The holidays are coming up soon, which means tons of Christmas movies on TV, gingerbread everywhere, and excessively decorated shopping malls. It also usually means reuniting with your family at home and spending some quality time with them. In my family, we enjoy our quality time by drinking and bonding over our shared love of wine. If you’re lucky enough to have a family as dope as mine who loves to drink, here are some fun ways to make it happen this season.
1. Play a drinking game
There’s more to drinking games than beer pong and flip cup. You can turn practically anything into a drinking game! My family and I like to play board games together (it doesn’t always end well), and throwing alcohol into the mix is a great way to spice up the game. You could play a Monopoly drinking game or even get out a deck of cards and turn that into one.
2. Turn a movie night into a drinking game
You’re probably already going to have a family movie night at some point, so why not turn it into a drinking game? You can take a sip every time X character does Y, for example. I really love to play an “Elf” drinking game, since it’s my family’s favorite Christmas movie to watch together. Drinking and watching a movie is the best kind of multitasking.
3. Make fun (potentially holiday-themed) cocktails
What better way to bond over the holidays than to make fun holiday cocktails? Look up some fun recipes and then dig into your parents’ fancy booze to make some cocktails. It’s both a bonding experience and a tasty product.
4. Make boozy treats
You can do a lot more with alcohol than just drink it. There are tons of ways to use alcohol in fun treats, like popsicles or jello shots. Those are just the tip of the iceberg though. You can also cook or bake with it and make pasta or red wine chocolate cupcakes.
5. Have a fancy family dinner
One of the easiest ways to drink with your family is to suggest making dinner together. It’s the perfect opportunity to say, “Should we crack open a bottle of wine?” Proceed to drink fancy, expensive wine while you dine (on your parents dime, of course).
6. Spike festive drinks
Do you remember in the movie “Elf” when the mail room guy spikes his coffee? Take notes! Make hot chocolate with your family and add a little something special to it.
7. Take a family trip to the liquor store
When I’m home for the holidays, my mom and I head over to the liquor store and check out the wine. We end up buying something for the whole family. Some sweet Pinot Grigio for us, some fancy wine for my dad, and whatever interesting beer we can find for my brother. It’s exciting bringing home all this new alcohol, and of course, we can’t wait to try it together.
I’m definitely going to get my family to try a few of these this holiday season (boozy treats—YES PLEASE). As they say, the holidays are about family. But as college life has proved many of times, we bond the best with our friends when there’s some booze involved, so give it a shot (and take one) with your fam.