Spending New Year's Eve in the Lemon Grove

New Year's Eve is a holiday that I find most enjoyable if I go into it with no expectations. On paper, it sounds great: dress up in something sparkly, feel fancy while drinking champagne, reflect on the year that has passed and prepare for a new start, all while surrounding yourself with friends. There is a much-anticipated countdown followed by excited shouting, hugging, and maybe even a midnight kiss. So why, for some of us, does New Year's Eve always seem to, well, disappoint?

Falling just one week after Christmas, New Year's Eve can be kind of an afterthought. You put all of your energy into decorating, traveling, buying presents, cooking, and baking for Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. and just when you've emerged from the holi-daze, it's time to figure out some NYE plans, and fast!

You suddenly realize that while you've happily sang along to the lyrics "What are you doing, New Year's... New Year's Eve?" countless times this holiday season, you haven't actually stopped to consider the answer to this question.

Of course, it doesn't have to be this way. The other problem is that many people are hesitant to commit to NYE plans ahead of time. I imagine they are all holding out just in case the opportunity comes around at the last minute that will finally fulfill that unattainable New Year's Eve dream. It never does seem to arrive, but in the quest to find it, my friends usually split up, going our separate ways to chase it.

So now you have a holiday that isn't given nearly as much thought to planning as it deserves, you have friends going their own ways instead of opting to be together, and on top of that, you have an enormous pressure placed upon you to have a fabulous time and make it a memorable night. Is it any wonder it can never meet our impossible expectations?

Knowing all of that, I now try to simply enjoy New Year's Eve for what it is. But I can't resist a theme if the opportunity presents itself.

This year, my friend Anthony decided early on to host a New Years Eve party at his apartment and started inviting guests. But as the holiday drew nearer, he noticed some of his friends wavering in their RSVPs, weighing their other options. Worried and dismayed at the prospect of a sad, empty home come party time, he asked for some advice. We realized we were going to need to hype the party up a bit more in order to get people excited. If we gave them something to really look forward to, we figured, they would be more likely to travel through the cold all the way to his neck of the woods.

Anthony knew he needed to up his party game, and I was more than delighted to help him do that.

Idea #1: An element of surprise

It all started with one brilliant idea. Anthony had tried "miracle berries" in college: those magical little fruits in the form of a tablet that somehow make everything sour taste sweet, and the experience really stuck with him. For the party, he decided he would provide the miracle tablets, plus plenty of lemons and limes, which taste like candy for about thirty minutes once you've eaten the tablet. There would also be a few other treats that the Internet promised would taste different (like strawberries, Guinness, and salt 'n' vinegar chips).

Anthony loved the idea of people knowing the party vaguely had something to do with lemons, but not giving them any more information than that. So guests would arrive, see lemons everywhere but not know why, and then, at miracle berry time, they would find out that the lemons were not purely decorative. The realization would suddenly kick in that they are actually going to eat (and devour) those lemons.

Idea #2: Transform the space

I wanted to take Anthony's idea one step further and incorporate lemons into the decor. Decorations are big part of what ties a theme party together. And so, with the help of our friend, Mark, we set out to transform Anthony's New York apartment into a lemon grove.

We achieved this using vines and lemon slice lights purchased from Amazon, plus some green-wired string lights Mark had at home (designed for a Christmas tree, but perfect for the vine effect). We hung everything with scotch tape. Mark wanted it to look like the vines were taking over the room, Jumanji style. The effect was beautiful.

​I was inspired by the lemon groves of Sorrento, Italy and hoped our decor would evoke the feeling of that place.

On a trip to Italy with friends last summer, I had my heart set on doing a limoncello tasting in Sorrento, but after a full day of long walks in the sun, swimming in a beautiful rocky inlet by the beach, and sipping spritzes, our group was tired and lost interest in that idea. On the walk back to our Airbnb, we happened upon the entrance to a walled lemon grove, and I couldn't resist popping in. Anthony and I started down the long path, seemingly the only ones there. Having made it about halfway through, surrounded by gorgeous lemon trees, we knew we couldn't turn back until we saw the whole thing.

"Do you think there's anything at the end?" I asked Anthony.
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"Imagine if at the end there's a woman wearing an apron, and she's standing at a table full of different kinds of limoncello, and she asks us, 'Would you like to try some limoncello?'"

When we reached the end, that is exactly what happened. His psychic vision came true, down to the last detail, and I got my tasting after all.

Here's how the decorations looked once we turned on the Philips hue party lights:

​Idea #3: On-theme beverages

There's a punch for every party, and we needed to find a good recipe that would fit our theme. Knowing that our guests would probably be ingesting way more lemons than they ever normally would once we broke out the miracle berries, I wanted to steer clear of anything overly lemony. Enter, the Pomegranate-Champagne Punch! You could easily imagine pomegranate trees growing near a lemon grove, and I loved that it still incorporated lemons (but only as a garnish). The addition of champagne made it perfect for New Years.

We had such a blast decorating for the party, and the guests seemed quite impressed when they arrived and saw everything. Between the decor, the surprise miracle berries, and the overall positive vibes, the night was a huge success. Happy New Year!