New Year’s Eve is typically a night to celebrate the closing of a year, and it goes without saying that 2020 was certainly a year we’ll never forget. But it’s time to say goodbye and embrace all that’s possible for 2021.

While large NYE bashes may not be happening this year, there are still plenty of ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve on a high note. Don your glitziest outfit and host a virtual party from home to ring in the New Year in style!

Choose Your Party Time

As you plan the timing for your virtual New Year’s Eve party, consider your family members and your friends’ schedules. While it’s typical to spend the whole evening out at an in-person NYE party, a virtual soirée is better kept short and sweet. Plan your party at a time that works well for everyone in the group, whether you need to wait for people to get off work or allow time to put the kids to bed. Then, structure your virtual event with an activity on the ideal platform to keep everyone entertained.

Send Your Invitations

Just because the party is going virtual, it doesn’t mean beautiful invitations are out of the question. Make your guests feel extra special. Send out something glitzy in the mail for a personalized touch or opt for a pretty emailed option. Either way, include all of the details for your event and the activities you plan to host to ensure your guests show up to the party prepped (and dressed!) for success.

Virtual New Year’s Eve Party Ideas

Planning a themed party with an activity or two is a great way to keep the night moving along. Consider focusing on one theme or incorporate multiple activities throughout the night. (Here are the 10 things that could stay virtual forever.)

Host a Virtual Dinner Party

If getting dolled up and hosting a fancy dinner party is your typical New Year’s tradition, it can still be accomplished virtually. Choose your dazzling outfit and plan a simple dinner menu for everyone to enjoy. Send out dinner recipes ahead of time with your invitations and encourage everyone to whip up their meal before your party’s start time. Celebrate with a nice dinner paired with great wine and conversation as you look back on 2020 and raise a glass to the new year to come.

Plan a Movie Night

‘Tis the season to be super cozy! If you’re not interested in dressing up, a pajama party is the perfect option. Create a great movie lineup for the night and gather friends to watch around their own devices utilizing the GroupWatch feature on Disney+. Don’t forget to bring your own delicious movie snacks, like ranch popcorn or homemade potato chips. (If you need some inspiration, here are the best movies on Netflix Canada, according to Rotten Tomatoes.)

Host a Champagne Tasting

There’s been plenty of virtual wine tastings happening over the course of 2020. Why not take that same concept and add a toast of bubbles for NYE? Choose a few champagne or sparkling wine options to sample and talk through with your friends. Bonus: many producers sell mini bottles or split bottles that are perfect for this very occasion.

Attend an Online Event Together

Going to an in-person event, such as a concert or large party, may be out of the question this year, but plenty of businesses are pivoting for the occasion. Plan to get dressed up and attend an online event with your closest friends. (Here’s how you can virtually tour the world’s greatest landmarks right now.)

Host a Game Night

If you’re a game lover, then you know it’s easy to keep a game going well past midnight when you’re having fun. Gather your friends virtually and plan your games and snacks ahead of time. Include virtual game options, or even keep it simple with classics such as trivia or bingo.

Make Signature Cocktails

New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to sip something new. Why not host a small party, and allow everyone to teach a new signature cocktail recipe? Plan ahead with a simple list of ingredients for everyone to have on hand, and then share the steps to your recipes for imbibing over video as you chat throughout the evening.

Make Some Noise for When the Ball Drops

Planning to watch the ball drop? It’ll certainly be different, but that’s one tradition that’s not going away this year. Plan a party around the virtual midnight drop in Times Square and be sure you have your noisemakers ready. Host an online craft party leading up to the big drop to create DIY noisemakers for the occasion. Utilize empty paper towel rolls to decorate as horns, or fill them with popcorn seeds or even mini bells and tape them shut for an easy NYE craft.

Take a Cooking Class

Virtual cooking classes became the new norm in 2020, and now you can use that to your advantage. Plan for you and your friends to attend the same class, cooking or baking along from your own kitchens. Once your dishes are prepped and made, hop on a private video call to enjoy the fruits of your labour together.

Next, start 2021 off right with these 50 inspirational New Year’s quotes.

The Gift of Gratitude

Nine years ago, on Christmas Eve, I was sitting in a hard-backed chair in the neonatal intensive care unit of the Queensway Carleton in Ottawa, waiting for an ambulance to take my baby away to another hospital.

I kept reminding myself to be grateful.

After two years of infertility, a failed round of IVF, a successful frozen embryo transfer, a bleed at 30 weeks, and an urgent scheduled C-section, I’d finally given birth to a tiny, perfect baby girl the night before.

But after having held her only briefly after birth, she was whisked away to an incubator. The surgeon told us how lucky we were. It turns out that a faulty connection between the umbilical cord and placenta meant our baby wasn’t getting the nutrients she needed. And, she added, 50 per cent of undiagnosed cases with this condition do not have happy endings.

As the ambulance team prepped the incubator for the trip, I gazed at my newborn, who looked like a doll inside her glass bubble, the smallest diaper dwarfing her four-pound frame. Logically, I knew that this was our baby, but I didn’t feel remotely like her mother.

Mothers hold their babies, and I was terrified to touch mine. Mothers feed their babies, and I’d seen no sign of my milk. Mothers love their babies from their first mewling cry, but I didn’t feel much of anything, other than bone tired.

“Your Christmas miracle,” the nurses said. I nodded enthusiastically, feeling guilty for feigning a gratitude I didn’t have the strength to muster. For years, I wanted nothing more than to have a baby, to be a mother. My wish was granted, at the holidays no less, but all I wanted to do was be alone and cry.

Looking back, I wish I could tell my forlorn self a few things to assuage her fears. I would say, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Your hormones are raging. You’re scared. You’re in pain. You’ve been through the wringer and spewed out the other side. Give yourself a break and the gratitude will come.”

I’d let her know that even scrappy four-pound babies are more resilient than they look. I’d promise her that her love for her new baby will unfurl over days and weeks, and grow fierce and indomitable.

Lastly, I would tell her, “Whatever you do, do not eat the hospital’s chicken pot pie! You’ve just had abdominal surgery. Have soup.”

It was too soon after surgery for me to go in the ambulance with her, so I watched mutely as two paramedics, a neonatal nurse and a respiratory specialist struggled to warm up the travel incubator. I only let myself cry when the kind paramedic turned to me and said, “Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll take perfect care of your baby.” Then they were gone.

After my ill-fated supper, destined to stop me up for days, a kind night nurse sensed my distress and gave me a Christmas gift I’ll never forget: “Take an Ativan, and get some rest.”

Hallelujah.

Christmas morning roared in with a snowstorm. I was discharged and then spent that week at the children’s hospital. There, I marvelled at the kindnesses extended to us. Our daughter had her photo taken with Santa, alongside her very first stuffed bear, a gift from the hospital. She was the recipient of a beautiful quilt, handmade by a good Samaritan. The accompanying card read, “Cherish this time. Your baby will grow up so fast. Love, Barbara.”

Barbara, wherever she is, was right.

This Christmas Eve, our daughter turns nine. She’s healthy and funny and irascible. She is the light and joy in our lives. Every December, as I wrap presents and gaze at the tree, I think back to the year she was born.

And I don’t have to remind myself to be grateful.

Next, read about how a gift exchange has held one friend group together.

© 2019, Suzanne Westover. From “Unwrapping the gift of Gratitude,” The Globe and Mail (December 20, 2019), theglobeandmail.com

Birthday? Bridal shower? Housewarming? Retirement party? All these occasions require a sweet treat. Something pretty, delicious and easy to snack on while chatting. Once you learn how to make vanilla cupcakes yourself, you’re all set when it comes to providing an extra special treat for all these occasions (and, yes, just because you’re craving cake is a good enough occasion for us!).

We’ll show you how to make tender, flavourful vanilla cupcakes with plenty of tips from our Test Kitchen.

How to Make Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Our Test Kitchen’s favourite vanilla cupcake recipe comes to us from Alysha Braun in Ontario. She says her son adores these cakes. And these cupcakes are definitely something special: They’re not just regular ol’ vanilla, they’re vanilla bean. Here’s what you need to make these treats. (Don’t miss the 20 secret baking tips we learned from Grandma.)

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 vanilla beans
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup 2% milk

For the frosting:

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• Assorted sprinkles and coarse sugar

Test Kitchen-Recommended Cupcake Tools

• Cupcake pan: If you want to bake cupcakes, you’ll need a cupcake pan. It’s one of our cake baking essentials.
• Vanilla beans: This recipe calls for real vanilla beans, not just extract.
• Trigger scoop: An oversized cookie scoop like this makes filling cupcake pans a breeze.

Directions

Step 1: Cream butter, sugar and eggs

Start this recipe by creaming together the softened butter and sugar until nice and fluffy—about five minutes. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition.

Step 2: Prep your vanilla beans

Most home bakers are very familiar with vanilla extract and likely have their preferred brand. But not every baker has used vanilla beans. This recipe is the perfect excuse to experiment with this ingredient.

To extract the flavour from the bean, grab a sharp paring knife and split the beans lengthwise. Then carefully scrape out the seeds from inside the pod (that’s all the stuff inside). Take the seeds and pop them right into the creamed mixture and blend them in.

If you don’t have vanilla beans on hand, feel free to substitute vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste instead. About two teaspoons should do it.

Editor’s tip: Get your money’s worth from those vanilla beans! The spent pods can be used to infuse brewed coffee with a delicious flavour. You can also use the scraps to make vanilla sugar.

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients and milk

After adding the vanilla bean, it’s time to get your dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Alternate adding this mix and the milk until you have a rich, smooth batter.

Editor’s note: Cake flour gives these cupcakes a nice, light texture. It’s worth snagging a box at the store for this recipe.

Step 4: Fill cupcake liners

Once you’ve got your batter together, it’s time to fill up your cupcake liners. Aim to fill each liner about two-thirds full. This gives the cakes room to rise in the oven.

You can fill the cupcake liners up with a spoon, but the work goes faster (and you get more consistent measurements) if you use a scoop. It’s handy for cupcakes, muffins and oversized cookies.

Step 5: Bake and cool

Bake the cupcakes at 375ºF for 18 to 20 minutes. You can test to make sure the cupcakes are done by inserting a toothpick in the center. If it comes away clean (or with a few dry crumbs), the cupcakes are done.

Let your bakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Step 6: Stir up the frosting

While the cupcakes are cooling, you can mix up a quick batch of frosting. Start by blending together the softened butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract. Then slowly add in the confectioners’ sugar until you have a fluffy frosting ready for piping.

Editor’s tip: Cream cheese frosting not your favourite? A simple buttercream also tastes great with this recipe.

Step 7: Frost the cupcakes

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, you can frost them. You can use any technique you like but a pastry bag with a piping tip will give you professional-looking results.

No pastry bag on hand? You can use a zip-top bag to frost cupcakes.

Step 8: Give your cupcakes some finishing touches

Sure, you can stop with just frosting, but what are cupcakes without a little extra pizazz? Sprinkles are always a welcome touch. Tone-on-tone jimmies and nonpareils are a classy way to add some flair. Or you can go big with some fun and funky edible decorations.

How to Store Cupcakes

After you’ve had your fill of cupcakes, you can store any frosted leftovers in the fridge. Just be sure to eat them within two or three days.

If you’d rather freeze them, you can seal unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container or zip-top bag. Pop ’em in the freezer and they’ll keep for up to two months. When you’ve got a cupcake craving, just set them on the counter to defrost. Once they’re up to room temperature, you can frost with a fresh batch of frosting.

Next, check out our recipes for 30 winter desserts that will make you feel cozy this season.

After watching The Crown all month, it’s safe to say we’re in the mood for something truly royal. The Royal Family‘s kitchens fulfilled our wish by sharing the recipe for their decadent Christmas pudding on Twitter, right in time for #StirUpSunday.

🥄 Today is #StirupSunday: traditionally the day when home cooks ‘stir up’ their Christmas pudding mixture.

This year, chefs in the Royal kitchens have shared their recipe for a traditional Christmas pudding.

We hope that some of you enjoy making it in your own homes. pic.twitter.com/BNepTPJD6a

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) November 22, 2020

On the Sunday a month before Christmas, cooks all around the UK break out their mixing bowls and—you guessed it—stir up their pudding ingredients before steaming and storing their puddings until Christmas Day. Be warned, this one is HEAVY on the booze (not that we’re complaining)!

How to Make the Royal Family’s Christmas Pudding

This recipe might take a while, but it’s pretty simple. You will, however, need a kitchen scale as the ingredients are measured in grams. (Here are 10 must-try holiday food traditions from around the world.)

This recipe yields two 1-kilogram puddings, which is about 2 pounds apiece.

Ingredients

• 250g raisins
• 250g currants
• 185g sultanas
• 150g mixed peel (tangerine)
• 250g suet or vegetarian suet
• 250g bread crumbs
• 90g flour
• 12g mixed spice
• 2 whole eggs
• 180g demerara sugar
• 275ml beer
• 40ml dark rum
• 40ml brandy

Editor’s Note: Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef and mutton. If you can’t find it, use a vegetarian substitute or swap it out for grated vegetable shortening like Crisco.

Directions

Step 1: Prep your kitchen

Line up all your ingredients. Then, grab your kitchen scale, a large mixing bowl, two pudding basins (or large heat-safe bowls with wide bottoms and deep sides) and a saucepan deep enough to hold the basins.

Step 2: Combine the dry ingredients

Add the raisins, currants, sultanas, mixed peel, suet, bread crumbs, flour, mixed spice and demerara sugar to your mixing bowl and stir together.

Step 3: Add the wet ingredients

Add the eggs, beer, dark rum and brandy to the mix, then stir it all in. Make sure everything is evenly combined.

For a true Christmas experience, have the family stir together a few times and let each member make a wish!

Step 4: Put the mixture in the basin(s)

Grease up your pudding basins and gently pat the cake mixture into them until they’re nearly full (remember to leave space for expansion). Cover the top with a circle of parchment paper, trimming off any excess. (Check out the 20 secret cake baking tips we learned from Grandma.)

Step 5: Steam

Cover the basins with muslin cloth or foil and place them in the deep saucepan. Fill the water up to to 3/4 of the pudding basins’ height, then cover the top of the saucepan with foil. Steam for 6 hours, refilling the water as needed.

Step 6: Store

Allow the puddings to cool, then wrap securely and store them in a cool, dry place until Christmas Day.

Next, learn about the other Royal Family holiday traditions you’ll want to steal.

A few years ago, at a medical laboratory clinic in Waterloo, Ont., an elderly woman sat on the edge of a waiting room chair belting out the Celine Dion tune “My Heart Will Go On.” Other than a slight rhythmic rocking of her torso to the Titanic theme song, she was motionless, with her eyes shut and her arms crossed elegantly over her chest. With little effort, she was able to send her sweet, high-pitched voice exploding into every corner of the clinic.

I had fun watching how people reacted. There was a lot of shifting in seats and a couple of stony sideways stares, but mainly they awkwardly averted their eyes and tried to pretend that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. Business as usual. This sort of thing happens all the time.

I was at the clinic with my father, who was getting a routine blood test, when the woman first arrived. She settled into the seat directly across from my dad. Because she was so tiny, she was forced to perch on the edge of the chair so her feet could touch the floor. The position made it seem as though she was sitting forward to engage in conversation with him. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

I was concerned about how my dad would react to the possible encroachment on his space. He was 77 years old at the time and had been living with Alzheimer’s for several years. He came into adulthood in the Swinging ’60s, but he was definitely a product of the ’50s. He was a brilliant, introverted, card-carrying Catholic military man who was suckled and plumped on guilt, obligation and humility. When he was healthy, he tolerated people’s eccentricities dutifully but with a healthy dose of silent reproach. Privacy and personal space were definitely his thing, and he considered it wholly bad mannered to bring undo attention to oneself. Since Alzheimer’s has a tendency to play havoc with a person’s patience and erode restraint, Dad had experienced a few challenging encounters in the past. I couldn’t help but think that this melodic little woman was playing with fire.

Opening Note

Her singing began gently, like a quiet hum. I glanced over at Dad to see his response. His smile was gone, and he was staring right at her. She was staring back. I couldn’t read his expression initially, but it seemed to be something like confusion. This wasn’t an unusual state for him, and I wondered if he was actually seeing her at all or if he was lost somewhere deep in his mind, not really aware of her presence at that point. Or maybe he was trying to establish whether this was someone he should know.

Dad had never been one to partake comfortably in unnecessary conversation. Traditionally, he would relinquish that task to my mother, who took over the responsibility with her own brand of enthusiastic relish while he sat contentedly on the outskirts as a silent but engaged participant. If we had been more astute, we probably would have recognized his declining condition earlier. We would have noticed that, on the odd occasions when he was drawn into a conversation, he’d become increasingly reliant on her to finish his thoughts or answer questions directed to him. Without missing a beat, she would fill in all the blanks whenever he paused, and our attention was shifted away from him.

It also took us some time to realize that he had begun to abandon any effort to nod politely or insert an obliging smile in appropriate places. We just thought he was getting a little cranky in his old age.

That’s what was happening now: no more smile, no amiable nod, no acknowledgment of any kind. Just a stare. This didn’t deter the diminutive songstress one bit, and her singing slowly got louder. By the time she got to the chorus, “Near, far, wherever you are…” it was full-tilt belting. She was in a meditative, eyes-shut, torso-rocking, inner-diva-embracing trance.

Now Dad looked a little stunned.

I tried not to laugh. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate this woman. In fact, I kind of loved her. I wanted to be her friend. But the thought of my tightly wound, somewhat prudish dad being serenaded in a packed medical lab by this itty-bitty Celine Dion was just too delicious. Still, I watched cautiously, waiting for any sign of an impending irritated outburst and was considering my options on how best to intervene.

Instead, he was starting to look entertained. His face softened, and the tension eased in his brow. He no longer looked confused.

Encore

People will tell you that Alzheimer’s is a thief, that it steals your loved ones, slowly, day by day. There is, without a doubt, so much heartbreaking truth in that statement. The loss is painful and unrelenting. But during certain experiences with my dad, things have happened that allowed me to see a side of him that I never knew existed. I will hold onto those quiet moments when, unsolicited and for the first time ever, he held my gaze and told me tender stories about when he was a child or regaled me with tales of his time in the air force, as if he knew that he didn’t have much time left to show me who he really was. In a quiet and unexpected way, that’s also what happened for me that day in the clinic. Alzheimer’s sometimes seemed to be peeling back the onion of my dad’s true self, and while I hate that he struggled with this disease, I love the sweet man I’ve met.

When her song ended and the waiting room became silent, the woman opened her eyes. My dad was still looking directly at her.

“That was beautiful,” he said.

And she smiled and said, “Thank you.”

© 2019, Deborah Stock. From “The Odd Encounter that Pulled Dad Out of his Alzheimer’s Fog,” The Globe and Mail (October 22, 2019), theglobeandmail.com

Next, find out 12 myths about Alzheimer’s you need to stop believing.