3/10
Serve Hot, Winter-Themed Drinks
Hot chocolate with marshmallows, mulled wine, spiced cider with cinnamon sticks, tea and coffee warm guests from the inside out. Don’t forget about adult drinks, too, like hot toddies (warmed whiskey, lemon and honey), eggnog with rum, Irish coffee and liquors like Irish cream and brandy.
You can keep drinks warm in insulated drink containers or slow cookers. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could even hang a cast-iron cauldron over the fire. But to keep things safe, assign the person tending the fire to also ladle out those drinks.
4/10
Cook Festive Outside
One of our favorite outside entertaining centerpieces — for adults and children — is our Pi pizza oven. We set up a pizza bar at one end of the tent, where partygoers can assemble their ingredients, then bake them in the 750-degree flames. The radiating heat from the oven also warms everyone nearby.
Other hearty snacks and finger foods to try include hot dogs, chestnuts and marshmallows/s’mores (each with a roasting station), soup shooters, fondue, charcuterie and festive toppings like whipped cream, nutmeg and cinnamon.
5/10
Create Ambiance
Winter-themed decorations and warm lighting add to the cozy festivity. We love these solar-powered string lights and MPowered’s solar Luci lights that flicker like candles. Both offer nice, warm color spectrums. Other good options include tabletop Terraflames and yard tiki torches.
If it’s been snowing, try building a snow-block wall on the side of the guest area. That will deflect and hold heat in the tent area, as well as create a fun storage place for cans of cold beverages.
