The following is a paid advertising feature for Boë Gin.

If there is one thing I couldn’t ever call myself, it’s a minimalist. Especially around Christmas time. I like glam and I like sparkles and I like ALL THE GOLD. I’m also partial to a bit of cheery colour although rarely the traditional red-and-green as evidenced by my newly purchased pink Christmas tree in my dining room.

The funny thing is, inspiration for my decor, whether it’s Christmas or not, can come from pretty much anywhere and beautiful packaging is definitely something I adore. Well, when I come across a bottle of gin that’s as pretty as this, I do what just comes naturally to me: I decorate an entire bar cart around it for Christmas!!

I actually don’t think there’s ever been a more perfect pairing in fact. As soon as I saw the deliriously beautiful bottle for Boë  Violet Gin, I knew how fantastic it would look in my living room. While I’m not a huge gin-drinker, I don’t mind flavoured gins and this one is simply stunning – light floral notes to start leaving a delicate taste of sweet violets in every sip. I’ll share this gorgeous drink with you in just a bit but I wanted to talk a little bit about how I styled my bar car for Christmas, with this beautiful bottle as the inspiration.

The first thing you might notice is that I moved the location of my bar cart for the party season. It’s normally in the corner of the room but knowing how much use it will get in the coming month, I figured placing it somewhere that’s more easily accessible would be the best option for entertaining.

I decided to use a glittery gold garland (from West Elm) to wrap around the top of the cart – very glam and very eye-catching already but even more so with the addition of a thin wire of fairy lights which wrapped around the garland and secured it in place. If you didn’t want to go too crazy with the gold (although I have no idea why you wouldn’t – it is Christmas after all), then a garland of eucalyptus or some pine branches would look equally as lovely.

On the bottom of the bar cart, I decided to display a few wrapped presents. I’ve gone quite simple this year with my parcel wrapping – white craft paper (budget-friendly too) and ribbon in pink, burgundy and gold and trimmed with simple baubles or a pretty pick give it a bit of a festive touch. A few Christmas crackers (these are from Boë as well – each one is filled with a miniature bottle of gin – how lovely is that?!) finish off the Christmassy theme. You’ll also see I used a framed print to just give everything a bit of height at the back. Also, by way of full disclosure – that little piece of art is hiding the plug socket! ;)

On the top of the cart, I stuck to the gold and purple scheme – the jewel-tones are really so gorgeous at Christmas and work so perfectly well with my dark purple walls. I included everything you might need for the perfect bar cart – an ice bucket, a cockail shaker, glasses and mixers, all corralled in a gold and white tray. I also included a few different bottles of booze (that also worked with the colour scheme – the devil is in the details!), a dark purple candle to marry with my colour scheme and some gorgeous pink (!) mixers.

I’ve been meaning to hang that beautiful ornate mirror in this room for a while and so it was serendipitous that it looked so beautiful leaning on the floor next to the cart. In the evenings, it reflects the glow of the fairy lights and all the bottles for an extra bit of sparkle. And at Christmas, well, there is just no such thing as too much sparkle.

Now back to the booze! For my gin cocktail, I filled a gin glass with ice and combined 2 measures of Boë  Violet Gin with a handful of blueberries. You could use cranberries here too for a festive twist.

And then, simply top it off with Fentiman’s Pink Grapefruit tonic and fill to the top.

The drink is incredibly refreshing and the hints of violet and pink grapefruit elevate your typical gin and tonic into something a little more special for the holidays. Plus, it looks utterly gorgeous, doesn’t it?

And so that’s how I’ve styled my bar cart for Christmas, using a beautiful bottle of Boë  Violet Gin to inspire and embrace my love of colour this holiday season. Have you ever used product packaging as inspiration for your decor? What’s your favourite gin cocktail? Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: This is a paid promotion by Boë but as always I only work with brands I love and think you might like too! Thanks for supporting the brands that support Swoon Worthy.