Upcycling Celebrations

INTRODUCTION

I’ve thrown all sorts of parties over the years.

They’ve ranged from the casual get-togethers with friends in my home to over-the-top corporate events with hundreds of people on the guest list. They’ve been very grown-up affairs with truffled meals, formal letterpress invitations, and fragrant flowers, to the polar opposite of the spectrum with children bouncing in a giant inflatable castle with faces painted to resemble everything from butterflies to skull and cross bones. But if there’s one thing all of these celebrations have in common, it is that anyone who comes to one of my parties is guaranteed to have a great time.

Stress-free entertaining is nothing new. No book can promise to help you be “stress-free” because really the root of anxiety comes from the host, not from the ideas. So, I want to emphasize this: Remember, nobody has a good time if the person in charge is an emotional basket case. You’re having a party, not performing open-heart surgery.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I will promise you this: All of the projects in this celebrations book are easy, inexpensive, and use things we may already have, in unexpected and oh-so functional ways.

Unlike my previous book, Upcycling, which had loads of ideas to decorate your home with a smattering of gift-giving and entertaining ideas, this book is all parties, all the time.

As a host, event planner, and home cook, I’ve learned a lot of ideas along the way that I call my foolproof arsenal of party tricks. And as an upcycler who lives and breathes by the mantra of transforming trash into beautiful new things, I don’t just write the books, but I live it, and this book is evidence of that.

A few rules I live by: a very famous fashion stylist with a popular reality show once told me they tell their clients to take off one piece of jewelry before they head out the door to an event; maybe earrings, a necklace, and a tiara is a bit too much. I like this rule a lot and I will look at my laundry list of things I want at a party and knock something off. Less is always more when it comes to the décor and activities. (But more is never less when it comes to the food and drink!)

Here’s another tip: Don’t do gift bags. Nobody wants personalized little tins of mints or a bottle of water with your parents’ names on it and “35th Anniversary Bash!” But don’t be a Scrooge and tell your friends and family “no gifts” when it comes to your own birthday; it robs them of the job of giving you something they think you’ll really love. Just remember: That’s why national retailers have liberal return policies.

Finally, try not to break the upcycling rule by using new materials instead of old. Of course it would be easier to go to the store and buy new straws, plastic utensils, and fabric than to rummage trash bins and thrift shops. But the point of upcycling is more than economical, it’s also ecological. Keeping something out of our landfills gives the finished upcycled item more meaning than looking pretty; it’s been given a second chance to be something even greater than it was originally meant to be.

CHAPTER ONE:
NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATIONS

I’ve been the go-to guy for my friends to be the host of almost every New Year’s Eve party for the past ten years. I think it has to do with the fact that I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, way outside the hustle and bustle of New York City. I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t NYC where most people go to be near Times Square, all the great parties, the fun, and debauchery? Yes, they do and it’s fabulous to do at least once in your life. But eventually you realize that being warm, with friends, well-fed and in bed at a certain hour is more appealing than drunkenly trying to find a cab ride home at three in the morning. So bucolic Bucks County wins!

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that New Year’s is not to be confused with Halloween; people don’t like dressing up or pretending they are in 1920s Prohibition era, so think twice about hosting a theme party. Instead, guests like being comfortable. Correction: They like the permission to be comfortable. So dress like you would normally do at home: think jeans and a T-shirt. I avoid the formal sit-down dinner; people like to pick at things and snack all night long. They also love easy access to a plethora of drinks (both alcoholic and non) and to be in a room where music is playing—maybe even a network countdown on TV in the background. I usually skip dessert altogether and find that a simple fire roaring in the fireplace with a selection of S’mores ingredients can make even the grouchiest guest put a smile on their face. If you don’t have a fireplace, lots of candles will do to create some ambience. (Candles, however, aren’t the best at melting S’Mores!)

Finally, keep the decorating to a minimum; think big with ceiling decorations, some streamers, and maybe a festive sign or two. Avoid the temptation to buy those throwaway hats, noisemakers, and funny glasses at the store; nobody will wear them anyway and you just end up tossing them into the trash the next day. An upcycling no-no!

I want to preface this project by saying this: Do not visit your local supermarket and swipe a pile of new plastic bags when the checkout clerk isn’t looking. One: That would be illegal. And, two: That would defeat the purpose of upcycling.

Instead, when looking for a stash of used plastic bags, ask your friends and family if they can empty their drawers for you; or you could even post a request on Facebook. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll amass a large collection of bags to make these festive hanging party balls.

When making this project, you have the choice of either doing a solid color, stripes, or a kaleidoscope of colors. If you don’t have enough plastic bags to cover a whole lantern, you can also do bands of plastic poufs around the middle or create something sporadic. You really can do whatever design you want.

HOW TO: To make a plastic bag pouf, start by laying two bags of identical size on top of each other. Then roll the bags up into a long strip and fold them in half length-wise. Then fold it again length-wise and add a piece of tape in the middle so it resembles a bow tie. Then snip the ends about ½-inch in at each end. Fluff into a plastic pouf. Hot glue these poufs all over the outside of the Chinese paper lantern until the entire lantern is covered. Hang using string or clear filament.

The future of lighting is here and it’s called LED, or Light-emitting diodes. If you’ve never heard of these bulbs, you definitely interact with them every day: traffic lights, most flat-screen televisions, and the clear glow of every BlackBerry and iPhone uses LED technology to light up. In the past, household LED bulbs used to be very expensive, but recently have become more affordable. And they are gaining popularity, too: The bulbs are super energy-efficient, last an incredibly long time (up to 25 years), and do not get hot to the touch, so they are safe. And light bulbs that stay cool also mean they are perfect to adorn with translucent glass crystals.

What I love about this upcycling idea is that the glowing bulbs look like they’ve been encrusted with icicles. For your New Year’s party, unscrew a few LED bulbs from light fixtures and screw them into single-socket light cord (I got this from IKEA; it’s called a Hemma cord set) as shown here. Group a bunch together and hang them from the ceiling all lit up. When the party is over, the cooled hot glue peels right off, leaving you with a clean bulb you can reuse for your lighting fixtures.

HOW TO: Pick through the bag of recycled glass chunks or sea glass and look for the nicest pieces that have a flat surface that will sit flush against the bottom of the bulb. Use hot glue to attach to the LED bulb and keep adding glass until you achieve the desired look.

In my previous book, Upcycling, one of the rules I followed for all the projects was that they all had to be accomplished in three steps or less. Yes, sometimes one step would be more time-consuming or complicated than the other, but it was usually always three steps. In the case of this project, it is still three steps, but the end result will look like you’ve spent hours and not minutes making this.

This is a fun project to do with the kids; they can wash and dry the bottle, sculpt the faces of their characters with their hands and the parents can coat the finished bottle with a few coats of shimmery spray paint. Your personality bottles can be joyful, smug, serious or outright mean; but most importantly, be sure you have fun making them.

HOW TO: Rummage through your recycling bin for interesting-shaped glass bottles; I used Orangina for the smaller ones and an apple juice container for the larger one shown in the photo. Wash them well and thoroughly dry them. Use pieces of Sculpey bake-able clay (any color will do since it will be painted: available at Michaels craft stores) and use your fingers to mold eyes, a nose, lips, hair, and anything else you want to give your bottles personality. Press the clay pieces firmly onto the glass. Place them on top of the metal baking rack inside the oven. Bake them in the oven at 275°F for about 15 minutes until the polymer clay has set. When cool, spray a few light coats of spray paint and display.

It seems to happen at most (fun) parties: Many guests overindulge in rich food and alcoholic drinks. To help your guests ring in the New Year without too much regret, upcycle empty Altoid mint tins into mini SOS gift tins. Fill them with the get-well essentials they might need: aspirin for headaches, antacids for a stomachache, eye drops for dry eyes, and vitamins to revitalize the mind, body, and soul the next day. Giving these out at the beginning of a party could even help guests think twice about overindulging.

HOW TO: To cover the tins, simply cut strips of decorative paper to size to cover the top, bottom, and sides of the tins and adhere it with a light coat of white craft glue. Decorate with a Band-Aid that you can hand-stamp “SOS” on top for fun and fill with all the get-well essentials.

Forget the lampshades. On New Year’s Eve, all of your guests will likely end up wearing a bejeweled candy crown at some point in the festive evening. Even though I talked about abstaining from party hats at the beginning of the chapter, here’s one regal crown that may be useful to have on hand just in case things border between civil and silly. You can even recycle these to use at birthday parties to crown the guest of honor.

HOW TO: Flatten a cereal box and use a pencil to sketch out the shape of a crown, keeping in mind that the more basic and exaggerated the silhouette, the better. Cut it out with scissors and use hot glue to attach to two end pieces of the crown together so it becomes a crown that fits comfortably around the head. Then use hot glue to attach candies all over the crown. Sugar-free candies work best because they adhere better using glue and are less sticky to the touch.

I can’t imagine being at a New Year’s Eve party that is super brightly lit like a hospital waiting room. One of the best ways to cast a festive mood is to incorporate all sorts of mood lighting at your party: tealights in colored glass votives scattered throughout, dimmers on overhead pendant lights, fire from a roaring fireplace, and accent lighting from these illuminated balls.

As I mentioned earlier, LED technology also means the bulbs do not get hot to the touch, so it is super important that you only create this project using LED lights and not traditional strings of holiday lights, which do get hot and can be a fire hazard.

HOW TO: To make them couldn’t be easier: Just wrap them onto themselves to make a ball; for larger sizes, connect multiple strands and keep wrapping. Plug them in and either hang from the ceiling, display in baskets, inside a non-working fireplace, or just scatter here and there for a little festive glow.

Thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army are great places to find inexpensive picture frames in all sorts of styles and sizes, so this can be a very affordable upcycling project if you shop right. One fun way to invite a small group of people to your home is to send out a glittery New Year’s invitation in a frame. Or you can make a few and scatter them throughout—on the counter in the bathroom, one by the bar, maybe one on the buffet table—to decorate with a little festive flair. They don’t have to proclaim Happy New Year’s; if your party is a little more formal, you can also use them to identify all the delicious items on your buffet.

HOW TO: First, mismatched frames can be unified by painting them all one color; choose whatever works best for your décor. Pop out the back of the frame and use it as a template for your cardstock. Trace the frame and cut it out with scissors or a cutting board. Stamp the cardstock with whatever message you like. Sprinkle glitter inside the frame on top of the glass, place the cardstock on top, and attach the original backing to the frame. Shake the frame to scatter the glitter inside. If the backing isn’t secure enough and glitter falls out, you can also tape the edges with black electrical tape on the back to create a secure closure.

I have no idea what a roll of real aluminum duct tape is actually for other than the fact it’s one fantastical tape to unravel and stick all over branches to turn them from boring wood into high-tech metallic.

HOW TO: Simply unravel a section of aluminum tape, remove the waxy backing, and stick it on the branches; use your fingers to meld it into every little nook and cranny on the branch. The übersticky tape will adhere easily. If it tears or buckles in certain areas, just repair it with smaller piece of tape and burnish it with your fingers. I promise you: It is absolutely foolproof to work with this tape. Do several branches and display your High-Tech Mother Nature bouquet in a tall glass vase. Decorate with spray-painted silver birds and attach with florist wire. Or upcycle a piece of grosgrain ribbon and hand-stamp a festive message.

I have a complicated relationship with confetti. I think it’s great if I’m in a public setting like Times Square where millions of pieces of confetti flitter down and create a party-like atmosphere. But I hate it if people are tossing it in the air in my home and leaving me with the household chore of cleaning it all up the next day. Not exactly the way I want to spend my New Year’s Day, vacuuming up the mess.

But this book is not my platform to rant about the drudgery of cleaning, so if you do want to make upcycled confetti, here’s my rather simple way to do it. Just don’t expect to find any to toss at my party.

HOW TO: If at all possible, use an old blender that still works but you have stashed away and have no intention of ever making a fresh-fruit smoothie in ever again. If you don’t have an old blender, visit your local Goodwill store and try to find one for a song. With the lid on top, turn on the blender and toss in bits of paper, a little aluminum foil for shine and keep adding so it shreds almost instantly when it hits the blades. Do this in small batches and empty the confetti into a bowl as you go along until you have enough for your party.

It may seem to many of you that I do not know what candy is: I’ve used mints to make glittery crowns, and threaded gumdrops for garlands in trees seen in the pages of Country Home magazine. I’ve done everything but actually eat the candy. But here’s an upcycling project an upcycler with a sweet tooth can love: a sweet necklace you can wear and then enjoy after the party.

HOW TO: Use a -inch drill bit to drill a hole through each gumball. Use medium- to large-size gumballs (found at specialty candy stores) and not the regular-size ones since they tend to break and are difficult to drill. Thread your ribbon or cord through the hole and tie a knot.

I don’t know if this is really a New Year’s Eve idea or not, but antlers always conjure images of upstate cabins in the middle of winter, so here it is.

No matter what side of the animal-righteous fence you sit on when it comes to displaying mounted deer antlers, both vegans and outdoorsmen can feel good about this project. All you need are some gnarly or interesting branches that you collect on a walk through the woods. Look for fresh branches still on trees and not those fallen on the ground; they’ll mount better and dry without the chance of rot when you hang them indoors.