Get ready for lychee martinis at SoHo House, and make sure you’ve seen the Paris Hilton sex tape.

Party season 2003 kicks off in earnest next week, and there’s no escaping the Xmas excess.

For some New Yorkers that means a full slate of outings every night – a punishing schedule promising to put last year to shame.

Out of style are Stella McCartney, Ugg boots and talk about the recession.

“There are more large-scale parties, which has not been as common over the past two holiday seasons,’ says Noah Tepperberg, one of the city’s best-known promoters.

“Budget cuts are less common. The big ones are back.”

Tepperberg has opted to open his own venue – a 600-capacity, as-yet-unnamed boite, located on 10th Avenue at 27th Street – ahead of schedule to cash in on this year’s demand.

Already there’s a slew of bookings from the likes of Maxim, Universal Music and AOL.

Other new hot spots, such as Celeste Fierro’s One Little West 12th Street in the Meatpacking District, are reporting heavy bookings for Christmas events – and they haven’t even finished putting the venue together yet.

“We have 14 parties booked in an 18-day span,” says Fierro, whose fashionable clients include Visionaire magazine.

The biggest night of all looks to be Thursday, Dec. 4, with a 1,000-head Playboy fete at the Armory and the opening of the season’s most talked about club, Crobar.

The key to surviving the season, says power publicist Lara Shriftman, is to approach it like a military campaign.

“You can easily be invited to anywhere between three and five parties a night, so you have to play what to go to in advance,” she says.

“Take some jewelry to work with you, a lipstick and some high heels because you need to be ready to go. And make sure you stick to one drink all night.”

Before you hit the circuit, here’s our list of the trends, fashions and people to watch for this year – and what’s so last year.

TALE OF THE TAPE

2002 What’s Hot 2003

Sushi, mini-burgers Food Anything Atkins-friendly: steak hache or sashimi

Appletini, Caipirinha, Mojito Cocktail Lychee martini

Gwyneth Paltrow, Stella McCartney Best Guests Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman

APT, Cielo Venue SoHo House New York, PM

The recession Talking point Paris Hilton sex tapes

Zac Posen Designer Tom Ford (now more than ever)

Ugg boots Shoes Hollywould

Cinnamon Altoids flavor in goody bag Tangerine

Blackberry Gadget Samsung V200 camera phone

2 Many DJs, The Flaming Lips, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” Soundtrack The Strokes’ “Room on Fire”