YOU.

GUYS.

O M G .

This party was SO much fun, AND it was the first themed party I’ve ever thrown that wasn’t for someone else!! Dara graciously let me steal her thunder and host this year’s get-together at our house. She and I teamed up to throw the most epic New Year’s Eve party ever, and I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.

For the food, we made a few snacks and asked friends to bring something to share if they wanted. I made a large-batch, booze-free drink for everyone and called it The Bee’s Knees, and we had a big group champagne toast at midnight and sang Auld Lang Sayne.

When Dara and I started talking about what we wanted to do, a Great Gatsby party was the obvious choice. I knew that 20’s-themed parties would probably be all the rage this year, which would make it easy to find decorations. But I also knew that our house held the secret to making our party unique, something extra special that not every Roaring 20’s party could include. And that secret was…

OUR BASEMENT.

I’m willing to bet that tons of people went to Gatsby parties for New Year’s Eve. But how many of them had a hidden speakeasy??

Only a few of our friends even knew we had a basement, and we spread around a rumor during the party that there was a speakeasy somewhere and they needed the password to get in. To amp up the drama, I drew a message on our downstairs bathroom mirror in lipstick, directing people to find “The Vault.” Our basement door is halfway hidden behind another door that we typically keep open, tucked in a dark corner under our stairs, and I attached a small, discreet sign on it next to the lock. Down in the basement itself, we set up a poker table and surrounded it with wood crates full of bottles.

It was a huge hit!

So many games, so many Boomarangs, so many laughs, so many snacks, so many group photos, and so many wonderful memories!

Don’t have enough words for how much I love these people. ‘Til next year, pals ♥