them along side a variety of mixers including juices and liqueurs. Orange juice, pomegranate juice, St. Germaine liqueur and Limoncello liqueur are some of my favorites. Finish off your presentation with a berries and fruit slices for garnish.
Expand your mimosa bar garnishes to include different types of olives, cocktail onions, limes and cucumbers. For an extra touch offer guests individual cocktail shakers and display some simple drink recipes to guide them and encourage them to play mixologist.
Growing up, Christmas Eve consisted of friends who felt like family gathering in my parent’s home. Though there was ample seating throughout the house, everyone spent their fair share of time crowded in the kitchen. They congregated around a countertop teaming with appetizers and the stove which held a pot of my mother’s famous soup and a pot of acini di pepe (or ‘dots’ as we affectionately referred to the tiny pasta) which each guest mixed to their own specifications before topping it with grated parmesan. Perhaps it’s these fond memories of guests deciding what their personal ‘mix’ of the famed broth, meatballs and noodles would be which led to my general love of any type of a “build your own” bar at gatherings.
Not long ago, I discussed the art of the antipasto and how to turn an initial food offering into an appetizer display that will delight all your guests. However, there are other ways you can take the appetizer offering a step further. For instance, by including a delightful crudités bar. Consider arranging vegetable sticks in vases of different shapes and heights with cherry tomatoes in the bottom for a bright and vibrant display. Serve dips in hollowed out bell peppers of different colors.
You don’t have to leave the fun of a food bar behind after the appetizer course, there are a number of ways to turn your main course into a creative adventure for your guests. My favorite is a taco bar. There are so many ways to please guests with this classic “build your own” bar. I would suggest including two to three filling options such as seasoned ground beef, ground turkey, sliced chicken breast, sliced steak, or shredded chicken or pork. If you have vegetarian guests you can substitute one of your meat fillings with seasoned cauliflower rice, diced mushrooms, quinoa or tofu. The fun really begins with the toppings. I like to include a variety of shredded cheeses, thinly sliced red cabbage, diced tomato, black olives, lettuce, pico de gallo, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Finally, offer a selection of ‘vessels’ for your tacos such as hard shells, flour and corn tortillas and tortilla chips. This type of bar can range from a simple table top spread to an elaborate display and can be modified to create the most basic tacos to something truly gourmet. You can also modify this theme to a burrito bowl bar and include rice, beans and corn.
Taco bars may be near and dear to me, but there are so many lunch and dinner food bar options you can experiment with. A simple approach to a food bar is a sandwich bar with a variety of meats, cheeses, breads and spreads. Include interesting vegetable options such as roasted peppers and pickled items along with more standard tomatoes, lettuce and onions. You can get as creative as you want with your meat and spread offerings by including anything from the simplest cold cuts with mayo to seared tuna or steak with chimichurri sauce. You can also dress this bar up or down with your bread selections offering anything from the basic hard roll and sliced bread to loaves of artisanal bakery bread. When I have a larger variety of offerings on my sandwich bar, I like to offer sliced French bread or crostini in the event guests want to have multiple smaller sandwiches.
A Sparkling Affair Events 