Nash 1st Annual Holiday Party

With a little coaxing from Ben - we are throwing our first ever holiday party! I am now reeling with ideas for snacks and dips. While the overall theme is wine, I am planning on making wassail with rum or something in it. I make wassail every year, but never with alcohol in it. Menu ideas thus far:

Goat Cheese & Pesto Dip with crackers
Assorted fine cheese & grapes
Pesto pinwheels (made with phyllo dough)
Crabcakes
Pork Shoulder "Muffins"

Dessert:
Spiced snow cap cookies

And maybe a few other things. The idea was that if we have it at 7:30, people will eat before they come. But, I think if we just add a few more meaty starters, everyone can just snack. I usually don't see dessert gobbled up at parties, so I may grab some brownie bites or something at Costco to help fill in.
Then there is all the other stuff I will need... plates, wine-glass markers (the things that hang from the stems), napkins, the toothpicks with little decorative paper on the end (maybe i can find holiday ones?) and if i serve wassail, maybe i can pick up some cute glass mugs? not sure. I am sure things will come into focus more over this next week.
I am kind of excited because we have never had a party like this. We have had one or 2 bbq's but nothing nice like this. Maybe i need to find a tacky holiday sweater?

In other news... I have 11 days left to register for my NCIDQ exam. Passing this exam would earn me my official Interior Design License. Getting that would make me alot more marketable as an employee. I could also earn more money, which is awesome. It is expensive and I will have to study really hard but, it would be worth it. I am going to talk it all over tomorrow with my coworkers and see. I have to mail in 3 letters of reference, my transcript, and my work history, along with a big fat check. The test wouldn't be until April 4th. It is a 2 day exam that is said to be pretty grueling. I have anxiety attacks when I think about it.