Candy Cane Happy Hour

Nov 17

My friends and I have a weekly tradition where every Thursday after work, even if it is just for an hour, we get together at one of our homes and have a cocktail to catch up. The weekends become busy between our hectic schedules, so we began “Thursday Sipping” a while ago to ensure we fit in our weekly yapping. During a long work week, looking forward to our happy hour gets me through! Last night was my turn to host, so I decided to make it a candy cane-themed evening. It was SO cute.

My signature cocktail of the evening was this chocolate candy cane martini. I coated the rim with zero sugar Hershey’s chocolate syrup and dipped it in crushed organic candy canes.

***PRO TIP*** - put your martini glass in the freezer for a few minutes while making the martini mix.

Chocolate Peppermint Espresso Martini (yields 2)

3 shots of vanilla vodka
2 shots of Bailey’s
1 shot of peppermint schnapps
2 squeezes of red food dye for a pink color (add 2 more for red)

The setup: On my coffee table I put together quite a setup. I filled my new HomeGoods Christmas cups with peppermint sticks and peppermint marshmallows. I set out my Kate Spade red polka dot plates too - also from HG of course…

Perhaps my favorite touch was the mini red bows I sprinkled around the table. I also glued a bow to the stem of each martini glass for extra festiveness!

I also added some red straws, my little tree, and an ice bucket full of champagne and sparkling water (after all, this martini is very sweet so I knew we’d only have 1-2).

I found this on Pinterest - so wholesome, right? I taped together mini candy canes to make hearts and placed them on each napkin roll. This was such a simple, easy touch.