15 IDEAS TO GLAM UP YOUR NYE COCKTAIL

What are your plans for New Years Eve? Are you hosting a get-together? Well my good friend Renee Dinsmore (who puts Martha Stewert to shame with her party planning, hosting, and crafting skills) is sharing FIFTEEN easy, last-minute ways to glam up your cocktail.

Yes, you have hit the NYE DIY  jackpot! :)

Upcycle Christmas into NYE - Make a tinsel drink pick

Cut a small section (2-3”) of tinsel. Use a hot glue gun to wrap and stick on top of a cocktail pick. (Note: If you don’t have a cocktail pick, grab some wooden skewers in the charcoal/grilling section of the grocery store). You can custom cut the picks to the perfect size for your glassware.

Decorate with leftover curling ribbon or tie a wire bow around the flute stem

Turn wrapping paper into a flute flag

Take a 1”x1” section of wrapping paper. Fold in half of the top of a long toothpick and glue the ends together with a gluestick.

Leftovers from the Christmas fruit display? Skewer the fruit, freeze, and pull them out right before you pour your NYE champagne.

Convert Christmas letters printed on pretty paper or premium wrapping paper into NYE-themed paper fortune cookies like these, inspired by Unsophisticook 

Add A Splash of Fun Flavor - Top with raspberry, orange, or almond liqueur

Pour chilled champagne into a flute, and then top with a ½ oz of liqueur of choice. It is best if the liqueur is chilled too. Keep it in the freezer or the iced-filled beverage tub. (Chambord is my favorite raspberry liqueur, Grand Marnier or Cointreau are great orange liquers, and any amaretto counts as almond liqueur.)

Aromatic Bubbly 

Place peeled, shaved ginger root and a sprig of rosemary in a champagne flute. Top with chilled peach bubbly. Barefoot Peach Fusion is delish and $8.99/bottle.This beverage was my husband’s favorite, and he is a straight single-malt scotch man.

Decorate Your Glass (Better Yet…Let Your Guests Do It!)

Use washable wine glass writers to decorate your flutes. I bought mine at Paper Source and Crate & Barrel. Sharpie’s water-based gold and silver markers for windows would work too. I saw those at Michael’s. 

Rim the flute with decorative gold or silver sugar. So sparkly! 

Let your guests make DIY-on-the-fly pipe cleaner drink charms 

Concoct A Simple Champagne Cocktail

Pineapple Upside Down Fizz

1/2 oz vanilla vodka + 1 oz pineapple juice. Top with bubbly (Andre’s $4.99 Brut is the absolute best for this drink.)

Chocolate Bliss Champagne 

Pour 1/2 oz chilled chocolate vodka and top with cold champagne. Note: dairy-based vodka makes this an ugly, not-so-great drink.Add a strawberry or balance a skewered, sugared donut hole over the flute. I cannot stress this enough. This drink is A-friggin-WESOME!

Fruit Sorbet Champagne

Place 2-3 Tbsp of the sorbet flavor of your choice in the flute. Top with champagne; allow the sorbet to melt for optimum flavor.

Champagne Jell-o Shots 

Nostalgia Alert: This is a modified Jell-o Jiggler Recipe.Boil 1 cup of champagne along with 1 ½ cup of water. Add peach, raspberry, or strawberry jell-o mix and stir for 3 minutes. SKIP THE COLD WATER STEP.Pour the jell-o into a brownie pan (8x8 or 9x9).Chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. Before cutting into squares, run some warm water under the pan. Cut into squares and top with gold or silver sugar sprinkles.

Go tropical

Fill the glass 2/3 full with champagne, and then top with orange-banana-pineapple juice, preferably the V-8 Fruit Fusion or Simply Orange. Garnish with an orange wedge/maraschino cherry flag.

Wow! See I told you this was the NYE gold mine!! And aren't her photos devine? Thanks so much for guest posting Renee!

I think I need to go pour myself a cocktail now :)

CHEERS!!

xoxo

Audrey