6 Essential Tips for New Years Eve

6 Tips for a Successful New Years Party!

 If we Google “2012”, we see many questions on the internet asking if it will be the end of the world. Unfortunately we at Lonsdale Event Rentals don’t have the answer for that, but what we can recommend is that this year we all should ensure it’s a party of a lifetime!…….. Just in case.

Whether you’re hosting at a venue or in the home there are plenty of ways you can make things easier for yourself.

  Pop the bubbly! 

 Break out the champagne flutes! And rent early as the entire city usually books out leaving desperate party people scrambling last minute. If you splurge on anything, splurge on champagne as a true New Years Eve Party isn’t complete without it. At minimum have at least enough for the midnight toast.

 Try a Ginger Sizzle

a) Thinly slice a piece of fresh ginger the chop slivers into tiny pieces
b) Put a pinch of ginger into the glass and slowly pour champagne over them
c) The bubbles will latch on the tiny pieces of ginger and cause them to circulate up & down throughout the glass like a lava lamp!

 For designated drivers and non-drinkers have some non-alcoholic ciders, fruit juice and fizzy drinks.

Impress your friends with your champagne stemware knowledge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_stemware

 The Countdown

Daniel Sabina of Masterplan Productions recommends renting a projector, hook it up to a laptop, go to www.timeanddate.com and project the countdown on the wall. If you’re not feeling so high-tech  just turn on the Television with the volume down and tune into the celebrations..  And yes…..they also rent disco balls! 604 873-3755

 Ensure to start refilling everyone’s glass a few minutes before midnight.

 The Food

Take it easy with the food as by now the over-indulgence of the past few weeks of Christmas celebrations has been realized and your guests won’t mind taking a break.

 

“Christmas is filled with tradition, turkey and loads of comfort food” says Dorothy Semko of Savoury City Catering & Events. “New Years is a time for fresh starts and something a little special. Sparkling Prosecco or Cava are a must!”

She goes on “ A natural compliment to something bubbly is seafood. Keep it simple – steamed lobster, mussels or clams with butter white wine sauce. Pan seared prawns or scallops with shallots and brandy. Oysters on the half shell. Throw in some amazing bread and a leafy salad and consider it done!

 Party Favours!

It’s New Years! Let loose and have fun. Regardless the age of the event people will appreciate noise makers, tiaras, Mardi Gras beads, party hats and so on. Just because it’s an intimate event doesn’t mean it has to be sleepy.

 The Midnight Kiss

If you are not coupled up this year, now is the time to get gutsy and choose a hot gal or guy near 12am, make eye contact and if they smile back and you feel the chemistry move in for the kiss.
Everyone is kissing everyone else so now is the time to make the move!

 The Hang Over

This is the first day of a new year. The last thing you want to do is start it off in a hang- over induced stupor. Drink a large glass of water before bed, this will keep you hydrated.

Savoury City’s Dorothy Semko suggests to make sure there are things on hand for a delicious lazy lunch. That means excellent coffee, freshly squeezed organic juices and food that makes you feel better.

Usually this falls into the category of something decadent. Is that crispy bacon with free range eggs with croissants or biscuits? Or a hearty burger oozing with melted cheese. Definitely butter for cooking and s lathering.

 Thinking ahead can certainly make the first day of the year enjoyable and relaxing! 

By Dave Jackson
Twitter: @Lonsdale_Dave 

5 Tips to Avoid Christmas party Clean Up Disasters!

Party clean up doesn’t have to be a nightmare, relax and enjoy your party with these simple tips.

Hosting a party can be stressful, with all the cooking, cleaning and overall preparations to ensure your party runs smoothly and your guests have a wonderful time, but the dreaded cleanup can put a damper on the fun. Not to worry, here are a few simple ideas to make clean up a breeze.

♠ Create a table where guests can put their dirty dishes, use milk crates or plastic boxes where they can stack plates when they are done with them. This is especially easy when you have rented the plates and glasses, because they come with their own crates for this very purpose. You can label the bins so everyone knows where each item goes

♠ Make sure there are plenty of garbage and recycling bins around, so that your guests can dispose of their bottles and napkins in the bins and not on the counter

♠ Double or triple line the trash bins, so you have a clean bag in place when you remove the full bag

♠ Attempt to get any major cleaning done before you go to bed to prevent any post party mishaps such as set in stains and bad odors, any detailed cleaning can be done in the morning.

♠  Try not to stress over the little things that may seem to go wrong during the party. Just enjoy the fruits of your efforts.

Before (Click to enlarge)
After (click to enlarge)

Even though the clean up may seem daunting, remember that a major post-party cleanup is usually a good sign that your party was a great success!

Contributed By: Kristin Leahy – Twitter  @KristinLonsdale

Spend more time with Family & Friends over the Holidays

So your boss has asked you to organise you company’s annual Christmas party! Or maybe you are having your family over for the holidays, and then you found out your significant other’s distant extended family; most of whom you’ve never knew existed are unexpectedly coming over….Oh the joys of the Christmas Season!

Here are some tips to overcome the stresses of event planning to ensure you have more time to spend with friends and family.

Order early as possible! You’re free to make some changes of to your order in the meantime. Things tend to book out well in advance due to the huge volume of events in the month of December. All it takes is for 1 large party to order all of the one item you desperately need.

Save money!

1. Is your order under $248?
You can also pick up from our new and improved depot. This will save you a minimum $49.90 plus HST. And we’re sure we don’t have to remind you how to use that money. We’ve got Free Seattles Best Coffee, to warm you up on these cold winter days.

2.  If you pick up from our depot, you can take advantage of our damage waiver. It’s just 8% of your order. There is a substantial amount of orders that go out and something breaks or gets damaged. Why bother with replacement fees when you don’t need to. A lot of the time the damage waiver is considerably less expensive than what it costs to replace some inventory. Accidents do happen, and often, but we don’t want you to sweat the small stuff, relax knowing that you are protected from when Aunt Betty has one too many drinks and drops her glass.

3. Ask questions to our Client Service Professionals how you can save money. Don’t be shy! Let’s say you’re like most people and on a budget and you see these beautiful linens that you’re not sure you can afford. We might be able to play around with some different sizing ideas for you so that you can reduce your costs.

Or let’s say this year you don’t want to serve beer from a can, we can recommend how many beer glasses a typical event orders.

In other words, ask lots of questions and you may just get more bang for your buck.

4. Read your contract and then read it again. Ensure that everything you need is on your contract. You can avoid some same day rush emergency delivery fees. This is particularly important when multiple people have been revising the order.

5. Ensure that everything is knocked down, put back in their original containers, scraped of food, drinks emptied and everything is put together in one spot for our drive team to pick up. This will avoid any possible missing item charges, extra labour, and second pick up charges.

So the bottom line is we will do our best to make things easy for you, so you can enjoy your memorable event, and leave the dirty work to us!