Let’s get into the holiday spirits! I have a soft spot in my heart for a festive bar cart, and setting mine for the holiday season is favorite pastime.  A few tips to bring your bar up to Santa’s standards: 1) Bring in the decorations. I like to add garlands, bottle brush trees, and some seasonal greenery to my display so that it looks holiday-ready! 2) Add in some cocktail flair. Put some themed stirrers or paper straws, tie ribbons around the base of stemmed glassware, and put out a pretty bottle opener. 3) Go big with your garnishes. I love to use fresh rosemary sprigs, fragrant citrus slices, sugar cubes, and candied cranberries this time of year to really make the cocktails feel special! 4) Pick a signature drink. I’ve got a few of my favorite crowd-pleasing winter cocktail recipes below to get you started on your holiday sprits menu – cheers!

The Merry Cranberry Sparkling Cocktail

Holly Jolly Gin Punch

Blackberry Cardamom Mule

Ginger Pear Punch

Holiday Sangria

Apple Ginger Bourbon Punch

PS: You might notice some new widgets on my site — I’m excited to be one of Google’s paid early testers for their Thank with Google pilot program! Thank with Google is a new experimental feature I get to test on my site that allows my followers to purchase a virtual sticker that shows appreciation for the content on my website! Love a recipe or a tip you read here? Test it out and let me know what you think! You can find the Thank with Google feature on my sidebar and at the end of all of my blog posts. Thanks as always for all of your support!

Images by Jessica K Feiden