My pal Empress Pam had a birthday recently, and I gave her a collection of homemade bar supplies as a gift. They were a lot of fun to put together, so I figured I’d pass the recipes on in case anyone wants to try them out.

These are easy, not too expensive, and can be made over a period of several weeks. They also taste better than most commercial versions of the product, and you know exactly what ingredients are in them.

They look attractive packaged in matching containers (I used swingtop bale jars and bottles from Specialty Bottle), but they can be put in anything from thrifted vintage bottles to recycled spaghetti sauce jars. For extra appeal, especially if these are meant as a gift, you could decorate the bottles with glass paint to make them a little more match-y. Label them–I used manila tags, but you could paint the contents on the bottle or use computer-printed labels–and arrange them in a basket, wooden crate, or similar container. Decorate with a bit of ribbon and add a tag with an appropriate quote (such as, “Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness. — Seneca”).

Since there are several recipes, I’m breaking this into two parts; the second half will go up tomorrow.

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