New Traditions for Year In and Year Out

Tired of the same old confetti on New Year’s Eve?

Thought so. Here are some hints from party specialists on how to ring in the new year ‘90s-style.

For Tiffany & Co. design director John Loring, any New Year’s Eve celebration begins with good timing. “Start your party late,” advises the New York author of “Tiffany Parties” and the new “Tiffany Gourmet Cookbook.” “It’s a big mistake to start the party too early. Dinner shouldn’t be served before 9:30 p.m.” (Otherwise, midnight takes forever to arrive.)

And, “essential for a New Year’s Eve supper,” Loring says, “are menu items that are straightforward and simple.”

Forget the sauce-smothered filets that were so classe in the Me Decade. Try sausage.

“The French always have grilled white veal sausage-- bourdin blanc -- with grilled pineapple on New Year’s Eve. The Italians have zampone , a sausage served with highly seasoned beans. It could sink a battleship, but it’s delicious,” Loring says. “The idea is to honor the humble traditions of people dancing in the street at the town festival.”

Crucial to your end-of-the-year hoot are caviar and champagne. Neither has to be pricey. “For champagne--anything that is French and dry is great,” Loring says. As for the caviar--try serving yours with the Tuscan bean salad that Loring mentions in his cookbook. (Combine three 15-ounce cans of white kidney beans with one cup of chopped sweet white onion, 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley, 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup of Italian olive oil. Serve in six small bowls and top each with two ounces of caviar.)

“This can be served with or without sour cream, “ Loring says. “It makes a great first course. And it’s graceful; you don’t end up with guests having caviar falling off their toast.”

Floral designer Paul Ecke’s nod to the ‘90s are his futuristic centerpieces that feature a glowing bubble-globe base. “I’m using huge clear bubble balls and filling them with twinkle lights hooked up to battery packs,” says Ecke, whose Black Iris in Laguna Beach provides floral creations for Bette Midler, O.J. Simpson and Harriet Nelson.

Ecke disguises the packs with crushed cellophane. “The cellophane looks like crushed ice in the globes,” Ecke says. “And when you turn the lights down in a room, they glow and make the floral designs on top look like they’re floating.”

He uses a clear acrylic, wok-shaped dish to finish off the centerpiece. The base of the dish fits in the opening of the globe. “I fill the dish with foliage that is sprinkled with opalescent glitter--angel dust,” he says. (Apply it to leaves with a spray adhesive.)

“Then I airbrush some of the leaves with gold or silver.”

Another popular Ecke centerpiece is his glass top hat filled with a bottle of champagne, two crystal flutes, acrylic cubes and flowers on acrylic risers. “When you’re done with it, it’s a champagne bucket,” he says.

When a few hundred Orange County Performing Arts Center supporters gathered at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine for the Candlelight Concert last week, they waltzed into a party scene with an eye for clever detail. Mirrors topped the tables. (“They magnify the ambience,” explains Katharyn Sherman, the hotel’s catering director.) Napkins were tied with gold cord. And the salads--tiny bouquets of baby romaine lettuce--were tied with thin slices of yellow squash. Perfect touches for any party any time of year. “Details always make the difference,” Sherman says. “They let guests know you care.”

When the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach has its New Year’s Eve gala, chefs will be whipping up a feast that is festive yet simple. On the menu: consomme of smoked chicken with wild mushrooms, winter greens with raspberry vinaigrette, sea bass with potato crust.

Champagne drinks will also be on the menu. “Sometimes people prefer a champagne concoction to a straight tulip of champagne,” says a hotel spokeswoman. Selections will include a French Kiss (champagne and Chambord); Kir Royale (Creme de Cassis and champagne); Bellini (champagne with peach liqueur) and the classic champagne cocktail composed of bitters, sugar and champagne.

When the clock strikes 12, hostesses should remember “not to turn on the television to the Times Square celebration-- thank you very much ,” Loring says.

What should they do? “Hope that the handsomest man in the room gives them a big kiss.”

Cheers.