I'm thinking of ditching the cauldron idea and going with Martinis... Has anyone ever served pitchers of martinis instead of making 1 or 2 at a time???? I don't want to play bartender all night I need a good recipe for a Halloween-flavored martini that I can prepare ahead of time. Any recipes?

Yep, Purple Haze Martinis

Ingredients:
1 oz. pomegranate juice
1 1/2 oz. vodka
1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
Orange rind and apple slice for garnish

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker over ice.
2. Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass.
3. Garnish with orange rind and apple slice

It comes out a lovely purple colour and can be made in batches. Mmmmm

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Something wicked this way comes...

I've not made martinis, but like you, wanted to make some sort of margarita drink (for a Mexican themed party) without being a slave to the blender.

So I concocted a "Margarita Punch"

Basically, I used tequila, triple sec, lime soda (to add fizz) and ice in a punch bowl. I garnished with slices of lime floating in the punch and had a plate with rock salt placed next to the punch bowl. Guests could then choose whether or not to salt their glasses.

It was a real hit.

Perhaps you could find a good martini recipe and alter it in a similar way?

Good luck!

I love both ideas... LOVE the pretty Purple Haze!!! and they sound way, way Yummy! .... to make the Purple Haze Martinis as a punch drink would be ideal!! Do you think this would work? I am not at ALL familiar with making martinis and know they are kind of delicate when it comes to shaking or stirring and keeping cold.... any more ideas on how to best serve up this pretty purple drink?

Target sells mixer buckets. We've used them in the past for other parties and they were a huge hit. I think they have Mojito, Cosmo, and one other out for halloween. You can freeze them to get a slush or just serve them chilled over ice. Best part is they have all the ingredients in the bucket minus the booze. You just pour in the bottle of spirits and mix it all up. Couldn't be easier if you don't want to play bartender all night.

I have made Martini's in the past but never made a pitcher of them.
Keep in mind,rather Caution : Dry usually means less Vermouth than usual.
Extra Dry can mean even less Vermouth or no Vermouth at all.

Fill glass with ice.
2 oz Gin or Vodka
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
stir.
strain into chilled glass or pour contents(with ice) into short glass.
Garnish with lemon Twist or Olives or cocktail onions

or you can make ice eyeballs.

per eyeball:
1 radish
1 pimiento stuffed green olive
Prepare ice "eyeballs" at least a day before your plan to use them. Peel radishes, leaving thin streaks of red skin on to represent blood vessels. Using the tip of the vegetable peeler or a small, knife, carefully scoop out a small hole in each radish, roughly the size of an olive. Stuff a green olive, pimiento side out, in each hole. Place 1 radish eyeball in each section of an empty ice cube tray. Pare the radishes down a bit to fit, if necessarry. Fill the tray with water and freeze overnight.
To make drink, fill a tall cocktail glass with 3-4 eyeball ice cubes, add ingredients in the order given. Shake or stir, as is your preference.

I have pics of them,I will have to add that to my photo album.

~Dee~

The purple haze sounds yummy! This isn't really a martini, but I would serve them in martini glasses because they have the strength of a martini. Plus the bright glowy green looks so good in a martini glass at halloween. I used to make a big punch bowl of this:

You may have to do it in a couple of sessions depending on how big your blender is:

4 cups melon liquer
4 cups vodka
6 trays of ice cubes
1 cup water

Blend the ingredients until it's similar to a margarita consistency. Dump it into a punch bowl then add dry ice throughout the evening. It's bubbling green fun!

I have also done "blood martinis" that are good for those vampire themed parties. Mix vodka with water, and enough grenadine to give it a rich colour. Make some deep raspberry jello (or jello shooters) to have on hand so that you can throw it in to make it look like curdling blood The jello slowly dissolves in the martini so it doesn't end up being clumpy (umm...of course that depends on how fast your guests drink them!)

I recommend having dry ice on hand. It adds so much life to a "martini" and my guests who don't drink appreciate the exciting beverage without alcohol....

I always make pitchers of martinis for my parties - Halloween or otherwise. Last year I found a plastic martini set (summer clearance rack) which included a pitcher (I bought 2) and they work brilliantly. I have found, with my crowd, the pitchers don't last long enough to get warm. And to solve the problem of me mixing the drinks - I write out martini recipes and tape them to the cabinets - generally they are simple to make and people will try it.

This site has lots of fun Halloween themed martini recipes. http://www.drinkoftheweek.com/special/halloween.htm

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"If you really cared about me, you'd find me a better corpse." - House

Speaking of martini's....I just ran across this on a site while looking for beer signs.



Get Drunk on Dessert with a Mud Pie Martini
Historically, we haven't been huge fans of sweets and liquor combined. Hell, we've had a recipe for pudding shots for almost a year now and we haven't even made them yet. But for some reason this Mud Pie Martini really jumped out at us - we've included the recipe below.

Plus, if these kinds of after-dinner drinks are your cup of tea, so to speak, we found a book called Dessert Cocktails at Amazon.


Start by placing some finely crushed Oreos on a plate. Spin the rim of a martini glass in ice, then dip the rim into the Oreos.

Shake together 1 ounce of Three Olives Chocolate Vodka, 1 ounce Starbucks cream liqueur, 1/2 ounce Starbucks coffee liqueur or Kahlua, and 1/2 ounce Frangelico, then pour into the glass.

Finish with a flower of whipped cream and a few toasted almond slivers.

http://www.liquorsnob.com/

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When you make a pitcher of martinis, how do you make them cold without shaking with ice and straining?? What kind of martinis do you usually make by the pitcher?