Hosting A Christmas Cocktail Party!!

A little premature, but the press are always thinking ahead and Waitrose Magazine asked me to do a little piece on Christmas cocktail parties, so here it is.

The Christmas cocktail party brings to mind images of log fires, mistletoe, gently steaming drinks and fathers embarrassing their children with their “dancing”. It is a time of year for friends and family, and so if you are organising a cocktail party, you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen slaving away trying to make the drinks. So here are some tips to get all the hard work out of the way in advance so you can still let your hair down.

The first thing you need to do is decide what drinks you are going to serve to your guests. I have included five recipes, four of which use the same homemade ingredient, spiced caramel syrup, details of which can be seen below.

Work out the number of people coming, and, and then work on 2 or 3 cocktails per person. Christmas cocktails are great to get the festive party started, but they are all a little sweet to drink all night, and your guests will probably want to move on to something else after a couple.
Write out a shopping list of all the ingredients you need. Consider buying some beers and wine as well, but not too much as your guests will certainly bring something.

Serving cocktails can be time-consuming, and assuming you want to talk to your guests, there are some little pointers to help you get those drinks served fast.

Serve everybody the same drink at the same time. If you are going to serve a few different cocktails, serving 10 of the same drink is much quicker than 3 each of 3 different drinks. No one is going to say anything, as you have gone to the effort of making cocktails, and it’s Christmas!
Make sure you have enough glasses or cups to serve everything in. You don’t want to have to start washing 10 glasses when people are waiting for their drinks.

Decide which drinks you are going to serve in which cups/glasses in advance. So maybe serve hot drinks in a mug or cup it has a handle so no-one burns their hand. Wine glasses are good for eggnog. It always looks nice to serve the same cocktail in the same glass. If you don’t have loads of glasses, you might want to consider hiring some. Majestic offer a free glass hire service.

For the eggnog recipe below. Make it up in advance and keep it in the fridge. Then all you need to do is ladle it out.

For the mulled wine and cider recipes, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and put the lid on, and then heat when your guests arrive.

Homemade Spiced Caramel Syrup

300g sugar
600ml water and
3 split vanilla pods
2 short cinnamon sticks
6 cloves

Place all the above in a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25-30mins until golden brown. Strain and pour into a 700ml bottle and top up with water. This should be more than enough for any party you are doing

Mulled Wine (serves 5)

100ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
100g Blackcurrants, crushed
1/2 orange, sliced
1 bottle Shiraz/Syrah

Put all ingredients in a pan and place on a gentle heat until simmering. Strain into a jug, and serve immediately with fresh grated nutmeg over the top. Garnish with an orange wheel. If you can’t find fresh blackcurrants, frozen is fine, or use frozen mixed fruits of the forest.

Hot Berry Cider (serves 6)

1 litre Cider
50ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
3 tbs (Ocean Spray or Waitrose) Cranberry Sauce
2 handfuls fresh raspberries
150ml Calvados or Somerset Cider Brandy
1 Lemon, sliced

Put all ingredients in a pan and place on a gentle heat until simmering. Strain into a jug, and serve immediately. Garnish with a cranberry and a raspberry.

Hot Toddy (serves 6)

300ml Blended Scotch Whisky
60ml Honey
60ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
120ml Lemon Juice

Have this pre-mixed. Then pour into 6 rocks glasses and add hot water. Served with a lemon slice and some a dash of grated nutmeg

Place a sugar cube in a champagne flute, and add a couple of dashes of angostura bitters. Just cover the cube with cognac. Then fill the glass with Champagne.

Eggnog (serves 6)




















200ml Milk
100ml Double Cream
200ml Spirit
100ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
4 Eggs

Place all the ingredients in a pan and whisk. Turn on the heat to low, and continue whisking until the mixture starts to thicken slightly, and will cover the back of a spoon. Take off the heat, let cool, and then place in the fridge to chill.
The spirit choice is a personal one. Scotch, Bourbon, Rum or Cognac are all suitable, so maybe use what you already have. Serve with a dusting of cocoa powder or grated nutmeg or both.