New Year's Eve Date Night

Mr. 3 and I have spent the last month traveling around the great states of Virginia and North Carolina visiting family and friends.  We are wore out.  We are also trying to mind our pennies and DC is hideously expensive for most things and New Year's Eve parties are no exception (and not particularly fun from what I've heard...looooong lines and lots of people pushing one another around).

So, we've decided to spend half of what it would cost for us to go out to dinner at the fancy pants restaurants and probably about a third of what it costs to go to the NYE parties on a nice dinner at home (where it's warm and we don't have to deal with drunk people or getting a taxi).

Super Cute Sparkler Printables
Image Source: Best Day Ever

Menu
Appetizer - Baked Brie with Apple Butter (using homemade apple butter from the Methodist Church)
Meat - Steak - 1 New York Strip and Lobster - 2 one lb. lobsters
Side - Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter
Wine - Kunde Cabernet Sauvignon (Mr. 3's best friend gave it to us as a gift and we've been saving it for 2 years!)
Champagne - Veuve Clicquot Brut NV (I bought a split - which amounts to about two glasses)
Dessert - TBD (I have to check out the Whole Foods bakery case, but it will probably be one small individual sized dessert.)

I'm still trying to beat the winter weight gain, but this is one of the days I said I wasn't going to worry about what I ate.  We will probably spread out the food from about 3-9 PM.  We bought a decent sized steak, but I'll be splitting that with Mr. 3.  Lobster has 129 calories per cup and I don't use butter.  The asparagus is a Cooking Light recipe (but totally doesn't taste like one!).  Although I've got the baked brie and dessert in the mix, I probably will only eat a light breakfast (egg over toast, banana, and coffee) and this meal spread out over the course of 6 hours will make up the rest of my calories for the day.

The Look
I plan on lighting all the candles we have in the apartment and turning on our Christmas tree.  I'm going to bust out our candlesticks and tapered candles for dinner.  I may also try to find a small arrangement of white tulips (favorite flower!) or other flowers for the table.  I know Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have reasonable prices for their flowers and I can probably expect to spend about $10-$15.

Image Source: Colin Cowie Weddings

Finally, I'm going to use our nicer table linens and our fancier barware for serving food (once day I plan on getting a sequined tablecloth, which I've decided is a must for every hostess).  I also plan on dressing up a bit with sparkly accessories...but definitely going for the relaxed glamour look we blogged about a few weeks ago.

What are y'all planning for New Year's Eve?  Big night out or low key night in?  Leave us a note in the comments section to let us know what your plans are!  Follow me on instagram so you can check out all the prep work and final results!