By MICHAEL FRENCH
It’s Winter Party time! This is South Florida. What winter? Hearing South Floridians bemoan the occasional “deep freeze” of 50 degrees, is, for the rest of the country like listening to a millionaire complain about money!
Winter Party is an annual six day long bash, held on Miami Beach. It’s a cornucopia of festivities.
Whether you’re planning to be in Miami Beach for their Winter Party or not, add to the festivities and throw your own Winter Party at home! Make a huge splash of your own. Blend the “cool” of winter and the “heat” of a gre
at party!
Transform your home into a cool and icy winter scape!
You don’t need deep pockets to make your own private Winter Party a smashing success. Most of what you’ll need for decorating, can be found at a dollar or party store, in your own back yard and right in your HOME!
Design a stunning ice center piece for your table. Fill plastic or stainless steel containers of different shapes and sizes with water. Distilled water is best. Make sure you use boiling water. This helps keep the ice clear. Add colorful glass beads, flowers or fruit. They will look beautiful frozen in the ice adding color and dimension. Use sheet pans or platters deep enough to hold the melting water. Put aluminum foil on the beneath the ice for more reflection. Arrange the ice blocks in any way you wish to suit the shape of your table. The only limit is your imagination. For a standout dramatic contrast, add colorful tropical foliage such as pathos, ginger leaves, beaugainvilla flowers and pink Thai to the ice arrangement! These can all be found in your back yard, and, or the neighbor’s if you’re nice. The splashes of color against the crystal ice is striking! Get some styro foam balls of various sizes, add blue glitter to them, and scatter them on the ice center piece.
Creative lighting 101. Snake a meandering strings of mini clear or white lights under a translucent white or silver table cloth to add an even more festive flair. The cool glow is very flattering too.
Take small branches, spray them white, wrap some mini clear lights around them, and then place fabric batting over the branches, or fit cotton balls over the lights.
This makes for very cool ambient lighting. Arrange the branches in a large vase, spread out on a sideboard.
Use white plates, silver chargers, and white or silver napkin holders. There are no rules. Be daring with your creativity! Let your own personality shine!
For the meal: Serve a chilled soup like gazpacho, a salad of winter greens, colossal shrimp cocktail on a large bed of ice in a giant martini glass, a great standing rib roast, and choose a icy granita or sorbet for dessert. Always remember, color, color, color and presentation is sixty percent of the meal.
Cocktails anyone? On line you can find an infinity of delicious libations. Make sure to ask your guests to wear typical but colorful summer clothing. That will further the contrast between the tropical pallette South Florida and the monochrome of the “Winter” you’ve painstaking created in your home.
One more thing…. while you’re inviting Ol’Man Winter into your home, make him comfortable. Splurge….turn the A/C down to 50 degrees, and let the party create the heat! Beginning the festivities with your own Winter Party at your home, is the perfect way to set the stage! Give your friends a party they’ll never forget and will brag about when they go to Miami! Once again,
“There’s no place like HOME!
Michael French, is Agenda’s Home
from Home columnist. Contact
Michael at mf7954fla@gmail.com
