Cocktails, Creativity and a Little Bit of Foam
In the weeks leading up to my friend’s 40th birthday party, another friend and I took it upon ourselves to perfect the cocktail menu – purely in the interests of quality control, of course.
What followed was a very enjoyable afternoon of taste testing, experimenting with flavours and making small adjustments until we finally settled on two cocktails that couldn’t have been more different. 🍸
She perfected a wonderfully sharp and refreshing Tommy’s Margarita, while I went in the opposite direction with a sweeter French Martini. Between them, there seemed to be something for everyone.
One thing I was particularly keen to try was serving the cocktails from large drinks dispensers rather than spending the afternoon mixing individual drinks. I bought two 5-litre Kilner jars with stands from Amazon and they worked brilliantly. If you’re planning to use them for cocktails, I would definitely recommend removing the filter inside the tap. Fruit juices and cocktail ingredients don’t always flow as smoothly as water, and taking it out made serving much easier.
The real surprise success of the day was the handheld rechargeable foamer. My plan was to give each cocktail a quick whisk with ice before serving, refreshing the drink and recreating some of that freshly shaken texture. It worked far better than I expected. Combined with the foamer bitters — Ms. Better’s Miraculous Foamer Bitters, available on Amazon — each cocktail finished with a light, silky foam that made them feel a little more special than your average party punch.
Sometimes it’s the smallest details that make the biggest difference.
Of course, I couldn’t resist adding a few decorative touches too. The cocktail station became a feature in its own right, with rows of glasses prepared in advance and garnished with fresh raspberries, blackberries, dried edible petals and curls of lemon peel. Alongside them sat the margarita glasses, their salted rims ready and waiting for guests to help themselves.
The backdrop was something I’d actually made for previous celebrations. Using lengths of table-runner fabric and a gold tassel curtain from Temu, I tied everything onto a length of hessian rope to create a simple reusable party decoration. This was its third outing and it’s still going strong. In fact, as the afternoon sun caught the metallic tassels and the breeze picked up, it looked even better than I remembered. The gold shimmered beautifully and added just the right amount of celebration to the garden.
I love finding ways to reuse decorations rather than buying something new every time. Not only does it save money, but there’s something satisfying about seeing something you’ve made continue to appear at different celebrations and become part of new memories each time.
By the end of the evening, both cocktail dispensers were completely empty, which I always take as a very good sign!
Now I just need to find time to write up the recipes properly so I can share them on the blog. Coming soon…
