Five Festive Alcoholic Cocktails for New Year's Eve Parties

Many people ring in the New Year with alcoholic beverages. Clinking glasses together and toasting in good will and prosperity wishes is a long-standing tradition. The following festive alcoholic cocktails are easy-to-prepare, relatively inexpensive, and certain to please your guests' palates.

Before revealing the festive alcoholic cocktail recipes, I'd like to mention that serving drinks in colorful glasses or elegant stemware can enhance the party experience. Many party stores sell plastic stemware decorated with wheat grains (symbolic of being reborn) or covered in confetti.

Plain cocktail glasses can be decorated with gold and silver ribbons, colored pipe cleaners, decorative bows, feather boas, and faux gemstones. Jessica Furgerson offers excellent tips for decorating cocktail glasses at eHow.com.

Holiday Mimosa

Mimosas are made from orange juice and champagne and served in a champagne flute. These bubbly cocktails are often served for breakfast along with a plate of fresh strawberries, but are perfect for ringing in the New Year.

Numerous mimosa recipes exist. Some use freshly squeezed orange juice or orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier. Others incorporate mango nectar or pineapple juice.

One of my favorite mimosa cocktail recipes is offered at LiqueurDrinkRecipes.org. Made from orange juice, champagne and Grand Marnier this recipe is simple to make and tastes oh so good going down! Not only will you find the recipe, you can also discover how to serve mimosas and how to create special effects.

Dark Chocolate Martini

One of my personal favorite cocktails is the dark chocolate martini. This smooth cocktail is similar to having liquid dessert, but beware... a little goes a long way. Dark chocolate martinis are primarily straight alcohol and provide quite a punch. They taste innocent, but 1 or 2 can make you a wee bit tipsy.

My favorite source for dark chocolate martini recipes is MartiniArt.com. This website offers cocktail recipes for Milky Way martinis, Lady Godiva Chocolate Martini, Chocolate Orange martini, Funky Monkey Chocolate Banana martini, White Blizzard Chocolate martini, and Mint Martini. Choose your favorite at www.MartiniArt.com.

Cuban Mojito Cocktails

Cuban mojitos are a refreshing drink prepared with freshly muddled mint leaves, freshly squeezed lime juice, and white rum. These cocktails are perfect with Cuban fare, but also pair well with pork dishes, rice and beans, beef nachos, tamales and fried plantains.

TasteofCuba.com proclaims to offer the authentic Cuban Mojito cocktail recipe enjoyed by Hemingway himself! Making mojitos requires mojito glasses and muddlers. You can find the authentic recipe, along with resources for purchasing authentic mojito glasses and muddlers at www.TasteOfCuba.com.

Hot Buttered Rum

There's nothing better than a hot buttered rum cocktail on a cold wintry night. This festive drink is perfect for sitting around the fireplace and sharing New Year's resolutions and goals for the upcoming year.

Hot buttered rum cocktails consist of granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla ice cream, rum and nutmeg. They are the perfect addition to holiday baked goods and sweet treats.

DrinksMixer.com offers an Old Fashioned Hot Butter Rum recipe that requires less than 10 minutes to prepare. A nice feature of this website is it offers a servings calculator so you can make exactly enough to serve all your guests.

Holiday Champagne Punch

New Year's Eve wouldn't be the same without a glass of sparkling champagne. However, for those who want to kick it up a notch, consider serving a festive holiday champagne punch.

One of the simplest champagne punch recipes I've ever found is to pour one bottle of champagne into a punch bowl, add 1/4 cup Triple Sec and 1/4 cup Brandy, gently mix and serve. This recipe does not use ice, so champagne should be well chilled prior to mixing. Additionally, this champagne punch should be served immediately to preserve the fizz.

Another favorite festive holiday champagne punch recipe of mine is Pomegranate-Champagne punch from Bon Appétit. This pretty red cocktail incorporates pomegranate seeds, fresh mint leaves, and lemon slices that sets the mood for holiday entertaining.