• Serve drink mixes in pitchers, carafes, or glass cylinders. These look good and will mask that fact that you bought b-list brands

• You’ll need less alcohol for a party that lasts
  3 hours as opposed to a 6 hour event. The average person drinks one drink per hour. For a 3 hour event, estimate 2 -3 glasses of wine per guest.

• When it comes to food and alcohol, it’s always better to have too much than too little.  You should also keep extra glasses and plenty of ice on hand. Overestimate your needs.

• If you’re serving more than one type of wine throughout the meal, one for each course, for example, always serve the light wine first an then the heavier wine.

 Decor Jette Design

• You can monogram a frozen martini by blending together Chambord and honey and placing it in a squeeze bottle. Squeeze this over a drink that has froth on top.

• Mark guest’s glasses with wine charms, such as the Kerri Lawnsby Studio (www.kerrilawnsby.com) line of Foxy Charms. This helps avoid the mini-drama of “was this your glass or mine?”

• When you serve your cheese and sexy appetizers, you don’t have to use the silver platter that grandma gave you as a house warming gift. Venture outside of the box: use old milk bottles, brown paper bags, champagne glasses, and Chinese to-go boxes. A cake stand can also act as a platter for cheese. Serve soup in espresso cups and garnish with bite sized grill cheese sandwiches. Depth can be added to your buffet table by using books, blocks, and boxes to balance food platters

Decor Jette Design. Photography Philip Arno