Holiday Menu Ideas

The holiday season comes along only once a year, and with it, an excuse to throw a blowout dinner party.

This year, we skipped the sit-down spread and fashioned a menu that lends itself effortlessly to the classic cocktail party.

Mingle with a glass or two of Spice Island Punch. A heady concoction made with pomegranate and blood orange juices, rum, cognac, dry curaçao and allspice dram, it's sure to put guests at ease and fuel their appetites. 

An overflowing table, featuring a spread of big-flavored dishes in small-size bites, allows ample room for seconds and thirds as guests keep their cocktail glasses and Champagne coupes close at hand. Attendees mix and match bites of scallop ceviche, endive cups with membrillo and smoky chicken cigars with shots of chestnut soup topped with caraway crème fraîche, roasted prosciutto-wrapped pears and slow-spiced short ribs.

As the empty bottles pile up and the evening nears its end, restart the custom playlist and sway with someone special between bites of dulce de leche-filled cream puffs.

A holiday party without musical chairs and loads of dirty dishes? Now that's something to celebrate.