We're just days away from the the 89th Oscars so we want to make sure you have everything in place to throw the most perfect viewing party for you and your friends.
Who better to give you the best tips than the experts behind Sunday's Governors Ball? The Academy's official after-party, where winners go to get their Oscars engraved, is expected to see 1,500 guests. Ya know, celebs like Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Viola Davis, Andrew Garfield, Mahershala Ali, Natalie Portman and newcomer Lucas Hedges. Tony winner Cynthia Erivo will also be performing during the star-studded bash.
Now, let's get your party started.
We'll begin with the most important part of the evening—the food!
For the 23rd consecutive year, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has created a menu the includes his signature chicken potpie with black truffles, smoked salmon Oscars, macaroni and cheese and baked potatoes with caviar. And then there's desert—the selection is grand, including 7,000 mini chocolate Oscars covered in edible gold dust.
1. PARTY TIP: "Just make chicken pot pie, make a little pasta, and make a regular chocolate cake and you will be happy," Puck suggests. "Watch the Oscars, have some good champagne." (You can find Wolfgang recipes in one of this many books, including Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy: Delicious Recipes for Your Home Kitchen.)
Speaking of champagne, more than 1,500 bottles of Piper-Heidsieck Cuvee Brut will be popped at the ball. (You can pick up a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck at Wine.com.)
Francis Ford Coppola may not be nominated this year, but he is providing the vino. Two limited edition wines from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery will be poured into 9,500 glasses at the ball.
2. PARTY TIP: The winery's Oscar selection isn't readily available to the public, but you'll still be very Hollywood by picking up some bottles of the Coppola Winery's Director's Cut Cabernet at Target.
When the celebs want something a bit stronger than wine and champagne, they'll be able to enjoy whiskey cocktails from The Hilhaven Lodge.
3. PARTY TIP: Keep it simple. "The old fashioned is a great cocktail," says master mixologist Charles Joly. "It's three ingredients. You take two ounces of whiskey, a little bit of simple syrup and a dash of aromatic bitters. Stir it with ice and add an orange twist and it's done! It's just a beautiful classic cocktail." (Buy your own bottle of Hilhaven Lodge whiskey at Mission Wine & Spirits.)
This year's theme colors are red, white and gold. Mark Held of Mark's Garden is the ball's exclusive florist. He'll use about 12,000 red and white blooms flown in from around the world for the ball's elegant decor. "We picked big flowers, important flowers, orchids and amaryllis, something that made a statement on its own," Held explains. "So we're not getting all fluffy. We're not mixing the flowers. We're doing more sculptural designs, inspired by a mid-century 1950s and 1960s point of view."
4. PARTY TIP: "It's pretty easy. You want to go by color—all white, all red, or a little bit of each," Held suggests. "Do an all-white, do an all-red. Group your flowers together, drop them in a vase. It's not complicated. It's easy to do." (Bouqs offers a a selection of white roses called Hollywoodland! Too perfect, right?)
If you want even more ideas, go to Oscars.com.
5. PARTY TIP: Print out ballots and have your guests fill them out before the big show while playing some of this year's nominated music (hello, La La Land!) Pick up a prize for the person who predicts the most correct wins.
Happy Oscars, everyone!