As the big finale to the Apartment Therapy January Cure (I dubbed it January Challenge), we threw our friends a cocktail party. For the first time ever, we did not ask our friends to bring drinks or an appetizer, so I really went for it, providing a good variety of appetizers, a signature cocktail and the basics for the bar. Side note, of course, they all brought a bottle of wine, or a fun treat regardless. Anyway, this was a big undertaking for me, as I always have timing issues when preparing big meals, but it went off without a hitch (with the help of a couple friends in the final hour, how fitting, right?). Truly, I am shocked at the success of the food and drinks, and am so pleased that everyone had a good time. We kept the party fairly small with around 20 people, I put together a little candy bar for favors, complete with mini waters for the road, and we had a photo booth because they are always so much fun. We saw friends, both old and new, and it was a fantastic night. It felt wonderful to host our friends in our home that has come such a long way. Here are some snapshots from the evening.

I used a paper table cloth and a gold pen to show what was being served.
A little close up of that green chile and artichoke bread — get the recipe here. Oh and next to the bread, bacon covered pineapple. All of my carnivore friends loved it. Just wrap pineapple chunks in bacon and sprinkle a little brown sugar on top, bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. There are recipes all over Pinterest.

Since you cannot see the crab puffs in the photo at all, here’s a little pre-bake shot I took. These were delicious, get the recipe here.

Oh and these caprese skewers were so light, tasty and easy to make. I drizzled a little balsamic glaze over them right before serving.

So, clearly, everyone hated the food…kidding. Please excuse the crumbs and such, but this is real life, it happens.
 
My lovely friend, Angie, pictured in the back there, brought these adorable heart shaped sugar cookies, and they were delicious. Here is a not so great photo of the candy bar favors. Those strawberry Pocky are so, so, so good.
I couldn’t talk about the photo booth and not share a photo. They are so fun and so easy to put together. We used my iPad and found a free app called PhotoBooth. We were able to prop up my iPad, using my painting easel, and then you just had to hit the button to take 4 photos in a row. You got a little countdown, and then if the pics were good, you click on Share and then Save. If the photos weren’t keepers, just move on to the next. We put a little sign on the top of the easel with those easy instructions, and it worked really well. For the backdrop, I just hung a black sheet and then a large white sheet in front of it, and I bought some polka dot balloons.  I strongly urge you to have props on hand as well because well, this happens.

SO.MUCH.FUN.

Have a great day!

xo