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A festive tipple for Christmas? We've got you covered.
These festive cocktails are a must make for the Christmas and New Year period.
Christmas cocktails are a sure fire way to get everyone into the festive spirit. Christmas drinks are the perfect excuse to get out the cocktail shaker, and serve canapes to friends and family but in a less formal manner than a dinner party.
We have plenty of Christmas cocktail recipes from classics to Christmas gin cocktails and even recommendations on where to buy the best pre-mixed cocktails.
First of all, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the snowball – an acquired taste maybe, but if mixed well, this drink which uses Advocaat, is a wonderfully refreshing long festive drink. Serve with a glace cherry of course.
Christmas gin cocktail fans will love our pomegranate gin fizz – it’s so simple to make and includes gin, pomegranate juice and prosecco.
Prosecco based Christmas cocktails are some of the easiest to make – a spiced orange fizz is like a Buck’s Fizz but infuse the juice with spices such as cinnamon, star anise and cloves then top with prosecco.
Christmas cocktails can also make a thoughtful homemade Christmas gifts. You can make your own espresso martini liqueur or even a gingerbread cream liqueur and, presented in a pretty bottle, will make a wonderful stocking filler.
If you would prefer to take the easy entertaining route then the Good Housekeeping Institute has tested and reviewed the 12 best bottled Christmas cocktails that can be purchased from the supermarket including the best non-alcoholic spirits or the best alcohol-free beer. Cheers.
Rosemary & Cranberry Fizz
Is there anything more Christmassy than a cranberry drink over Christmas? This fizz is also flavoured with fragrant rosemary.
Recipe: Rosemary & Cranberry Fizz
Spicy Jalapeño and Rosé Spritz
We love the spicy sweet flavours in this spritz cocktail - the perfect warming drink in winter.
Recipe: Spicy Jalapeño and Rosé Spritz
Sidecar
A classic 1920s sour cocktail, and potent at that. Originally made with equal volumes of the 3 components, typically now the drink has a lower ratio of triple sec and lemon juice. You can also add a splash of sugar syrup or Angostura bitters to temper the sour, if you like.
Recipe: Sidecar
Mulled Pomegranate Gin Punch
A fruity alternative to mulled wine. Pomegranate juices vary a lot in sweetness, look for one that is just labelled as ‘Pomegranate Juice’ rather than ‘Pomegranate Juice Drink’, which will contain extra sugar.
Recipe: Mulled Pomegranate Gin Punch
Cherry Bakewell Amaretto Sour
A sour is a very short, tartly flavoured drink, and this one is inspired by a classic British pudding.
Recipe: Cherry Bakewell Amaretto Sour
Poinsettia Cocktail
This elegant and festively flavoured tipple is as easy to make as it is to drink.
Recipe: Poinsettia Cocktail
Vanilla white Russian
Needing only three ingredients, this is the perfect post-dinner drink and has a lovely sweet coffee taste which you sip through the whipped squirty cream.
Recipe: Vanilla white Russian
Bramble
Pretty as a picture, this cocktail requires blackberry liqueur, such as Crème de Mûre, but you can use Cassis (blackcurrant) or Chambord (black raspberry) instead.
Recipe: Bramble
Kaffe Karlson
This Scandi version of an Irish coffee is rich, sweet and the perfect way to end a meal.
Recipe: Kaffe Karlson
Pomegranate and Rose Spritzer
This stunning mocktail with herbal notes tastes as good as it looks. For a boozy hit, you can add 25ml gin per cocktail.
Recipe: Pomegranate and Rose Spritzer
Sake-tini
Also known as a Sake Martini, dry sake takes the place of vermouth in this short but potent cocktail. For the perfect serve, chill your glasses for at least 30min before serving.
Recipe: Sake-tini
Spiced Apple Ginger
Also lovely as a mocktail, just leave out the vodka and make sure your ginger beer is booze-free too. The dipped crunchy rims make these extra special
Recipe: Spiced Apple Ginger
Italicus Spritz
This rosolio, or lighter Italian liqueur, is flavoured (amongst other things) with bergamot, chamomile, aromatic herbs and rose petals. It has a balance of honeyed sweetness with bitterness, a great new one to try in a spritz.
Recipe: Italicus Spritz
Champagne Cocktail
The classic Champagne cocktail has Grand Marnier and grenadine added, for a festive twist.
Recipe: Champagne Cocktail
Negroni fizz
Mix on-trend Negroni with seasonal blood orange juice for a bitter-sweet take on the classic Buck’s Fizz. Make sure everything is well chilled .
Recipe: Negroni fizz
Winter Spiced Negroni
A wonderful Christmas cocktail to celebrate the season with! Try our spiced twist on a negroni.
Recipe: Winter Spiced Negroni
Mulled Cider Recipe
One for a cosy winter night. This traditional Mulled cider cocktail recipe is sure to get you in the Christmas spirit.
Recipe: Mulled cider
Northern Lights Cocktail
Watch magic happen before your eyes as this tequila-based cocktail changes colour.
Recipe: Northern Lights Cocktail
Hot buttered rum
Try our rich and warminghot buttered rum Christmas cocktail. Butter, lemon and sugar are heated together and then finished off with a glug of rum. Delicious!
Recipe: Hot buttered rum
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
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