Abby & Maggie's Housewarming Party
Some of you may not know that in addition to working together, Maggie and I are also roommates! As of July 1st, we share a beautiful apartment in Astoria, one that we have obsessively decorated and made as cozy as possible.
We had a crazy summer of work and traveling, so we decided to host a housewarming party at the beginning of September, which gave us plenty of time to settle in.
As event planners, we know just how expensive these parties can become. We're in our mid twenties and living in NYC, so you can imagine it was our top priority to throw this party on a budget. For under $200, we had small bites, dessert, cocktails, and decor. We promise, if we can do it, so can you!
One of the most important elements of a good party is a killer cocktail. To welcome people to our new home, Maggie and I decided to serve a seasonal Apple Cider Sangria. This drink is as simple as it gets, and only requires a couple of ingredients, all of which are very affordable.
Full recipe for this Sangria will be on the blog tomorrow!
Even though our party was later in the evening after most people eat dinner, Maggie wanted to provide a charcuterie board and some desserts for everyone to snack on.
What's her secret to making a killer meat and cheese plate on a budget? TRADER JOE'S! They have an amazing selection of meats, cheeses, and crackers. Plus, she always buys extra things like grapes, dried fruits, and mini tomatoes to fill in all the extra spaces.
We also brought our favorite cocktail plates from the Little Miss Party in a Box website and added some bamboo forks for people to pick at the charcuterie.
Maggie also filled up the table with chocolate covered pretzels, homemade Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, and Browned Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies. Baking desserts at home is a great way to save on cost- even if you just use a box mix! Prep everything the night before, and your guests will have some sweet bites to snack on.
For additional decor elements, we strung up our favorite copper firefly lights and Natalie helped up to make this adorable DIY banner.
Natalie also offered to provide us with her amazing floral arranging skills. Maggie picked out 2 bundles of fall dahlias at the Union Square Farmers market, and had Natalie mix them with some eucalyptus and a fall bouquet from Trader Joe's. We had small arrangements all over the apartment in old vases and mason jars, and they were the perfect finishing touch to the decor.
As the finishing touch, we set up a tapestry in my room as a photo backdrop and provided an Instax polaroid camera for people to take photos. We set up a cork board so people could either take their photos home, or leave them for us to keep to remember the party.
We could not be happier with the way that our housewarming turned out, and are so happy that we were able to make it happen in such an affordable way!
Special thanks to Natalie for all of your hard work in helping us bring it to life.
xoxo, Abby & Maggie