A Holly Jolly Guide to Christmas Drinks

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and what better way to do that than putting a Christmas twist on some of your favorite drinks! Try these tips, recipes, and tricks this holiday season to up your drink mixing game.

Gather Unique Ingredients

If you’re planning on experimenting with some new holiday cocktail recipe ideas, you’ll need a wide array of different ingredients on hand. Before getting started, check your pantry, make a grocery list, then take a quick trip to the store to shop, and stock up what you think you’ll need as well as whatever sparks an idea. Don’t forget the basics like sparkling water, champagne, wine, tea or hot chocolate mix, and a few of your favorite liquors. Take a stroll down the Christmas candy aisle while you’re there to get some new ideas for flavors.

Be sure to include some fruit juices and fresh fruits in your shopping list for Christmas cocktails and garnishes. Fruits and juices like:

Oranges and orange juice
Cranberries and cranberry juice
Pomegranates and pomegranate juice

However, the most unpredictable part of the mixing process in creating Christmas drinks is deciding how the liquors taste together. Maybe you bought rum, but after tasting the drink, realize whisky would be a better fit. Unlike fruits and garnishes, you don’t want to buy every liquor on the shelves while you’re out. If this happens to you, you can always get traditional or flavored liquor delivered like peppermint schnapps, Bailey’s Irish Cream, or orange vodka and have it dropped off right to you! This can save you time at the store, help you avoid some not-so-pleasant weather, or save you a trip altogether when you realize you need something a little stronger.

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Experiment with Festive Flavors

The holiday season is the perfect time to add some spice and flair to your usual drinks. With this time of year comes a variety of flavors that scream Christmas. Try creating drinks centered around your favorite Christmas flavors. Here’s a list of a few to get your brain turning:

Gingerbread
Candy cane
Sugar cookie
Orange
Cranberry

There are lots of ways to incorporate these flavors to make perfect Christmas drinks. Play around with Christmas-inspired syrups, flavored liqueurs, or even mixing in the spices and candies yourself. One classic concoction to start with is a Poinsettia Cocktail. This fun and light drink inspired by Christmas’ most festive flower combines cranberry juice, orange zest, and vodka for the perfect wintry mix.

Be Artistic with Your Glasses

Presentation is part of the fun when designing new Christmas drinks. However, dipping your glasses and adding garnishes do more than make your drinks look tempting. They add texture and delightful flavor contrasts to your holiday drinks. During the Christmas season, get creative with your rims and garnishes by incorporating holiday candies and fruits.

You can dip your rims in crushed candy canes, sprinkles, brown sugar, sugar crystals, or even cookie crumbs. Traditionally, barkeepers use water to make the salt stick to the rims. However, that doesn’t mean you’re limited to water. Try experimenting with chocolate sauce, caramel, or marshmallow creme. Finally, incorporate more Christmas garnishes like setting a candy cane or a rock candy swizzle sugar stick (pictured above) in your glass, using pine sprigs instead of rosemary, or sticking sugared cranberries on a toothpick. Here are a few of our favorite ways to decorate different types of holiday drinks:

Caramel and salt on the rim of an Irish coffee
Brown sugar on the rim of a gingerbread martini
Chocolate sauce and crushed candy canes on the rim of a White Russian
A stick of rock candy to stir any champagne cocktail

Creatively Name Your Christmas Drinks

If you’re planning to experiment with flavors and glass decorations to create your own signature drinks, be sure to brainstorm names that are as creative and festive as the drink itself. You can draw on your favorite Christmas movies, classic Christmas novels, or even Santa’s reindeer for inspiration. For example, you could add some green food coloring to a cranberry lime spritzer and name it “The Grinch.”

Try Some Warm and Cozy Christmas Drinks

There’s no better time than Christmas to cuddle up in front of the fireplace with your family and sip on a hot beverage. However, few people venture outside of the traditional hot chocolate, tea, or coffee options. This holiday season, add a little spice to your life by trying some beloved alcoholic versions of the family favorites.

There’s an abundance of options when it comes to mixing hot drinks and liquors. You can add Baileys Irish Cream to coffee for an Irish coffee, vodka for a Russian coffee, Peppermint Schnapps, and some chocolate sauce for a spiked peppermint mocha. When it comes to hot chocolate, try mixing in some spiced rum for a holiday flavor profile, whisky for an intense and rich experience, or Kahlúa for a burst of energy. For a classy favorite, add a splash of red wine to dark hot chocolate for a relaxing drink at the end of a long day.

To make your drink prep even easier, hop on board the hot chocolate bomb trend that’s all over social media this year. Put an alcoholic twist on the trend by making your hot chocolate bombs with the good stuff at the center.

Remember That Everyone Loves the Classics

As much fun as experimenting with new and exciting cocktails is, be sure and make a few traditional drinks this Christmas as well. After all, they’re classics for a reason. There’s something beautiful about simplicity. Everyone loves a mimosa with Christmas Eve brunch, mulled wine for a girls’ night, and a hot toddy before bed. Get started by trying this classic hot buttered rum recipe. The spices make it the perfect drink to warm up with after a long day outside.

Don’t Neglect the Non-Alcoholic Christmas Drinks

Just because someone doesn’t drink doesn’t mean they want their options to be limited to hot chocolate, coffee, or orange juice. Approach making fancy hot drinks like the best gourmet coffee shop you can think of. Froth the milk, use quality chocolate and coffees, have flavored syrup and extract options on hand, and be generous with the caramel or chocolate drizzles.

Give holiday mocktails the same amount of attention as their alcoholic counterparts. Try using sparkling white grape juice instead of champagne and Christmas-themed syrups or juices instead of flavored liqueurs. Try this simple and refreshing non-alcoholic mimosa recipe. Your loved ones who don’t drink will be grateful you made a special drink just for them.

Gift Virtual Christmas Drink Kits

Shopping for Christmas gifts can be one of the best and hardest parts of the season. That’s because some people are easy to buy for, while others may be a real challenge. Plus, it can take up most of your time that can be spent doing other holiday festivities. This year also makes things trickier because not everyone can go home for Christmas. Try gifting virtual drink kits to your loved ones you won’t be seeing this year. If you’re already experimenting with festive drinks this year, why not share your creations with your friends and family?

Start by mixing and sampling a few different combinations. Once you’ve tasted and chosen which drinks would be best for each person, then stylize the drink and glass and snap some Instagram-worthy pictures. Next, choose creative names and design some recipe cards. Finally, save the recipe cards and email them along with a generous gift card so they can purchase all the ingredients needed to recreate your concoctions.

Host a Zoom Tasting Featuring Christmas Drinks

Because Christmas looks a little bit different this year, you’ll have to be more creative when it comes to celebrating with friends and family. This year get a group of your close friends together over a video call to make and taste creative holiday cocktail recipes.

Either collectively choose two or three fun drinks that you’ll all create together beforehand and ensure you all have the ingredients or consider just having a pile of random holiday ingredients on hand and experimenting on the spot. Either way, everyone will leave with lots of fun new recipes and hopefully a new favorite Christmas drink.

Get the eBook!

The recipes for these Christmas cocktails are in this free downable eBook! Just subscribe using either one of the boxes towards the top of this post or at the bottom of this post. Inside this printable eBook you will find:

the 3 Christmas drink recipes in this post
blank cocktail recipe cards to use for other cocktails you craft
Holly Jolly gift tags to use for your kits

Get the eBook so that you can create your own virtual Christmas drink kits for your family and friends!

The photos scattered throughout this post are pinnable, so feel free to save this post to Pinterest! Thanks a bunch!

Bar Tools and Supplies

Need help with your holiday shopping for the right items needed to make Christmas cocktail recipes? Here are links to products on Amazon (this post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.).

Cocktail Glasses || Champagne Glasses || Wine Glasses || Christmas Mugs || Rock Candy Sugar Swizzle Sticks || Candy Canes || Cinnamon Sticks || Bar Kits || Sugar Crystals || Sprinkles and Nonpareils || Hot Chocolate Mix || Cocktail Toothpicks || Drinking Straws || Stir Sticks

Hope you enjoyed this holly jolly guide to Christmas drinks! Make your holiday season more festive this year by adding a little creativity to your drinks, recipes, and meals!

Tootles,

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