Christmas parties are pretty much my favorite thing ever. I would not be mad about a mailbox full of invitations to fun holiday gatherings. However, hosting parties can be so hit or miss around the holiday due to people’s crazy schedules! With us being so busy this month, and our long weekend getaway quickly approaching (8 days!!), Jody and I decided not to have a Christmas party this year. With that being said though, we do expect to entertain guests over the course of the holiday weekend, so we wanted to be able to share the party atmosphere, even with our limited number of guests. That includes having a Christmas decorated bar cart!

Money always seems to be tight around the holidays so I came up with a couple of inexpensive tips and ideas for styling your bar cart this holiday season.

I honestly didn’t add too much to what we usually keep on our cart. I like a bar cart that is organized, practical and not too cluttered. I kept our bar tool set, with the mixing glass, strainer, muddler, corkscrew and citrus peeler readily available, as well as our monogrammed ice bucket. I also like to keep a matching set of glasses on the top shelf for easy access, and I decided on our Bride and Groom wine glasses, in honor of our six month wedding anniversary on Sunday!

When it came to adding the holiday decor to our bar cart, I started with what I already had. I found a cute little set of plates packed away in our Christmas boxes that say “Feliz Navidad”, which I think Jody received as a gift last year. I used to used the mini hand mitten stockings as garland at my old place in Richmond, and decided to use them similarly on the cart. I turned this old picture frame into a chalkboard sign a couple of years ago, so I gave it a fresh coat of chalkboard paint, added a fun holiday quote (you can’t go wrong with Christmas Vacation!) and hung it above the cart. I also added my favorite Christmas wine glass to the collection on the bottom shelf, although I’ll admit, it has seemed to spend more time off the cart then on!

After looking at what I had, I gathered a few ideas on Pinterest of what else I could add to up the holiday factor. An easy and practical decoration (my seasonal go-to) are festive cocktail napkins. I picked up these cute “Cheers!” napkins at Target, which are not only festive but will be appropriate to leave on the bar cart after Christmas. I ran out of room in my storage closet for the leftover gift boxes, so I ended up added those to the cart as well.  I also had been eying this flocked mini tree at Target for a month and I finally picked it up earlier this week. I love the height it adds to the top shelf, without competing with the height of the bottles of alcohol.

That’s pretty much it! Like I mentioned, I wanted to keep it simple, but festive and I love how it is one of the first things you notice when you walk into the room. I’d love to know — do you have any go-to decor items for functional spaces? Tell me in the comments below!