HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I planned a family event for my husband's family to ring in the New Year together. It was just the immediate family, but he has 7 brothers and sisters all married and with kids, so it was about 20 guests in all. I sent an Evite as I normally do with the details. I know that most bars, clubs, and restaurants put all their details, like cover charge, dress code, and so on, so I did the same.  Cover Charge = DISH, DESSERT, OR DRINK, we made it International Potluck.  Dress Code COME AS YOU ARE, whatever is comfortable since we will be eating all night. I decided on gold and brown stars and snowflakes due to some party ware I had found at Target after Christmas for 75% off the regular price. It was very elegant for paper plates and napkins. I purchased the snack and dinner plates along with the cocktail and dinner napkins in the same theme. I found wrapping paper at the Dollar Tree that was brown with gold stars that I used on my island that I always use for a buffet table.  I wrapped the countertop on the island and a drink bar.  I found noisemakers in gold and dark red at Target as well, 25 cents for a 2 pack. I opened them up and put them in several wooden bowls on the buffet and breakfast table. I purchased sheer gold fabric garland at the 99 cent store for 50 cents each that I used to wrap the bowls.  I also used it to tie on the back of the chairs around the breakfast table. I found some gold foil stars garland at Target for about 75 cents for 40 feet that I also wrapped around the bottom of the bowls. I have 2 candelabras over my island flanking my sink that I always incorporate into my party decor.  This time I used gold foil garland and wrapped the bottom and took the wrapping paper and covered my votive candles that were orange.  I already has Christmas decorations up that I used in my scheme.  I have a long wooden dark brown bowl that I had placed green pine garland into it. I purchased these small glass vases with lids at Big Lots and had put shiny and dull gold jingle bells in 2 different sizes in all 3.  The jingle bells had stars and snowflake designs on them as well. I found mini rustic brown jingle bells at Michaels that would have been great contrast to the gold, but ended up not purchasing them due to a tight budget. I did have large rustic brown jingle bells that I placed around the glass vases in the pine garland.  I also found these glittery gold star ornaments in a 10 pack for about 75 cents. I stuck a couple in the pine garland and a few hung from the breakfast table light fixture. I purchased glittery gold snowflakes in 2 different sizes that I stuck in the pine garland as well. I placed a dark wooden clock in the front of the whole centerpiece.  I flanked that with the bowls of noisemakers. Speaking of which, I also found a party set at the Dollar Tree, 5 hats and 5 horns for $1.  I bought 3 packs of these too.  I also purchased HAPPY NEW YEAR beaded necklaces that I placed in a smaller wooden bowl next to the noisemakers.  I used lots of my wooden serving trays, bowls, and dishes to put my food on, like chips and salsa and bread for Vietnamese sandwiches.  I will get to the food that was brought by the guests later.  I split the party ware into half and put them on either side of the buffet for easy access.  On the drink bar, I used a round wooden plate to hold the vodka, tequila, and margarita mix. I used clear acrylic martini glasses to hold limes and a clear plastic plate to hold the salt for margaritas. We had every mixer you could think of, from soda to juice. I made a punch with 4 cups cranberry, 1 large can of pineapple, and 2 cups of ginger ale that I placed in big glass punch bowl that I just purchased on clearance for under $7.  I also used my clear acrylic pitchers to hold passion fruit juice and orange juice.  I made everything due to a few pregnant sister in laws and the kids.  I figure the drinkers could easily add the liquor if they wanted to spike their juice, soda or punch.  We placed the beer in a cooler under the island where I normally have counter stools.  We placed them around the family room for additional sitting since a hockey game was playing.  I have a fireplace that is the focal point of my family/kitchen/breakfast room. I had put up some Christmas decor, like pine garland on the mantle and hearth with different size dark red, rustic brown, and gold jingle bells that have the star and snowflake designs.  I also have these wooden snowflakes that I hung on the fireplace screen and stuck in the pine garland on the hearth.  I took down the Christmas items, like a Santa figurine and replaced it with a dark wooden clock. I also removed the red tapered candles, but left the dark wooden candle holders that have a snowflake design. I had some ornaments lying in the garland on the mantle that I removed and put the glittery gold stars and snowflakes in their place. I also had a brown rustic metal stocking holders that spells out SANTA that I left but covered the letters with gift tags in the shape of stars.  I hung the wooden and glittery stars from the hooks. I also stuck some of the glittery stars, snowflakes, and foil stars in the pine garland on the hearth around the fireplace screen.  I placed the party favor bags here as well. I purchased mini gift bags in a light gold color that had a monochromatic pinstripe with shiny and dull gold.  I purchased a bag of fortune cookies at the local Vietnamese market that were individually wrapped. I cut open each bag and laid it to the side.  I dipped one half of each fortune cookie into chocolate and placed them on wax papered cookie sheet to harden. If you put them in the refrigerator they will harden faster.  I then took the dipped fortune cookies put them back into their individual wrappers and closed them back with the foil star garland. I put 3 in each bag and tied a gift tag in gold star shape.  I wrote YOU� in the TO: area and US� in the FROM: area.  I also hand wrote GOOD FORTUNE IN 2008� since I was giving fortune cookies. This was for the adults and for the kids I found these pretty gold cylinder gift boxes with a design on the lid that was in brown raised velvet. I put in a variety of candy in each one that I had picked up after Halloween. I placed the same gift tag on each one that said BE SWEET IN 2008�.  The food that was brought was very eclectic, we had Chinese stir fried noodles, Vietnamese sub sandwiches and rice soup, Japanese sushi rolls, Italian baked ziti, Mexican chips and salsa, and American fried hot wings. We had several desserts and snack items as well.  We played bingo and to make it more interesting we gave $5 gift cards to McDonalds for the first 4 rounds. Then it was 2 cards for $1 and the winner won the pot. We also had a Vietnamese board game, but did not get around to playing it.  We handed out glasses of champagne, sparkling juice, and white grape juice about 5 minutes to midnight.  We also gave everyone a necklace noisemakers, and party hats to use and wear while we counting down the seconds to 2008. It was a great family get together and a great way to bring in the New Year, with family and close friends. This submission was not as organized as my last ones, but I hope that you got some great ideas out of it. I am off to plan a Valentine's Dance.  You know like the dances when you were in high school. I will be sure to write up a submission after we execute it in February.