Unlike family Thanksgiving, where hiding among the liquor bottles all day may actually come as a relief from the family “antics,” on Friendsgiving you actually want to hang out with your guests. That means you can’t spend the whole time mixing drinks. Instead of falling back on beer and wine, make these perfectly autumnal, holiday-appropriate drinks ahead of time so that everyone can indulge—host included.
No Thanksgiving cook ever turned down an extra pair of helping hands, but we should’ve been looking to our kitchen appliances for aid all along. Toss all the ingredients for mulled wine into a crock pot in the morning, and let the little kitchen helper go to work. You’ll have warm, winey punch by the time you sit down to eat. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to wrangle your human guests into cleanup duty.
The Essentials
orange
dry red wine
brandy
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Kicking back with a brew and the game is a tradition among the laziest friends who can’t be bothered to help cook Thanksgiving dinner. If you want to make their lives even easier (or if you’ve got some down time while the bird is in the oven), make a bowl of ale-forward punch for sipping in front of the TV. We went all American with Philly’s own Yuengling, but feel free to swap in your lager of choice.
The Essentials
Lager
Cinnamon-Orange Syrup
Cognac or Brandy
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A big blenderfull of frozen Margaritas certainly serves a crowd of diners, but it doesn’t exactly scream Thanksgiving. But a cinnamon-forward version, complete with a bottle of hard apple cider upturned in every glass, definitely does. Between the pre-batched Margarita mix and the bottled cider, making this cocktail is just a matter of bringing two autumnal favorites together in one turducken-like beverage.
The Essentials
cinnamon-infused tequila
Cointreau
hard cider
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No one throws a party like our first first lady, but your Thanksgiving rager can be almost as good if you serve Martha Washington’s deadly rum punch—as interpreted by Dale DeGroff. Two rums and an orchard-worth of citrus slices infuse the drink with enough holiday spirit for a Thanksgiving dinner crowded with all those unexpected plus ones your invited friends brought along.
The Essentials
Citrus
Spices
Rum
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Friendsgiving is the ultimate holiday because it combines classic ingredients with all the booze and friends you actually want to be around. This take on Sangria is exactly the same: classic Sangria ingredients, with more booze (thanks to applejack) and more fall (thanks to pears, apples and your own autumnal energy).
The Essentials
Moscato
Applejack
Apples and Pears
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Dessert drinks are best served en masse so everyone can indulge a little without feeling individually hedonistic. Cook a batch of Hot Buttered Rum batter on Tuesday or Wednesday, and freeze it for the big day. After your feast, add batter, rum and hot water to individual mugs and serve. Just be sure to batch extra batter ahead of time because everyone will definitely want seconds. It’s Thanksgiving after all—seconds are a given.
The Essentials
rum
hot buttered rum batter
Hot water
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You’d never do shots of bourbon at your grandma’s Thanksgiving table, but they’re certainly not out of place at Friendsgiving. While bourbon is already pretty darn autumnal, make it holiday appropriate by infusing it with all the flavors of apple pie, including apples, vanilla, brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon. After a festive Friendsgiving, just plop the bottle down on the table instead of dessert. We guarantee no one will leave til the bottle’s dry.
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