Festive holiday drinks
December is jam-packed with festivities from beginning to end. From Christmas to New Year’s, and including every office party and gift swap between, you are bound to be putting on your host hat at least once this holiday season.
While hosts of any holiday party take on the role of chef, entertainer and server, one role offers an extra dose of fun: bartender. As you step behind the drink cart this year, take a minute to consider all that it has to offer to a successful party.
Having a few specialty drinks mixed ahead will impress your guests and keep you free from playing that bartender role all evening. A large pitcher or punch
bowl makes a beautiful drink table centerpiece and encourages guests to help themselves.
Winter Spice Sangria showcases the best of winter’s fruits with orange, apples, pears and pomegranates soaked in a spiced red wine punch. Because sangria gets better the longer it sits, it is the perfect mix-ahead drink.
Aside from premixed drinks, having a choice or two of custom cocktails to offer guests adds a festive vibe while saving you the time and stress of remembering a long list of drink orders. Chocolate Peppermint Martinis, complete with a candy cane rim, are a cool and creamy treat that will get anyone in the holiday spirit. For guests who might be adverse to peppermint, keep some orange liqueur on hand to mix chocolate orange martinis.
The key to any successful party is having something to please everyone, even the littlest of guests. Holiday Italian Cream Sodas are a festive, fruity drink that lets kids create their own sodas, complete with a dreamy white swirl
for a candy cane look. Stock a variety of fruitflavored drink syrups, found in the coffee aisle of most grocery stores, and you can offer a wide variety of sodas without being left with a bunch of halfempty cases the next day.
Festive drinks find their place outside holiday parties, as well. Christmas brunch, following the mad dash of opening gifts, calls for more than just your everyday orange juice or coffee. Hot buttered rum apple cider is a warm treat that can be served plain (without rum) to those craving a spicy cider or with rum for those looking for a little more.
Finally, New Year’s Eve, the last hurrah in a season of holiday parties, needs something extraspecial to ring in the new year. Cranberry Champagne Cocktails are just the fizzy, fruity ticket. Sugared cranberries added to the glass add a little extra sparkle without a lot of hassle.
Whatever drink you decide to mix up, taking a minute beforehand to map out a drink game plan can save you some unnecessary stress on the night of your big bash, freeing you to chat with guests, make your way over to that cheese ball and, of course, pour yourself a drink of your own.