More Cocktail Garnishes for Thanksgiving Entertaining

We would have to agree with BuzzFeed - when it comes to Thanksgiving, it is much easier to pre-batch cocktails that can be served to all of your guests. Although we are strong believers in Big-Batching in order to decrease preparation and kitchen chaos, we still think when it comes to garnishing, you can still impress your guests with your attention to detail- which will add to your Thanksgiving decoration, festive holiday experience, and of course, elevate your cocktails!

Here are some of our favorite Thanksgiving cocktails and how to garnish them:

Apple Brandy Hot Toddies: We cannot get enough of hot toddies or apples! We recommend garnishing these with one apple slice, one orange twist and one cinnamon stick each. Serve in a clear mug so that the warm autumn orange flavor can add to your tablescape.

Food and Wine Magazine introduced us to a Punch Parker - punch made with gin, champagne and strawberry liqueur. Garnished with lemons, raspberries, oranges and pineapple. Also topped with one large ice cube. This punch is easy to serve in a Punch bowl with a ladle into small rocks glasses. You can purchase a reasonable punch bowl from Bed, Bath and Beyond here.

Cooking Channel TV recommends using cranberry and ginger in your Thanksgiving cocktails as they will perfectly complement the flavors in your Thanksgiving meal. Their Ginger Cranberry cocktail can be made with their gin or vodka, depending on your preference. Cooking Channel provides instructions on how to make your own Ginger syrup and recommends garnishing the cocktail with frozen cranberries and shavings of fresh ginger.

Warm Things Up with Cinnamon!

As the air gets crisper, cocktails tend to heat up. In the late fall and winter months an Irish coffee, hot toddy or spiked cider tends to sound more appealing than a frozen daiquiri or martini on the rocks. Cinnamon is perhaps the best garnish to have on hand when aiming to dress up a warm beverage.

Flavor-wise cinnamon blends seamlessly with all the flavors we associate with the season whether it be apple or eggnog. Another thing that we love about cold-weather cocktails is that the absence of ice gives you more room to play with garnish.

Powdered cinnamon can dress up the whipped cream on an Irish coffee or a hot chocolate and whiskey. (See more Irish Coffee recipes from Bailey's here!)

Cinnamon sticks can be used as stirrers in any hot toddy or warm rum punch. (Click here for Warm Rum punch recipe instructions). 

 Try rimming a martini glass in cinnamon or a cinnamon sugar mix like this gingerbread cosmopolitan

Sweet on Honey: In the Cocktail and As the Garnish.

Honey is a popular ingredient in many Autumn cocktails. It is a great substitute to simple syrup and can  round out the flavor in sweet or tart cocktails. Honey is popularly paired with lemon and ginger in cocktails and can be a great addition to a bourbon or scotch cocktail or even a gin or vodka cocktail. Aside from being a trendy cocktail ingredient, honeycombs have become a decorative and exciting way to garnish these honey-flavored cocktails.

Here are some ways to garnish your honey-based cocktails:

1. Honeycomb stirrer as garnish with mint leaves. Buy stirrer here. 

2. Wedge of Honeycomb on cocktail pick for garnish. Instructions provided by FoodonFifth. 

3. Place piece of honeycomb in cocktail for garnish with additional mint leaves. Autumn honey cocktail recipe by Drink of the Week!

Candy Corn Takes the Cake: Best Halloween Cocktail Garnish!

There are definitely several different ingredients you can use to create an awesome Halloween cocktail garnishes, but candy corn gets our vote for best cocktail garnish for the Halloween entertaining season. The bite size candies scream Halloween and can be used not only as garnishes, but also as the main ingredients for yummy cocktails that will WOW your guests.

Here are some of our favorite candy corn cocktail garnish ideas:

1. Keep it simple. Using a straw or a cocktail pick, poke a whole through the center of the candy corn and line the top of the cocktail. Alternate up and down every other candy corn. Guests can eat the candy while enjoying their cocktail.

Photo Credit: Sugar and Plumm: LINK to photo)

2.  Candy Corn Spider- using twizzlers and lemon slice and two candy corn, add a candy corn spider to garnish your martini of choice. More instructions from Omni Hotel on their Red Widow cocktail

3.  Pineapple Devil Head candy corn garnish- get a pineapple slice and insert one candy corn into each side with a small toothpick. More instructions here.