Party Smoothly Navigates a Dark and Stormy Night

Searching for a fail-safe formula for holiday party-giving (one that can outwit a rainstorm that sends dinner guests scurrying from your terrace into your living room)?

Look no further than the black-tie boat parade bash recently staged by Linda Isle resident Dolores Milhous.

It was perfection.

* First, buy a knockout tree: And, to spark party conversation, buy one 20 feet tall . Guests at the Milhous residence--which sits next door to billionaire Donald Bren’s--buzzed nonstop about the height of this flocked wonder (and the child-size gold Mercedes tucked beneath its branches--a gift from Dolores to her 8-month-old granddaughter, Rachel).

Milhous, chairwoman of the Laguna Art Museum’s upcoming 75th anniversary celebration, explained her towering tree this way: “Ten years ago, I told my children, Tim and Peggy, the first year we had a grandchild in the house at Christmas, the tree would touch the ceiling.

“Since I have a 20-foot ceiling, I thought that would be encouragement, “ she said, laughing.

So, when she learned Peggy was expecting a child, Milhous got on the phone to Oregon. “You don’t just run out and buy a pretty 20-foot tree,” said Milhous, who was elegantly dressed in a bead-frosted, floor-length gown by Mary McFadden. “You order it. For a year and a half, the growers have been trimming and shaping it.”

* Next, decorate your dinner tables: Place them outside, on your bay-side terrace, and, since you’re celebrating your 50th birthday, smother them with gold lame cloths. Rent snow-white bamboo motif chairs and top their seats with gold cushions.

Center each table with an arrangement of white orchids and golden-yellow roses. Make sure the silverware is gold-plated and place a gold-wrapped party favor (crystal tree ornaments from Geary’s of Beverly Hills) at each place setting.

Oh, and while you’re at it, install a crystal-clear canopy overhead, in case it rains , and stud it with sparkling twinkle lights-- a la the Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York’s Central Park.

* Finally, don’t be afraid to implement your foul-weather plan: When a polite rain became an angry storm at the Milhous party, guests were whisked inside and--voila!--in a matter of minutes the buffet table became the dining table (after the buffet fare--beef filet, jumbo shrimp, creamed spinach and roast potatoes--was moved to the kitchen).

“I like this better,” said one guest. “You know what they say about parties--they’re best when they’re elbow-to-elbow.”

Indeed.

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A party for Prentice: Also welcoming guests into their Newport Beach home for a boat parade bash were Bill and Harriet Harris. The Harrises turned their holiday get-together into an underwriting party for a March 27 benefit for Prentice Day School--a nonprofit facility for children with language disabilities--in Costa Mesa. Proceeds from the party will help sponsor Prentice Day School’s “Faces of Literacy” fund-raiser at Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach.

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Manhattan Transfer bash: Finally. A Christmas album by the Manhattan Transfer--the nine-time Grammy Award-winners considered America’s premiere vocal ensemble.

“We put it off for 20 years,” said Cheryl Bentyne on Friday night after her appearance with the Pacific Symphony at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. “We’ve had this cycle of doing an album, touring to promote the album, and doing another album.

“We knew we needed special time out to make this one and we finally found some.”

Guests of the Pacific Symphony’s Maestro Society mingled with members of the vocal group--Janis Siegal, Alan Paul, Cheryl Bentyne and Tim Hauser--after watching them perform selections from the new album in Segerstrom Hall.

The dreamy-sounding “Snowfall” is one of Siegal’s album favorites, she said. “It was the theme of Cliff Thornhill’s band. Listening to it is very much like looking at a painting by Van Gogh or listening to music by Debussy. It is very Impressionistic music.”

Paul told the crowd they should be “very proud” of the center. “It’s a fabulous place,” he said.

“We’ve been trying to get the Manhattan Transfer here for three years,” said Louis Spisto, the symphony’s executive director. “They are musicians of the highest order.”