The holiday season is the perfect time to toast your favourite classic cocktails and blaze your own bartending trail! Here are few surprising and refreshing drink ideas—with and without alcohol—that are deceivingly easy to make.

All kinds of cocktail recipes

Tis the season for sparkling wine! What better way to kick off a festive evening than with a bottle of bubbly? How about a sparkling rosé cocktail à la cotton candy? Just a little something to help you see your white Christmas through rosé-coloured glasses!

Salmon and bubbles: a match made in heaven!

It’s important to nibble between sips. Looking for an easy holiday recipe? We’ve got your back with sliced dill gravlax and crackers, or these salmon cubes for a tartare break between chats.  

There are several options to pursue throughout the rest of your evening. Option 1: put a new twist on your favourite bevvies. Elevate those classic Christmas cocktails with spices that simply scream holiday time. Add ginger ale, cinnamon, and apple juice to a smooth blonde lager (like Vite sur ses patins by Brasseurs du Monde), or wow your guest with a very seasonal mulled wine infused with cardamom, star anise, orange, and other aromatics.

These spices, just like clove, are also excellent additions to sangria, while ginger beer adds a harmonious amount of bite to your whisky-based cocktails. For a non-alcoholic Christmas drink, pour zero-alcohol ginger beer into an ice-filled glass of ginger ale with one or two ounces of Atypique’s non-alcoholic whisky beverage. Want to add some colour to your ice-cold cocktails? Switch out the ice cubes for frozen cranberries!

Hot chocolate and other heartwarming beverages

Snuggling under a blanket fireside or ringing in the New Year out on the town, homemade hot chocolate made with real chocolate and cacao, or light, spicy, and comforting lattes are likely to put smiles on faces.

An inexpensive and stylish gift idea

A great DIY gift that even the kids can get in on: hot chocolate jars. Perfect as a stocking stuffer or a hostess gift, making these super-cute chocolate, cacao, marshmallow, and cinnamon mixes is a fabulous way to brighten up a dark December day with the fam!

Mouth-watering mocktails!

Easy non-alcoholic Christmas cocktails are a fitting holiday drink solution for the young ones, or adults who want to cut back. Lean into not-your-everyday juices such as mango nectar and pineapple juice. For a bit of bubbles, top off with sparkling water or a lemon lime soft drink (Compliments brand is a great choice both flavour- and price-wise). Making holiday mocktails is an excellent (and long-awaited!) opportunity to play with cocktail syrups like this unicorn syrup, which only requires the addition of club soda and a simple garnish—fruit skewers, jujubes, or liquorice, perhaps?

Making Shirley Temples on repeat is okay—they’re delicious! But if you feel like switching it up, here are two alternative versions of the classic beverage: option one being with orange and strawberry syrup, and option number two involving ginger ale, grenadine, and lemon zest. If that doesn’t tickle your yuletide fancy, try some Christmas punch, non-alcoholic spritzes (a mix of Atypique's zero-alcohol aperitivo beverage and sparkling water), or amaretto-flavoured holiday beverages to keep the non-drinkers in your life sipping!

A quirky drink garnish idea: adorn your glasses with mini candy canes. Want jaws to drop? Wet the rim with a lemon or lime wedge, then dip in crushed candy canes. And voilà, you’ve got a fruity and/or minty flavour to pair with the cocktails of your choice!