Fall and Holiday Entertaining: Cocktail Hour
It is time for fall entertaining! I love to have décor and supplies ready and on hand for those last minute parties and gatherings of friends and family. One of my favorite things to do when I entertain is to serve local food and drink as Portland is known for its epicurean delights, wonderful produce, local breweries, wineries and distilleries as well as great cheese. This year for my fall entertaining the key ingredient is the Oregon state fruit. . . the pear. We have a beautiful variety of pears such as Bartlett, Bosc and the crisp apple-like Asian pear. To incorporate the pear theme into my cocktails, I am serving a Ginger Pear Sparkler and the Pear Cider Sangria. Both drinks are bright and fresh with a local Portland vodka, pear liqueur, pear brandy and pear hard cider. You can find the printable recipes for these cocktails below and incorporate any of your own local spirits. To add a personal touch, I keep a stash of toothpicks with a printed paper “cheers” flag, so they are ready to add to my cocktail garnish, in this case a small slice of Asian pear. You can download and print these pretty flags using the button at the end of the post.
Now that we know what cocktails to serve, let’s talk about the essentials for a party setup! Mixing silver, gold, copper and wood is my newest love and I was able to find everything I needed for my fall “luxe rustic meets subtle modern” style at Target.
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Bar Cart & Bench: This bar cart is just perfect in gold and wood and the tufted bench is a great addition for both extra seating and a bench for snacks.
Copper Accents: Copper is my newest addition to my metal collection, and this ice bucket was a perfect fit to place on the lower shelf of the cart and fill with local beer, cider and ginger ale.
Tray Assortment: I keep a selection of trays on hand and found these smaller hammered copper and silver tray for small snacks like local hazelnuts and olives and a matching hammered copper bowl to fill with my favorite party snack, rosemary buttered popcorn. I also found these gorgeous silver lacquer trays in both round and rectangle that are perfect to deliver drinks and snacks to my guests.
Glassware: Great cocktail glasses are a must and I love the shape of these simple and sleek high ball and low ball glasses.
Cocktail Accessories: My final two pieces for my cocktail essentials are the large glass pitcher for the sangria (I love the clear glass to see the sliced pears and oranges) and a simple silver metal shaker.
I mix all of these items with pretty gold painted bowls and linens and have a gorgeous look that is perfect for both fall and winter, don’t you think? Come on over and have a pear cocktail! Cheers! ~ Lia
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Discussion
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9 Comments
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Lisa Frank
November 13, 2014 at 11:03pm
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Lia
November 14, 2014 at 12:06pm
@Lisa Frank
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Carlos Alvarez
November 13, 2014 at 11:07am
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Lia
November 13, 2014 at 11:10am
@Carlos Alvarez
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Susan
November 13, 2014 at 10:04am
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Lia
November 13, 2014 at 11:13am
@Susan
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Karin
November 13, 2014 at 6:26am
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Lia
November 13, 2014 at 11:14am
@Karin
Back to the TopThis whole set up is so cool, Lia! Where did you shoot this? And I must know what kind of covering that is on the wall…very intriguing!
Hi Lisa, in my dinning room. The wall cover is a faux fur throw from Target, I love it on my wall:)
Lia,
Wow – great pictures! You are ready for the holidays indeed. May I ask what camera are you using? These are indoor pics so they are much harder to take (IMO) than outdoors. I take a couple pics once in a while too 🙂
Great work!
Carlos
Thanks Carlos! I use a 5D Mark2 with a 50mm 1.8. Sometimes I will use a tripod but mostly hand held.
I LOVE your bar cart!!! You did an absolutely beautiful job with the decorating of it. Bar carts have been my obsession since I was a young girl in the 60’s and I’m headed to Target this weekend to definitely pick up some of these accessories to use on my bar cart and in serving vignettes. Thanks for a lovely post and a wonderful source list!
I love this bar cart too and was so excited to find it. Double check that your store has it and maybe even pre-order. I find that sometimes these really good items go fast.
This looks really wonderful! Can’t wait to try the pear cocktails! Where did you get the fabulous deer head?
They are super yummy! That deer trophy is from Michaels. We used one as a tree topper too.