I wanted to entertain on my patio with my friends in my new hot tub. My friends like to come over to try exotic martinis, but I was uncomfortable with using glass by the hot tub. My daughter suggested that we use plastic wine glasses for serving martinis.
She decided that she would like to decorate the plastic wine glasses with her friends during the afternoon while I was getting ready for the adults. The hot tub was put in the first weekend in October. We decided that the first party should be for Halloween.
Halloween is such a fun holiday. My daughter had a lot of fun decorating with her friends. They used acrylic paint to decorate plastic wine glasses for me to use for martinis. The designs were varied and all very fun. There were black cats, jack-o-lanterns and ghosts.
My daughter, Angie, wanted to decorate more plastic wine glasses than I had guests coming over. I told her that she could decorate more and serve her friends some Vampire Punch. She was excited about serving her friends such a ghoulish treat.
The Vampire Punch was started on Wednesday night before the Saturday party. The recipe calls for a spice syrup that is easy to make. We brought cinnamon sticks, cloves, fresh ginger, water and sugar to a boil. Angela was sure that her friends would love the decorated plastic wine glasses as party favors.
The syrup was done when the sugar was dissolved and we chilled the syrup until it was time for the party. When it was time for the party, Angie put a bottle of sparkling cider, cranberry juice and club soda into our punch bowl. Then, she strained the syrup through a fine sieve. The decorated plastic wine glasses looked so pretty all set up on the table.
The kids all had a good time with the Vampire Punch and the skull cupcakes that I made. The adults were amazed at what a great job the kids had done decorating the plastic wine glasses. The martini that I decided to serve was called a Tomato-Politan Martini. I chose this because it looked like blood for Halloween.
A Tomato-Politan Martini calls for Grey Goose Vodka, tomato juice, green hot sauce, lemon and pickle juice. I poured the vodka into a shaker of cracked ice, added the green hot sauce and shook it twelve shakes. The plastic wine glasses were put in the freezer to chill and I got them out after I was done shaking the vodka.
I let the shaker rest for a moment and then I added the tomato and lemon juices and shook the shaker ten more times. I strained the concoction into two well chilled plastic wine glasses and topped them both off with a tablespoon of pickle juice each.
