I hinted yesterday that our New Year's Eve wasn't quite as we had planned. Like Cinderella without the ball. The house was all dressed up with no where to go!

Our big boy Sammy came down with an awful sick bug which meant we were house bound for 24 hours and had to cancel our best friends coming over for a sleepover! How disappointing! The menu was written, the mini bar adorned with fairy lights! We even had the countdown cocktails tried and tested. But as is the way with best friends you can just save it for another time. So New Year's Eve was a dress rehearsal for a belated New Year celebration at the end of the month which actually coincides with two of their birthdays!

I'll post the menu and mini bar later this week as I was so proud of how sweet they looked! I found an old Big Ben stencil which made the perfect milk cocktail for Sammy complete with chocolate powder, a sprinkle rim and frothed milk. He really deserved a treat after being so poorly.

Our neighbours treated us to an impromptu firework display (right over Sammy's bedroom) at 9pm, not sure if they meant for them to all go off in the space of a minute that early!

As Sammy seemed back to his usual self we headed to Clevedon for a New Years Day walk on the pebbly beach and pub lunch complete with the glasses I painted and party hats. Surrounded by smiling faces from the rest of families on the beach we balanced on the rocks for a photo. What superstar friends!

It's back to routine today! Dogs have haircuts, Ollie is at nursery and I need to catch up on work whilst keeping Sammy entertained as pre school doesn't start again until Monday!

It's been wonderful these last few lazy days but the children could do with getting back to normal life, bed times have got a little later and they are both obsessed with the iPad after all the travelling around we have done. Are you secretly looking forward to getting the decorations down?! Mine will be coming down this weekend and I'll have post of how to brighten your house when it looks so bare after the tree and cards come down.

It only seems right on the 1st January to post a list of all the firsts that are expected to happen or I hope will happen this year. I'm really looking forward to checking back to this post on the 31st December to see how many came true! Although some are sure things!

My List of Firsts for 2013

1. My sister will have baby.
2. I will be an Auntie. (I actually have 3 beautiful nieces and a nephew on my husband's side but this will be the first time I will be called Auntie Lucy). Auntie Lu in fact.
3. We will leave both boys for the first time and fly to America.
4. The boys will see the old Pier at Clevedon and walk along the rocks on New Years Day.
5. My brother will own a house with a swimming pool. Jammie dodger!
6. An Easter egg hunt on a beach.
7. Our big boy Sammy will start Primary School.
8. Ollie will play in snow.
9. A family holiday in a hot sunny child friendly resort.
10. Ollie will speak.
11. Host a Doctors and Nurses party. (Children's I might add!) I've never seen this theme for children before!
12. Sammy will learn to ride a bike.
13. We keep our cars all year.
14. We make it down to Penzance to visit family and friends.
15. Host a dinner party in our new dining room.
16. I will bake a cake.
17. Sammy will start swimming lessons.
18. My Mum and I will host a baby shower.
19. One whole side of my family will be travelling on the other side of the world. (It makes me nervous.)
20. I shoot and print my first lomography film.
21. I get paid to photograph a wedding.
22. I will meet some incredible bloggers at my first blog conference.
23. I host a link party on my blog (and that someone joins in).

Happy New Year everyone. Our New Year's Eve didn't quite go to plan and at midnight I whispered Old Lang Syne, holding Sammy's hand as he dozed off between us. I will post some photos tomorrow, it's like a what could have been!

Is there anything you expect to do for the first time this year? I love ticking things off a list and hope I get to tick all 23 off for 2013!

What could be sweeter than a sugar glass rim for your cocktail glass on New Years Eve? I tried out a few and these are my favourites. Use dessert sauce or honey to ensure you get a good coating. I find lemon or lime juice isn't sticky enough for coarser toppings. Just need to settle on the cocktails themselves now!

One for the little ones before bed. Crushed Oreos in a freezer bag. Slice open the freezer bag with scissors and use the open bag as your plate to dip your glass. I used toffee sauce as a sticky base for the cookie crumble mix.

Next I tried these sweet treats. The rock candy on sticks is to use as a garnish! I have seen some great photos of crushed candy canes and hundreds and thousands glass rims. Might have to give those a go for a children's party!

The silver balls were too heavy to stick to the edge but if you drop them in just before serving the silver coating slides off and gives the effect of floating sparkle!

The pink glitter sugar is more delicate and lends itself to a lighter cocktail. I'm thinking vodka, pomegranate juice and cava.

The blue sugar in the chunkier glass makes me think of the Caribbean (who knows why!) so I have in mind mixing the cava with a coconut liquor or white rum and a heavier juice like mango.

I tried a classic mix of nutmeg and brown sugar which will suit a brandy and cava cocktail. Leave a whole sugar lump in the bottom of the glass before pouring.

I'm still deciding on the final mixes!

The trouble with cocktails is they can seem an expensive way to serve drinks. However, one trip to Ikea for a new playmobil play table for Ollie's bedroom and we were sorted! A selection of schnapps with curious flavours including dill and lemon, elderberry, anise and fennel and St John's Wort.

We have also been 'marinating' a bottle of dark rum with cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods and coffee beans for an infused spiced rum. My good friend had the same idea and gave sweet favours as Christmas gifts - mini bottles of clementine and vanilla infused vodka! We will be road testing them tomorrow night!

I also picked up a couple of bottles of sparkling non alcoholic pear and apple and lingon berry juice which will make great cocktail bases when we get sick of cava (although I adore cava so I doubt it!).

On the way to the travelator (doesn't that make you think of the British 90's show Gladiators?) I spied individual boxes of juice which are the perfect size to make a few cocktails. I chose elderberry and lingon, which I am going to mix with cava and the blackcurrant schnapps.

Have you got a favourite cocktail? I love a rum punch, fruity and punchy with a splash of angostura bitters. Yum!