The First Box of 2013

While I've had a love-hate relationship with 2012 (which you can catch up on here), I am already in love with 2013 (and it's still a day away)! Last year, John and I rang in 2012 together. For the first time in my life, I had someone to kiss at midnight. There were even fireworks and dancing that night. If I were the star of a romantic comedy, that night couldn't have been orchestrated more perfectly. 

But I digress.

Do you know how difficult it is to find New Year's decorations a month out from December 31? It's absolutely impossible. Apparently all of America does their NYE party planning within a week of the ball dropping. I visited five stores (including Wal-Mart, which I thought sold everything).  It wasn't for lack of trying, but poor John got a pretty bootlegged box of New Year's Eve stuff. Almost all of it came from the birthday party aisle. I guess last year, I should have trolled sales like I did for the Christmas care package... but everything would have said "2012." Ah, such is life.

Here are the contents for a New Year's Eve in a box: 

1. Those noise makers that uncurl when you blow them.

2. A bottle of sparkling cider. Afghanistan is a dry country.

3. Plastic champagne glasses

4. Confetti poppers (they don't have any gunpowder or flammable materials, so they're a-okay to send!)

5. More noise makers

6. A box of hot chocolate mix (because I needed something to take up some space). 

7. Candles. Yep. These were the only thing I could find that said "2013". I know, I know, the birthday candles don't make much sense, but I thought at least one thing in the box should say the year.

(Not pictured) A bag of coffee because John always needs coffee.

Because I was running short on time, I didn't have a chance to decorate the entire box, and instead, just did the flaps. If you want to do something similar, just cut a skyline out of black paper and glue it on a background of funky, Lisa-Frank-esque scrapbook paper.

I wanted to rig up the Times Square Ball Drop across the box, so that when John opened it, he'd see it hanging there (much like the birthday banner I made him). However, because every store was conspiring against me, I couldn't find a disco ball keychain (to mimic the ball) to save my life.

Who knows? Maybe next year we'll be able to be in NYC for the real ball drop! That would be awesome!