New Year’s Eve is the time to Celebrate, reflect on the past year, and welcome in a new year of opportunities and memories.  For some New Year’s is a time they like to go out to big celebrations and for others, it’s a special time to be with their closest loved ones.  In our family, we love to celebrate the new  year together.  Take the time to laugh and talk about all the great trips, adventures, and experiences we shared creating new memories.   

 

New Year’s is a time for celebrating and making noise – this is one night of the year you can let the kids stay up till midnight. Have fun with it, share stories, dress up, listen to great music, play games and make noise together being silly.  

Here are a few ideas:

• Create some noise makers 

This is a great craft activity that will get the kids in the party spirit There are many ways to make fun noise makers. For example, fill a Pringles can with rice to make an instant rattle, or just get the pots, pans, and wooden spoons down.

• Make snacks that sparkle

Make Pop Corn or another family favorite snack and garnish it with silver and gold editable glitter. 

• Create a festive playlist

Be sure to have great music playing for your entire party.   Create a playlist and let it play throughout the celebration.  Without music, there is NO heartbeat to your New Year’s party. Pick songs that are joyful, inspiring, empowering, and celebratory.

• Make a time capsule

New Year’s Eve is a fantastic time to reflect on the past year. Create a time capsule to get your kids thinking about everything they have achieved over the year, and then thinking about setting a positive direction for the year ahead. Creating Time Capsules for the kids is a lot of fun!  

For adults…it is also fun and can be sentimental for what you wish for in the year ahead.  For the kids, place their notes or trinkets into their capsules, including faux crystals, confetti, and other small fun things to serve as reminders..  

Put your name, date, and date to open on the capsule so when you re-open it on a future New Year as a family you bring back a connection to those great memories of this past year. 

• Create a “Wish Capsule” for the new year.  

Have each family member write out three things they wish for in the new year.  Then seal them closed and put them away for next year to see what wishes for your new year have come true or what has not happened that you may have wanted to see come true.  Just make sure you remember where you stashed the capsules. If you want you can read them out loud before they are sealed.

• Play the New Year’s Resolution game

One fun twist on the New Year’s resolution is to have everyone write them down and then toss them into a box.  Pull them out one by one and try to guess whose resolution is whose! To make it extra special, find faux flat leaves, to write on with a gold paint pen… why? Because everyone looks forward to turning over a new leaf in the New Year. Getting your kids involved in this tradition can be a great game for everyone to play and a way to teach your little ones about goal setting.

• Decorate your home

Whether or not you’re having guests over, the new year is a special occasion. One simple idea for decorating is balloons! They make a big impact with a small amount of work. Kids and adults love balloons and filling up your home with festive balloons is a great way to amp up the party vibe. The more balloons the more fun. 

New Year’s Eve parties have to have fun items – like noisemakers and balloons.  I love to add disco balls in different sizes to add the sparkle of the night and the nod to the Epic ball that will drop in Times Square.   They add decorative sparkle to the party and can double as an easy centerpiece as well. Guest love disco balls and they make great favors too!

Decorate with metallic colors – Mylar balloons, Gold and Silver, you can add a pop of colors like a hot pink or purple if you wish. Make sure you have confetti to add to the festive celebration.  You have to have the sparkle to create the moment.

Final tip – Create two COUNTDOWNS 

Keeping your little ones up so late is not always that easy and it can create a bit of chaos as well. 

Countdown #1 Make this first countdown the magical countdown for the kids. It can happen around 8:00PM or whatever time works best for your family. Party hats, confetti, and balloons, with sweets and treats.  Truth be told adults LOVE all things that the KIDS like just as much.  Create a sweet bar with your kids’ favorite drinks.  

Countdown #2 for THE ADULTS – Create a champagne Bar with unique embellishments to add to the toast and cheer.   Rim your champagne flutes with edible gold and silver sugar.   Add small sliced fruits as garnish. Have chocolate to enjoy when sipping on your champagne it’s a great mix of flavors.

From our family to yours, we wish you a very happy new year!!!

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Birthdays are amazing moments to celebrate.  I wanted to host my Birthday with a focus on my guests and not on myself. After the few years, we have had it was important to me to bring to life a space of Happiness, LOVE, and Connection. I reached out to my friends near and far, and even relationships that had slipped away simply due to life.  Everyone I had wished to be present showed up.  For me, it was a way of reminding everyone how much I love them all and how much I respect and appreciate them for being in my life. My husband and my two remarkable daughters led the tribe and they teach me and guide me and bring me joy every single day.   

My vision for my Fifty “Something” Birthday Celebration was all about BEING BOLD, creating FUN, combined into an explosion of COLOR.  

 

Each table was designed in a monochromatic color. Purple – Green – Yellow – Orange.  

The flowers were all designed in color per table, as were the tablecloths, all of the china and glasses, and the stunning chairs. It was a burst of happiness per table and it was like stepping into Willy Wonka’s World of Imagination.   

 

This team of experts who brought my vision to life:

 

Theoni Collection of Beverly Hills helped to paint my designs with their elegant and modern china, glasses, flatware, and chairs. #Theoni #TheoniCollection #TheoniBeverlyHills

TGIS – Provided fabulous cuisine and impeccable service for dinner. We had the most delectable entree of a Chilean Sea Bass, Roasted Caramelized Chicken Duet, Smoked cauliflower, Lemon & Shallot Roasted Fingerling Potato with a Vegetable Bundle

#TGISCatering #TGIS #TGISLosAngelesCatering 

 

Amber Event Production – Illuminated the entire space with saturated colors that coordinated with the colors of the party and produced all the sound needs.  #AmberEventProduction #AmberEvent #AmberEventsLA

 

Cloth Connection sent over the perfect linens to color coordinate with the monochromatic table creations. 

 

The FLOWERS – well I personally had to make sure my hands and eyes were on this –  so I decided to personally design the floral creations for all the tables (after all I started my career with flowers)  A total of (40) colorful creations for the dining tables and areas throughout.   

 

On top of the design, there were oversized spheres in all the colors that were installed throughout the entire celebration space. 6ft in dimension to as small as 3ft in diminution.   It was an art installation of color that literally surrounded the dining and entertainment space.   

As guests arrived and enjoyed the evening it brought happiness, smiles, and joy to everyone which was my goal….to make everyone feel the LOVE, HAPPINESS, and JOY!

 

I made sure to have two surprise performances for this evening by the baby grand piano.  

Jimmie Herrod from America’s Got Talent sang his heart out with a vibrant selection of song choices. To finish off the evening with heart and love, we were ALL graced with song and stories by the remarkable Mandy Harvey also from America’s Got Talent.   

 

Both my daughters stole the night with Gracie (3 years old) singing Happy Birthday and then a moment of “This girl is on fire”, and Cielo (8 years old) starting the evening off with a sweet and heartfelt speech to her daddy.      

 

This was a night I will never forget!!!! “The Beauty of Celebrating LIFE!”

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I lived in New England for the first 35 years of my life on the east coast.   I have had the joy of experiencing the four seasons in a year and loving the change in color and change of weather. Eventually, I moved to Los Angeles, CA which is quite different than the history and landscape of New England.  

As we were searching for our next DTE location for The DAVID TUTERA Experience, I wanted a place that was unique, quaint, special and beautiful on the east coast.   I wanted an environment that attendees would travel to and experience history, breathtaking views, historic charm and beauty!     

The search was short simply because I realized Newport, RI was the only place that would check off all my wishes and more for The DAVID TUTERA Experience 2021. Thank you to Discovery Newport for opening up its doors and welcoming us to Newport, Rhode Island so we could create, design and produce our most epic, emotional and brilliant DTE for all our attendees and educators.

The DAVID TUTERA Experience is all about elevating the Special Events Industry with brilliant educators in the categories of business, life coaching, digital media, and sharing personal life stories that help increase confidence and showcase that we all our different and we are all on our own individual journeys in life.  We also work very hard to bring educators in, that lift up our attendee’s spirits, souls and minds to allow them to truly see that they can live up to their full potential.  Our goal is to bring to our attendees the tools and foundation to elevate their knowledge and allow for all our attendees to depart from DTE with an abundance of confidence!

We believe that being inspired, and being engaged and listening to one another and feeling that deep connection to yourself and your peers provides everyone a journey toward success. All our brilliant and carefully selected educators come from all over the globe to speak on many topics, and we are always forever grateful for the time they spend with us at The DAVID TUTERA Experience and the engagement with all of the attendees over the course of three days.      

What I am deeply proud of, are all of the vendors from Rhode Island and Massachusetts for providing their talent and their time.  I asked…and they all said YES to be part of DTE!   They all showed up and showcased their talents as well as the stunning venues, the cuisine, the flowers and all the details for each of the three evening events.    When I say every night was epic and unique… it is true!

Our goal is to educate during the day and create stunning and emotional evening events at night, that are also teaching moments for our attendees to learn and experience ideas that they can take back home for their own clients.   From design, to venues, entertainment, printed materials, tabletop, linens, Lighting and Sound and specialty gifting and more.  

So without further adieu… I wish to extend a deep, sincere level of gratitude for their time, passion, energy, creativity and brilliance, in bringing to life The DAVID TUTERA Experience in, Newport, Rhode Island!  Without the creative team (our vendors) we would not have had the most breathtaking three days together in Newport, RI.   

Venues:

Castle Hill provided us the classic charm, grace and beauty of its venue, breathtaking views, a caring staff, and a team that was invested in bringing our first night of DTE to life!  My wish was to create a setting that felt like heaven….   and it was truly a “Dreamy” night for all.  

Belle Mer-This all white canvas at Belle Mer allowed for us to build The DTE Restaurant where we created a modern dining experience for all our guests.   The icing on the cake was Mandy Harvey’s beautiful and bold performance as she entertained us throughout dinner.    

Salve Regina University: Ochre Court-My goal for our final night gala was to create an evening of Italian Romance.   The Ochre Court is a magnificent setting to host any event let alone a night filled with drama, grandeur and beauty.   I wanted all our attendees to feel as if they were transported to Italy….and the goal was achieved!!!!

Creative Partners:

Jet Fresh Flowers-When you create a relationship with a company and it works and there is deep respect amongst each other you know you have a great team to work with.   Jet Fresh provided all the flowers for the three evening events, and our live hands on floral session with CeCe Todd of CeCe Designs and Events.  They made it possible for our talented teams of floral designers to bring each all of my designs to life.  Thank you Jet Fresh for caring, for stepping up and being present and for being a professional and stellar company that shows up and makes it happen.  

Peak Event Service-The jewelry of the table is what makes dining tables brilliant, and filled with texture and elegance and fun.   Peak was there every step of the way providing – linens, chairs, bars, table top rentals, furniture and so much more, therefore, allowing for each evenings vision and our education space to shine and be seen.     

CJC Lighting and Production-Lighting IS everything when you want to create emotion and beauty. Thank you to the team at CJC Events from the low lying smoke to the breathing lighting and sound for every single evening event.  Your talent is fabulous and your team is kind and caring and always on top of every detail that we were hoping for and more.  YOU LIGHT up our industry…thank you!

Alex Paul Photography-A picture is worth a thousand words… and that is true with Alex Paul and his brilliant work in capturing the moments, the stories and the beauty.    When you find a photographer that is not only creative but also kind and caring you hold onto that photographer.  Watching him edit his work on the floor during the days and providing immediate images to show was fabulous. We are grateful to have Alex on our DTE team and we look forward to having him join us again for our next DTE in Jamaica 

Willow Tree Films –Greg understands cinematography and feels emotion and sees the beauty. That recipe of emotion and talent is what allows for Greg to capture footage and tell a story.  Capturing footage is the first step,  but the brilliance is – Greg fully understands how to showcase emotion through the breathtaking editing and music.  Greg was not just behind the lens of his camera he was in the moment and part of the experience.    WE look forward to having Greg join us at DTE in Jamaica to bring to life more story telling and more beauty.    

DJ Valentina-Music makes the moment…..and when you have a DJ that understands emotion, drama and energy……..its GOLDEN!    For me, to find that combination is rare, and when you find it you hold it close.  DJ Valentina understands every vibe, and moment I was looking to create. She was my conductor to emotion via music. Her beauty, her grace and her personality is a wonderful combination that I know all our guests appreciated as much as I did!

Russell Morin Catering-Five star cuisine….perfection in service and a history of excellence in the events industry.   Russell Morin Catering provided exactly the menu that transported your taste buds into several regions of Italy at our final gala evening event.  Thank you for your pristine level of service and dedication in excellence in the events industry.

Floristika Studio-I met Floristika through a close friend in Boston who shared with me this company.  When we met via zoom…I knew she would fully appreciate my vision for our first night event.   I wished for night one to feel like a Dreamy Evening that felt like we were in heaven.   With an abundance of babies in the ceiling and seen as the only flower for all the dining tables, accents on chairs and around the stages of the live harpists that performed. Floristika Studio took us to heaven and back with their soft, romantic and graceful designs.  

Fleurevents-For our second evening of beauty and elegance my goal was to create a modern design evening. Fleurevents was the perfect fit for this evening called the DTE Restaurant.  Flowers in gray, black, white and lavender made the centers of the tables feel like art.  Simplicity sounds easy but it takes an artist to understand how to use less to create beauty.   Success was created…from the table designs, to the epic creation at the fireplace and the brilliant masterpiece that of flowers that embellished the baby grand piano on the stage.      

Letter Meets Paper-I love to mix mediums and textures. Letter Meets Paper created lovely silver leaves that were infused into the floral creations as well as accents to each of the place settings.  The unexpected use of paper simply added an element of surprise in the overall design of the tables. 

Flowers by Semia-Elegance, Sexy, Sultry with Romance and a bit of chaos is the unique descriptions of how I wanted to see our FINAL night Gala come to life with flowers.     When I shared my vision with Semia, she didn’t pause for a moment….she fully understood my design.  Semia is a true floral artist filled with passion and ready to take on the unexpected. The final evening gala “Italian Romance” was over the top breathtaking and thank you to Semia and her team for bring to life an evening of beauty through the art of flowers.    Bravo!!

Drape Art Designs–Monica, the owner of Drape Art Design, was one of our very first vendors that said yes to be part of DTE.  Her installation of fabrics for our first and our last night softened the spaces and added the romance and drama. Monica and her team also added chandeliers into the tent at Castle Hill Inn and then later on our last night at Ochre Court. The combination of fabric and the drama of chandeliers made both nights unique and special. 

Momental Designs-Story Telling is what we do for a living. Momental Design created the wonderful story via art and paint in all of our printed materials. The colors spoke to each of the evening events. The lanyards for guests, the notes, and daily agenda all were breathtaking.  It is not just the words that tell the story its that art that brings the story to life, which is what Momental Designs provided for DTE in Newport.

Newport Vineyards-The entire team at Newport Vineyards was excited from the first communication we shared to be part of DTE.    We are very grateful that they joined our team on Night 1 and Night 3.  Newport Vineyards white wine, red wine and rose were paired perfectly to each of the evenings’ menus. Their gracious support and enthusiasm is appreciated.

We are SO excited for our next DTE which will be held in Jamaica. For all of the exciting details, click here.

“The celebration of life is being present, looking forward to tomorrows new adventures, and truly being excited for all the parties that are yet to come! Celebrate life every day! – David Tutera

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Now that it is time to welcome guests back into our home, we have planned an Old Hollywood themed dinner party. An evening of glamour and most important an evening together.  I think this is the most important part, is realizing their is a strong emotional need to connect with our friends and family.  My hope is to just share that we all have the ability to bring our friends and family together and create an experience for all of them.  For us, we showcased the elegance and glamour through our table setting. For this evening, we didn’t rent anything. We decided instead to showcase the things we already had in our home. Everything we used were all things I collected over the course of my life, don’t save those “fine” items for once in a lifetime events figure out meaningful ways to bring those special items out more often and share the beauty.

There is no better time to use the items you have been storing and collecting than at a dinner party with friends. They will be appreciated. When you’re hosting a dinner party it is really important for the setting to be engaging so that your guests can explore and feel part of the experience. For example during this evening, we used a lot of different mediums and textures.

Paper was used for the flowers for the napkin rings, it was used for the menus and place cards. We made sure the menus and place cards reflected our theme as well and were Hollywood art deco. For the place cards, I purposely made them a little larger than a usual place card. This was so we could have the guests name but also underneath their name was a specific quote from an old Hollywood celebrity. This allowed people to engage with the cards and talk to the person seated next to them about it. Paper is easy, it tells a story just like the pages of a book. When celebrating, you share a story with your guests. It starts with the invite and continues with the use of paper flowers in the design, menus, napkin accents, and favors. It’s a fun and creative way to decorate and share words of celebration. The music in the background was music from the 1940s and 1950s to add to the theatrical experience of the evening. The flowers were all baby’s breath. The softness of the baby’s breath, which is an inexpensive way to create floral arrangements, added to the feeling of the evening. The paper flowers were white and robin’s egg blue and then I glued faux pearls and rhinestones to add that Hollywood glamour. Formal table settings were in place. I like to mix china and flatware so it is not so typical. Robin’s egg blue dinner plates with mahogany chargers. Ivory napkins and a beige trim. The wine glasses were gold and clear and the water goblets which are vintage retro 60s were blue. I think mixing your glassware and plates really adds another element to the experience. Another important thing to remember is that while this is a dinner party, it shouldn’t just be about eating. It should be about interacting with your guests, meeting new people, and celebrating the small things in life. To help this process, I had guests change seats right before the dessert course was served. Guests all turned around their place cards and on the back it told them what new seat to move to. This allowed the energy to shift and gave guests a chance to talk with someone new. It keeps the party alive. As for the actual food, to make things easy, you can do a great collection of small bites – there is no need for you to be stuck in the kitchen. Use wonderful trays and garnishes and Viola! (as Cielo says) it looks fantastic! Same goes for the drinks, have one signature cocktail that coordinates with your celebration and wine. Keep things simple so you can also enjoy the party. The most important message here however is that dinner parties don’t have to have a reason. It doesn’t have to be someone’s birthday or an engagement, you can simply get together to celebrate life. As a host to a party and specifically in your home, it is important to think of yourself as an author, producer, choreographer and director. Find those moments to create beauty and take advantage of them.

“The celebration of life is being present, looking forward to tomorrows new adventures, and truly being excited for all the parties that are yet to come! Celebrate life every day! – David Tutera

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That message has stayed with me all these years later and now I do something very similar for my two daughters. The goal is that we should all create lasting memories for our children. My daughters, Cielo and Gracie, are my world and even if for only one day a year I can create something special for them, I am going to do whatever it takes to do so. While our children won’t remember their first few parties, that doesn’t stop me creating an amazing celebration for our girls.

That is why photos are so important to me. We can show our girls their past birthday parties and they can see what their daddies created for them on their big days. My younger daughter Gracie is only two so we haven’t thrown her many parties but the ones we have were so fun! For her first birthday, we had a Pretty in Pink theme – 100s of pink balloons, pink roses, pink plates, pink everything. We then had pink princesses come and surprise her. It was magical. My daughter Cielo who is set to be eight this month has had many amazing celebrations. Each with their own theme, an homage to my mom. We have done Cielo in ONE-derland,  Cielo’s Country Birthday in Connecticut, Frozen in the summer, Butterflies and Ferries, A Good Ol’ Birthday at the Farm,  A Greatest Showman theme birthday and this year we are doing an LOL doll themed dance party.

It is in these moments, planning for my daughters parties and celebrating on the day of, that remind me of the special bond between child and parent. They remind me of the kindness of my mom and the importance of the little moments in life. Whether that be an ice cream cake or a five tiered cake, we will remember them and we will grow up to tell our children about how special they were and how much we love creating memories to last a lifetime.

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Fyerfly Productions adds so much fun to any event. For our second evening event they had confetti explode all over us. This just brought the party to the space. I loved how accommodating they were. Asking exactly when we wanted the confetti to go off and what colors we wanted them to be. For us, they were able to perfectly match our theme on Modern Madness, which was all about metallics, by using gold and silver confetti. It was fun and unexpected, exactly what I like to have at my events.

Photo Credits go to Victoria Angela Photography – @victoriaangelaphoto

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Dogwood Blossom is a master at what they do. Denise, their owner and visionary takes something simple and makes it a key component to the event. With welcome materials, menus each night, invitations, and escort cards – every detail (small or large) was executed precisely and beautifully. I knew that I could send Denise everything I wanted done and she would come back with brilliantly crafted designs that perfectly matched the design of the evening.

For our welcome packets, she created something so perfect for the color scheme I wanted. It was dynamic, it had several elements, and it was clear to understand.

For our first night, she kept with the colorful, playful theme so perfectly. It just all went and I loved it.

For our second and third night, she came with a more refined look. They were elegant and again when perfectly with the vision I had for each night. For night three, she created a stunning invitation – as this night was a surprise. Denise’s work is so precise and will add a wonderful level of attention to detail to any events printed materials.  

All photo credits go to Victoria Angela Photography – @victoriaangelaphoto

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The staff and crew at the Dr. Phillips Center was incredible. From the very first site specs to the actual night they were hands on, hardworking, and most importantly caring. A funny story is when we held our first site specs, they showed me three different locations within the center. The first two were amazing but I kept pushing for them to show me the Disney Theatre. I just had it in my head that I wanted to see it. So, they finally showed it to me last and from the minute I walked in, I knew it was the one. It is just a spectacular space and I knew we were meant to hold our final night gala here. At the time, they told me it was going to be difficult to make happen because the ballet was currently using the space. No pun intended but we had to dance around the ballet to get the space. In the end it worked out since we shifted the date of our event but I loved how hard their team worked to make our vision come to life.

From their tech team cuing the music at just the right time to the catering staff ensuring everyone was served delicious food. I love that they were 100% open to the idea of hosting a dinner on the stage. This isn’t something that happens often on any stage, anywhere but they helped us create a dramatic, awe inspiring event on an iconic stage. I have nothing but amazing and kind words to say about the staff and space at the Dr. Phillips Center of Performing Arts.

All photo credits go to Victoria Angela Photography – @victoriaangelaphoto

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The owner and creator of Luxecine, Jacob, is a surprise to me. Videography can go one of two ways – it is either just a stream of video with no meaning or it is something that is emotional and epic, which is rare. Jacob is quiet, he is often not seen which is great. He makes people feel comfortable, which is hard because video often makes people nervous. A wonderful thing about Jacob and Luxecine is that he sets his cameras up in advance of the event starting to get the angles he thinks will be best. This is helpful because he knows what he is going to get, it’s not guesswork. While Jacob is incredible during the event and recording process, he really brings the events to life through his editing. Jacob has worked on past DTEs with us and he so perfectly understands how to produce my vision. He can tell a story through his videos, sometimes even with no words.  

Here is the video Jacob created for The David Tutera Experience in Bermuda – 2019

All video credits go to Luxecine – @luxecine

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I have worked with Victoria multiple times before. She has shot clients events for us and past David Tutera Experiences. It is always great to have a person who understands your vision for the photography. Victoria sees the angles before we do. She understands depth and color and she is amazing at fine tuning certain photos to edit after they are taken. She comes with a great team, they do exactly what is needed to capture the essence of an event. They aren’t seen but at the same time they capture the moment. Victoria leads her team with kindness. She supports the vendors in the space, working with them to create the perfect scene for the event and the photography. Not only is she a wonderful person, but her photography is stunning, which is what every event planner looks for.

All photo credits go to Victoria Angela Photography – @victoriaangelaphoto

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