New Year’s Eve quickly is approaching. And if you plan to ring in 2016 at home with a casual get-together, there are several ways to create tasty appetizers and dazzling cocktails.

We went to a couple of local party gurus, as well as a best-selling cookbook author, for ideas, tips and recipes.

Michelle Talarico, co-owner of the Picnic Basket catering company, started with thoughts about cheese presentations.

“If you own a classic wooden cutting board, turn it into an elegant cheese board,” she said. “Any major store has amazing cheeses. Choose a variety and add grapes, some dried fruit and some candied nuts.”

A good place to shop for cheese is the King Soopers on West Uintah Street. That grocery store includes a “mini shop” of the famous New York-based Murray’s cheese store. Forbes.com has called Murray’s “the world’s best cheese shop.” Find a variety of styles, such as cheddar, goat cheese, blue cheese and a round of brie.

Another way to make any party better is simply by adding bacon. Try serving bacon-wrapped dried apricots, Talarico said, or bacon-wrapped fresh pineapple drizzled with Sriracha honey.

Or check out David Venable’s Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese-Stuffed Dates. Venable is the host of QVC’s cooking and dining show “In the Kitchen with David” and is the author of several of the QVC best-selling cookbooks.

“This three-ingredient recipe yields restaurant-quality results and will have your guests talking,” he wrote in the recipe notes. “I always use brown-sugar cured bacon to enhance the sweetness of the dates.”

The recipe outlines the procedure for preparing stuffed dried fruit, such as Talarico’s apricot or pineapple suggestions.

Puff pastry-wrapped brie is one of Talarico’s favorite snacks to make ahead of time: “We take a sheet of puff pastry (found in the freezer section of the grocery store), place a small brie in the center of the sheet of puff pastry, drizzle with store-bought cranberry sauce and zest of orange, and bake at 350 degrees until the pastry is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.”

Or, if you’d rather buy them, Trader Joe’s carries a very good brie in puffed pastry in the freezer area.

Micaela Hightower, owner of Soiree Events & Celebrations, recommends a couple of things to keep you out of the kitchen on New Year’s Eve.

“When building a menu for your event, try to come up with ‘bites’ that can be served at room temperature, rather than ‘dishes,'” she said. “Don’t focus on trays, but smaller bowls or plates with different bites that give guests something interesting to select from.”

Venable’s Spinach-Feta Cups and Old-Fashioned Cheese Straws would be good recipes to include with Hightower’s serving suggestion.

“These bite-size cups and cheese snacks aren’t too heavy or too light,” he says in the recipe note. “They’re just enough to satisfy hearty appetites and absorb alcohol.”

When it comes to alcohol, Hightower recommends making batch cocktails.

“If you are serving a signature cocktail,” she said, “try to make it in a batch style rather than one at a time. You may not want to be the constant bartender any more than you want to be the chef-server staff during your party.”

She is also a fan of setting up a themed bar with directions on how to combine ingredients for a flavorful drink. Most are familiar with the popular bloody mary bars many restaurants feature. But for a New Year’s Eve gathering, consider a build-your-own champagne cocktail bar. Or try making Venable’s stunning Strawberry Sorbet Champagne Float. Strawberries are simmered until soft, cooled and blended until smooth, then poured into ice cube trays and frozen. The frozen cubes are pureed in a blender and scooped into flutes partially filled with Champagne. It’s a refreshing drink that doubles as a dessert.

“Before clinking glasses, I invite you to take a few liberties in the kitchen,” Venable notes on the recipe. “Experiment with different fruits or juice flavors.”

Here’s to a tasty farewell to 2015.