Throw a <i>Great Gatsby</i> Party

Epicurious.com

by Sara Bonisteel



Host a Roaring Twenties Champagne-fueled bacchanal inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic, now a new movie directed by Baz Luhrmann

"He gives large parties. And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy." -Socialite Jordan Baker, The Great Gatsby

Ingredients:
Fireworks. Methuselahs of Champagne. A band. Everyone you know and many more that you don't.

Preparation:
Put all your furniture in the bedroom. Pull out your New Year's Eve finery. Stock up on confetti. Learn the Charleston.

Yield:
A soiree so good it will leave revelers with no other recollections aside from that warm feeling of having attended the greatest party of their life. (No pressure on your part.)

The Menu:
A catered affair is ideal, but if you don't have the means of the great Jay Gatsby, then fully stock your bar with reserves in waiting, prepare a flotilla of hors d'oeuvres, whip up two suppers (one for early evening and another for after midnight) plus a fried-chicken breakfast, and keep the Champagne flowing. To recall that riotous affair where Nick Carraway first meets Gatsby, we've included a glazed ham complete with fresh orange-juice glaze, Pigs in Sleeping Bags, and Deconstructed Holiday Turkey. (As Fitzgerald put it, "On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.").

But it's actually the free booze greasing the wheels of Gatsby's-and our-celebrations. We've included two drinks for every nibble. Feel free to pick your Prohibition-era spirit-corn liquor, bourbon, whiskey, or gin. For the morning after, premake the Cornmeal-Crusted Oven-Fried Chicken and wash it down with ale, remembering that tomorrow we will run faster and stretch out our arms farther into the orgiastic future, even if the current is beating us back toward the past.

Party Tips:
Remember, hardly anyone met Jay Gatsby at his grand West Egg affairs. So don't feel the need to be the host who talks to everybody. If the crowds wear you out, just go to bed, and let the revelers continue the party till dawn.

See more from Epicurious:
The Great Gatsby Movie Menu
A Champagne Primer
Champagne Cocktails