All set to ring in the New Year

Theme parties and old friends coming together seems to be the trend this year, says Jayanthi Madhukar

Excited about her first New Year’s eve party in town, Belinda Thomas has been planning one that will be over the top. “I like hosting grand parties for friends and family.” She moved to the city recently along with her family and has already reached out to her friends. Some of them are planning to come from other places so she is going to have house guests as well. “I am planning to have a red and green theme,” she said. “So not only are all the decorations going to be in those colours but also the drinks that are going to be served, the frosting on the cakes and the food will overall be in these colours though that’s going to be a little hard to do. The dress code will be in the same colours as well. There will be loads of party games because that’s what we like to do.”

The city is gearing up to ring in the New Year. “Usually, my friends and I meet for dinner,” said Tullika Goel, who works in the PR sector. “I also look forward to the office party which is very well-organised and is loads of fun. They have a karaoke evening and we have lots of fun and bonhomie.”

For hobbyist vintner, Paul Antony, this is the time to share his new batch of port wine with friends. “This wine has been ageing since 2011 and I will be opening the jar to toast the New Year,” he said. “It will be a wine and cheese party. My friends are looking forward to it.”

While New Year’s eve parties are synonymous with good food and drinks, with a unique theme, home chef and baker Sharada Rao is hosting a cake party with fellow bakers. “I have many friends with whom I did my baking course,” she said. “We are meeting at my place and all of us will be baking one unique cake. We usually try new recipes so that we can appraise them and start making them for our customers.” This has been their tradition for the past five years and some of their best cakes have been tried and tested at these parties first.

For this group of schoolmates, New Year’s eve is the time to meet and watch old movies. Rene Paul and her friends are meeting at her house for a marathon movie watching session. “We usually order food and take some short breaks in between and all we do is watch movies. There are good-natured arguments over the list of movies but then we settle down with the movie bingeing. There are some house rules like no pressing the forward button, no phones and always ending the session with a classic movie from the 1950s or 1960s.”

No matter what the theme, New Year’s eve parties are meant to spread joy around and ring in the New Year on a happy note.