How to Decorate a Bar Cart for Christmas

Tis the season for holiday décor and festive drinks! Whether you’re throwing a Christmas party or simply enjoying a drink with your significant other of BFF, don’t forget to decorate your bar cart for holidays as you trim the tree and wrap your gift. 

When Matt and I bought our apartment in New York City, the first piece of furniture I purchased wasn’t a couch or a bedframe, it was a bar cart. Our Los Angeles home doesn’t have the space or layout for one, so a bar cart in our NYC apartment a non-negotiable for me. 

You can see how I style my bar cart for everyday here, but in today’s post I’m sharing how to switch things up for the holidays with 7 Christmas bar cart styling tips. A bar cart’s function is to store ingredients and serve drinks, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be functional and festive.

SHOP MY CHRISTMAS BAR CART

How To Decorate A Bar Cart For Christmas

Stock the Essentials

Every bar cart, regardless of the season, needs bar cart essentials. Here’s a quick list of must-have bar tools:

• Cocktail shaker
• Mixing glass
• Cocktail mixing spoon
• Cocktail strainer
• Jigger

You may also want to add a chic ice bucket if you frequently serve champagne or white wine from your bar cart.

Swap Your Booze

Every well-stocked bar cart should have a few crowd favorites like vodka, rum, or tequila. During the holidays, I like to stock up for some seasonal signature cocktails and add a few extras to my Christmas bar cart. This could include gin (for hot toddies), Bailey’s, or peppermint liqueur.

Style Around a Theme

Since you’re decorating a single piece of furniture, my advice when it comes to holiday bar cart decorations is to pick a theme or style around one single piece.

For my Christmas bar cart, I knew I wanted my main holiday decoration to be this black iron nutcracker. Then I worked around it by layering in coordinating Christmas décor: black iron deer and some gold metal Christmas trees to play off the gold of my bar tools.

Your theme could be something traditional like snowmen, Christmas ornaments, or Santa Claus. But you can also do color themes like all-white or red and green, or aesthetic themes like vintage or glam.

Add a Festive Candle

A holiday candle is always a good idea, and can help fill up dead, empty space on your bar cart. There are a lot of holiday candles out there, but my personal favorite is the Holiday Classic Candle from Nest. It smells like everything you want to smell during this season: pine, mandarin orange, cinnamon, cloves, and a touch of amber.

Try Holiday Glassware

Of course, you’ll need something to hold your holiday drinks, so don’t forget a mix of glasses on your bar cart. I love these ribbed coupes because you can serve a handful of cocktails in them, but I also have traditional martini glasses, rocks glasses, and wine glasses.

You can also display seasonal items like Moscow Mule copper mugs, tall glass mugs for Irish coffee, and traditional mugs for spiked hot chocolate.

Or try swapping out your everyday glassware for holiday glasses, like these gold-rimmed rocks glasses or these candy cane glasses.

Add Greenery

Adding a touch of greenery to your bar cart is an easy and affordable way to make it feel festive. Try pine or Cyprus garland, eucalyptus, or even red roses.

I swapped out the photo framed over our bar cart and added this faux boxwood wreath!

Don’t Overdo It

Otherwise, if you have too many things going on, you bar cart won’t just be crowded, it also won’t be functional. The idea here is to add a few seasonal decorations for a festive touch to complete your room. You should be able to easily grab your stuff, pour yourself a drink, and enjoy the season.