There are tons of ways to decorate for New Year’s Eve, but shimmery gold and silver will always seem especially appropriate. Here are a few simple, sparkly ideas from Martha Stewart…It’s not too late to pull any of these ideas together tonight or tomorrow during the day before your festivities begin!

Pictured above: Countdown Decor (gather up all your clocks, hit the discount stores, or borrow from friends!), Sparkling Centerpiece (glass vases filled with shiny ball ornaments leftover from Christmas), and Countdown Champagne Flutes. Pictured below: A Metallic Serving Tray and DIY Shimmering Streamers are created from festive gift wrap.

Sometimes I get so caught up browsing all the fantastic ideas ’round the web that I forget to mention the ideas from right here at HWTM… For example, our Gold & Silver Shimmer party theme, which is full of plenty of sparkle for a New Year’s Eve bash!

And for something sparkly to sip or munch on, try a bubbly Ritz 75 or a Glitzy Chocolate Pudding!

Check out our New Year’s Eve section for more NYE party themes & ideas!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I took a much-needed break from the computer for a few days, which was the best Christmas present ever – it’s amazing how different the world can look after a few good nights of sleep! Speaking of which… catch some extra zzz’s tonight and tomorrow night if you can – because we all have a good excuse to skimp on them again come Wednesday!

For the next few days we’ll be focusing on some fun ideas for ringing in the new year… starting with a few dessert recipes featuring one of the key ingredients for new year’s eve celebrations: champagne, of course!

Champagne Dessert Recipes:

1. White Peach, Cassis, and Champagne Floats – a super-easy & refreshing dessert that’s part Kir Royale, part peach parfait, and looks absolutely gorgeous!

2. Pink Grapefruit, Strawberry, and Champagne Granita with Sugared Strawberries - This granita recipe garnered rave reviews at Epicurious!

3. Champagne, Darling? Freezes – features lemon sorbet, champagne, and citrus vodka or limoncello…a true dessert cocktail!

4. Jelled Champagne Dessert – This glass of bubbly is served with a spoon!

5. Champagne Granita by Bobby Flay
(Key Ingredients: champagne, sugar & lemons)

6. Champagne Infused Strawberry Soup by Marcus Samuelson
(key ingredients: strawberries, champagne, lemon, mint leaves, & lime sorbet)

7. Non-alcoholic “Champagne” Chocolate Mousse by Rachael Ray
(Key Ingredients:  chocolate chips, sparkling white grape juice, heavy cream)

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ENJOY!

If you’re like one of the gazillions of people that got swamped with all the holiday craziness this month and didn’t quite get to that “Send out Christmas Cards” line item on your to-do list, you’re definitely not alone! I was talking to some of my friends about this recently, and every single one of us had noticed a major scale-back in the holiday mailbox greetings this year, which we concluded was probably due in part to 2 things: 1) cutbacks in holiday budgets, and 2) the fact that Christmas was so close to Thanksgiving this year, which meant it crept up on us quicker than usual.

Some good news though – if you still want to send out holiday well-wishes, it’s really not too late… because you can always opt for a “Happy New Year” message, which is actually a great way to kick off the new year on a positive note!  The New Year’s photo card, foldover note, and address label pictured above are part of the “Sparkling Start” collection from Polka Dot Design. And more good news: Polka Dot is offering HWTM readers 20% off with the promo code “HWTM1208″! (Polka Dot’s digital photo cards only take 1-2 business days to process and start at $1.19 each.)

First things first – I’d like to sincerely thank every single person that entered the Inspire Me! Holiday Entertaining Contest or passed the word on to friends and family – your efforts are truly appreciated!

Narrowing the entries down proved to be extremely difficult, so thank goodness for the talented & creative minds that graciously signed on to help with the process: Robyn Bomar from Mix Mingle Glow, Amy Belle Isle from Stem Parties, and Jen Berson from Jeneration PR. The 10 finalists are based on which entries had the most overlap from amongst the judges – but I’ll also be featuring the individual lists soon so that you can see who everyone picked…as there was definitely a great mix in the overall group!

For now, though – let’s focus on just the TOP 10 FINALISTS, which are listed below in no particular order.You can vote for YOUR favorites at the bottom of this post! (More details on the entries be found over in the flickr gallery) 

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Girls Night Cocoa Party
Submitted by: TDL (Rexburg, ID)
Judges’ comments included: “Really cute party and wonderful DIY invitation. Looks like a fun party!” / “Love the or concept, details, invitations, adorable chocolate dipped marshmallows, and favors.”

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Retro Christmas Favor / Place Card
Submitted by: Erin Godbey (Greenville, SC)
Judges’ comments included: “I just adore these place card favors. I love that they are so unique and go so perfectly with the retro feel of the entire table. Very well done!” / “love this idea!”

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Whimsical Christmas Party
by: Kendall Shiffler (Dallas, TX)
Judges’ comments included: “cute & colorful” / “creative & affordable” / “true HWTM vibe” / “I’d love to sit at this table – looks like a fun party! ”

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Swanky Snowflake Soiree
Submitted by: Celeste B. (Portland, OR)
Judges’ comments included: “Love this party b/c it’s simple and elegant.” / “Amazingly simple idea to use scrapbook stickers for glass “identifiers”!  Why didn’t I think of that??”

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“Time to Party” New Year’s Eve Bash
Submitted by: Tammy Mitchell (Southern California)
Judges’ comments included: “…the clock invitation is just a fantastic idea!” / “makes a fabulous statement” / “bold and elegant – just like New Year’s Eve should be!”

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“Joy” Digital Inspiration Board
Submitted by: gardenpartynyc (New York, NY)
Judges’ comments included: “festive and fun with a great use of color” / “I feel happy just looking at this – it makes me want to bring the concept to life!” / and “love all the reindeer elements – especially those adorable cookies!”

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Modern Chanukah Tablescape
Submitted by: Laura Gross (Milwaukee, WI)
Judges’ comments included: “…I think her novel version of a menorah is not only beautiful and sleek, but just all around fabulous and so creative!” / “a wonderfully modern take on a Chanukah table”

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Naughty or Nice Holiday Party
Submitted by: Chris Nease (Raleigh, NC)
Judges’ comments included: “…clever theme for a Holiday party. Love the idea of keeping everything from food & drinks to decor in two distinct categories.” / “Witty and so much fun, with impressive attention to detail”

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Festive Red Cocktail Party
Submitted by: head of the table (St. Louis, MO)
Judges’ comments included: “I LOVE this party.” / “Great DIY treat favors!” / “The white feathers and metallic ornaments give this party a fun, swanky vibe…like being at a cool bar, only without the $15 martinis.”

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Gingerbread House Decorating Party
Submitted by: moggiegreen
Judges’ comments included: “Creative place settings!” / “LOVE the set up for each guest (prefilled pastry bag, cookie cutter place cards, individual pieces for different types of houses(!), and cake board ‘plates’.”/ “The cookie cutter place cards are genius!”

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And now… it’s up to YOU to decide which entries will win the 3 Inspire Me! Contest Prizes – generously sponsored by VIVA® Diva Café and worth over $2500 total! You can select up to 3 favorites below.

HOW TO VOTE:
Post a comment here telling us which entries are your favorite (you can mention up to 3).
Please use or include the corresponding letter to the left of the entry titles below.

A. Girls’ Night Cocoa Party
B. Retro Christmas Favor / Place Card
C. Whimsical Christmas Party
D. Swanky Snowflake Soiree
E. Time To Party New Year’s Eve Bash
F. “Joy” Inspiration Board
G. Modern Chanukah Tablescape
H. Naughty or Nice Cocktail Party
I. Festive Red Cocktail Party
J. Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Voting closes Friday, December 19th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced Monday, December 23rd. Thanks so much for participating!

UPDATE: 12/20:
Contest voting is now closed. You can still leave comments on the finalists here, but votes cast later than midnight December 19th won’t be included in the final tally. Check back Monday for the winners!

Today over at Simply Stated – brighten things up with a festive Hot Pink & Green Color Palette for the holidays!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had my fair share of turkey & pumpkin pie, but another holiday was actually top of mind over here… New Year’s Eve party themes are now up on the website!

Pictured above and below: sneak peeks of the new Candlelight Countdown and Copper & Aqua Glow party themes, complete with coordinating Blue Champagne, of course!. Check everything out here.

• Lava Lamp Cocktail
• Junior Lava Lamp (Non-Alcoholic)
• Rising Star
• and this extremely yummy-looking Blackberry Bellini

*All recipes above except for the Junior Lava Lamp are champagne-based. To create mocktail versions of champagne-based cocktails, substitute ginger ale or lemon-lime soda for the champagne.

The main part of the centerpiece is created from decorative sequin spray bunches, ornaments, and an ornament stand. To recreate, align the base of the spray with the stem of the ornament stand, then bind them together with elastic gold ribbon to match the stand. Hang ornaments in coordinating colors on the stand hooks, and you’ve got a very fun & festive centerpiece!

Next, set glass ball ornaments on both sides of the centerpiece, down the length of the table. Use tealight candle holders as a base for the ornaments to keep them in place. Varying the sizes of the ornaments will also make the design more interesting; both extra-large and regular sized ball ornaments are used here.

Tip: For a super-easy table-runner, just use gift wrap that matches your color palette!

Finishing Touches:

• Decorate napkins and the “table runner” with strands from the sequin spray or coordinating sequined gift wrap ribbon, as pictured here.
• Wrap the stems of wine glasses or champagne flutes with metallic chenille craft stems (pipe cleaners). This also makes for a cute bar display when all of the glasses are lined up together!

Product Resources:

• Ornaments, ornament stand, sequin spray, sequined ribbon, charger plates, white napkins, and giftwrap ALL from Target.
• Aqua tablecloth – $26.99 at Plum Party
• Metallic chenille craft stems – Michael’s
• Gala Wine Glasses – $3.95 ea at Crate & Barrel

Note: This design also looks great with a gold/silver, silver/red, or silver/hot pink palette!