Holiday Drinks and Card Games
The holidays are a great time for card games and even in 2020 you can have fun with the people in your bubble sitting around a table and playing cards. Including drinks can make your games night even more festive. We’ve put together this list of holiday-themed party drink suggestions – enjoy!
If anyone was wondering, here’s what Santa Claus is drinking this holiday season…
The Candy Cane Shooter
The candy cane shooter can be made in several different ways if you have a specific preference of drinks that go together well, though in most cases it only takes three simple ingredients. Usually, these are peppermint schnapps, cream liqueur and grenadine syrup – which is sweetened, flavoured pomegranate juice just in case you didn’t know. Some people add, or substitute, vanilla-flavoured vodka, and some people have a traditional recipe for these that look nothing like the above.
If you’ve got a little bit more time, make your own candy shot glasses – or just coat the rim of the glass in sugar by wetting the rim and rolling it in sugar.
You can also make candy-cane infused vodka just by chilling some vodka over your choice of traditional holiday candy.
The Christmas Katemba
The Katemba is a drink known by different names depending on which part of the world you are. In Chile, it’s known as as a jote(which translates to black vulture), but in South Africa, Mozambique and Portugal you’ll often run into this drink as a Katemba – and it’s a mixture of equal parts red wine and Coca-Cola. Okay, so it might sound terrible until you’ve tried it – but it’s a great holiday idea even if just for when you’re almost out of one or the other.
Hot Buttered Rum
Hot buttered rum is likely the closest you’re going to get to the mythical butter beer, and it’s a traditionally brewed drink that involves a mix of several ingredients steeped for a few minutes at a low heat. (That’s the hot component of the drink, of course.)
The ingredients for hot buttered rum can vary from recipe to recipe. It starts with melting butter, then (slowly) blending in sugar and icing sugar. To this, you add a mixture of boiling water and rum. Some will add a little bit of lemon juice to this as a variation.
Winter can be an endless, freezing drag. Luckily, nothing helps melt through seasonal malaise like a cocktail classic: hot buttered rum. Here’s a great recipe from The Wine Enthusiast ->
Mrs. Santa’s Hot Chocolate
There’s no reason why the Christmas chocolate drink you serve can’t have some kick to it. The alcohol-containing hot chocolate is made in much the same way as you’d make a boozed-up coffee: You make the drink, you add alcohol, you finish it off with some fancy chocolate sprinkles and cream – and then, of course, you drink it.
Which alcohol you can add to the drink is entirely up to you – and it can be anything from schnapps to Bailey’s Irish Cream, rum, red wine, Kahlua. Click here for a list of 13 spiked Hot Chocolate recipes.
Eggnog
No Christmas drink list is complete without the addition of eggnog, and making it is far easier than you might think. Most people have a traditional recipe, but other than the added alcohol (which is usually brandy or whiskey – with our without the e!), you’re only really looking at four basic ingredients for your most basic eggnog recipe – eggs, sugar, milk and cream (not whipped, but fresh!). Add the yolks first, and then the egg whites only once you’ve added everything else. Click here for a full recipe
Need more supplies for your card-themed get together? Be sure to check out our awesome selection here.
Happy Holidays!
