History Day: Roaring 20's NYE

In 1990, my parents suggested playing card games to ring in the new year. For 18 years, we played cards with my parents to ring in each New Year.












In 2008 my mother informed us that she was getting to old to stay up that late, and suggested that we come over for New Years morning instead. Turning to the kids, I asked what they wanted to do instead and they suggested a Wii-competition. So we danced in the New Year before driving to my parents house to visit the swans that winter along the Mississippi River.

Last night was my 30th Family Game New Years Eve. My kids have literally never rung in the New Year any other way. The food has changed to accommodate changing diet needs, family members have left us, and the games have changed as the kids have grown. But the tradition of playing games throughout the night and into the next day with plenty of finger food treats has never wavered. 

It was well over a year ago that my daughter pointed out that for this NYE we would be returning to the 20's again, and suggested that we have a Roaring 20's New Years Eve party. We discussed, we planned, we pored over vintage cookbooks and Pinterest - and we found that apparently "EVERY" party worth going to in the 1920s was a celebration of seafood and booze... which posed an interesting challenge in our family. So my daughter and I set to work creating an anachronistic "Prohibition-Approved, Fish are Friends not Food" interpretation of the iconic 1920s party.

Because this was going to cost a little more than our traditional NYE party to pull off, we decided to do a 1920s theme for our church's Trunk or Treat as well - which gave us a little more budget to work with, but it also meant that everything we did needed to fit into the trunk of our car.
  
The first thing we knew was that we would need plenty of feathers and pearls. So in June we started haunting the thrift stores to find secondhand pearl necklaces that we could use.

I watched Hobby Lobby sale ads for MONTHS, and have discovered that their feather decorations simply do not go on sale. So we kept the feathers to a minimum, and used paper and glitter to fill the rest of the space.

In the dining room, my daughter used a black feather boa, some of our thrifted pearls, and our glass icicle ornaments to create a lavish chandelier. In the living room I took foamboard and PLENTY of gold glitter, and created a marquee for the fireplace.

Our vintage milkglass vases held a pair of feather centerpieces; one in the living room with our desserts, and the other in the dining room with the food.

My daughter created an embroidery hoop chandelier with glitter and velvet cardstocks to hang over the living room dessert table, based on the one that she made for her Egyptian Mummy Party five years ago.

 It was the food that caused us a few problems. After quite a bit of discussion, we decided to make a pair of mocktails, and create food that LOOKED as if it could have been served at a 1920s party.

Along with our loaded baked potato Chex Mix, we tried Cherry Manhattan, and Mint Julep mocktails. The Manhattan was SO strong that we actually poured it down the drain as inedible. Something about the combination of lapsang souchong tea and bitters was just too much for our palates. The mint juleps were okay, but my daugher and I thought they were WAY too sweet and resorted to plain tea while the boys drank the sugary sweetness.

My biggest splurge was a set of 3 ounce shooter glasses with itty bitty serving spoons. Years ago I watched a David Tutera wedding with sliced grilled cheese sandwiches and shooter glasses full of tomato soup, and have been wanting to recreate that look ever since. To go with this, we had a mashed potato bar and served our 'tatties in ice cream sundae cups, and we stacked veggie crudites into the shooters with dip and bamboo skewers.

For dessert we made buttermilk cupcakes, chocolate dipped strawberries, and vegan chocolate tofu mousse layered with cheesecake in the last of our shooter glasses.

I turned on a playlist of 1920s era music, we set out our games and lit the mercury glass candles, and I... was fast asleep by 11:15. 2019 was not an easy year, and after less than 3 hours of sleep and a day of food prepping apparently my body had plans that I wasn't aware of. So I left the partying to the kids, and THEY watched an era-appropriate movie and played a few games.

The decorations sparkled. 
The drinks were weird.
The food was amazing.

2020 will be a year of radical change for us. I'm glad that we ushered it in, with style.