3 easy tips to bring a festive touch to your home

Outside it's definitely cold, you've already pulled out your stock of candles that tackle the full spectrum of autumn perfumes and saved all the pumpkin-based recipes from the Instagram feed.

Because, for you, the last two months of the year only mean one thing: friends over for dinner. Several times a week.

In Paradise it is always autumn.

John Donne

Among them, there are two kinds of human beings: those who have already started putting out Christmas decorations and those who only start on December 23rd. While for you, all that counts is the atmosphere. What can you do to add a festive touch to your home? Here is a list of ideas that will make your living room even more welcoming, familiar and cheerful.

credits: advicefromatwentysomething.com

Make your home smell good

Let's start from the beginning: decorating the house, even sparingly, makes you happier because it evokes those strong feelings of your childhood, when you used to watch Home Alone and you dreamed of living there, in the middle of that villa that would cost you almost two million dollars. Much less is needed to make your home equally festive (and much more sober).

More precisely, the first element you need to add a festive touch to your home is some good fragrance. Diffusers and candles will do, as well as homemade cookies (which you will then offer to friends) - that smell will project all the guests into another dimension.

You can also fill your favourite vase with pine or eucalyptus branches, or create an arrangement of pine cones soaked in essential oil and decorated with a few sticks of cinnamon.

The truth on Christmas Lights

It's still too early to put out the Christmas tree and everyone seems to agree on this. But those small Christmas lights are an evergreen, they go well at any time of the year. Especially if you use them in an imaginative way.

For example, you can hang them on a window by twisting them into curtains to create a slight glow, or decorate a bookshelf in your library. Or you can still use them to create a small festive corner consisting of a chair, a few candles and the gift packages that you will gradually accumulate.

The party drinks

A glass of bubbly makes you immediately think of the festive season, while a steaming drink warms up the atmosphere: is there something nicer than a cocktail you made specifically for your friends? Here are three recipes that will allow you to show off your skills in the art of mixology.

1. A warm, delicious cocktail

¾ oz. Averna

¾ oz. aged rhum

¾ oz. Cognac 

¾ oz.syrup

Warm water 

Dash of Mole bitters 

1 ½ oz. Cinnamon Syrup Whipped Cream

Nutmeg

Combine Averna, rum, Cognac, syrup in a hot toddy glass and top with hot water. Add a dash of mole bitters. Top with cinnamon syrup whipped cream. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

credits: Jennifer Schmidt

2. The effervescent cocktail

2 ½ oz. Imperial Brut Moët & Chandon 

1 oz. apple cider

½ oz. Hennessy VSOP Cognac

½ oz. agave nectar

½ oz. lemon juice

Orange, lemon and lime to garnish. 

Add all ingredients (except Moët) to mixing glass with ice and shake vigorously. Then add Moët Imperial and tumble roll back and forth one time to mix in the champagne.  Double strain over fresh ice into a highball glass. Garnish with three different size rings of Orange, Lemon and Lime.

3. The fruity cocktail

Ice

4 oz. vodka 

1/4 cup of cranberry juice

1/2 cup of sparkling apple juice

2 ginger beer

fresh blueberries to garnish

Fill two glasses with ice. Add the vodka and the cranberry juice. Add the sparkling apple juice and then fill the glass with the ginger beer. Mix and serve immediately.