Dress up your drinks with these 5 edible stirrers

The great thing about a braai is that it’s super casual, but also that just a few DIY extras can dial up the fun without too much effort. One easy way to do this is with edible cocktail stirrers.

Edible drink stirrers will not only help everybody keep tabs on their own glasses, but after a drink or two, guests can also have a snack. It’s a whole new kind of drinks pairing! And you probably have everything you need in your kitchen already.

The basics

Sosatie sticks, plastic cocktail sticks, bamboo coffee stirrers or even firm paper straws will do the trick, as long as they can take the weight of the topper you choose. You might have to do a few test runs to see if the stick will stand up in a glass with its edible decoration. Tall, narrow glasses like highballs will be the easiest balancing act, but you can experiment with shorter sticks for wide and low glasses, too.

Now all you need to do is look through your sweet stash. You can use anything you like for your cocktail stirrers as long as it’s firm enough to hold its shape, i.e. not crumbly or flaky, but soft enough to be skewered. (Go ahead, give them a squeeze.) Here are five ideas to get you started.

Love you lots like Jelly Tots

Choose your candies to match your theme colour or occasion. Jelly Tots are perfect for fancy glasses of lemonade or fruit punch, and work best on very thin sticks (the thickness of a toothpick). Make ombre stirrers with pink, red and purple tots stacked together, or go wild and skewer the tots with other jellies like Maynards Original Mini Wine Gums or Mini Jubes. If you’re hosting a baby shower, Mini Teddies and Mini Babies will make everyone smile.

It takes all sorts

Liquorice Allsorts will allow you to play with a variety of shapes and colours for your drink stirrers. Stack the squares up for bold layers, or use a square as a base and top it with an oval to create a little top hat.

Fruit cocktail

Skewer wedges of orange or slices of pineapple on your cocktail stirrers to bring freshness to the festivities. Choose the garnish according to the season and the cocktails you’re serving. Strawberries, big blueberries or grapes would work well, too.

Melting moments

Pastel-coloured mmmMallows Pink & White marshmallows will always be a crowd pleaser. If whole marshmallows are too heavy for your sticks, you could slice them up into cubes or discs. Bonus: once the braai flames have died down, guests can take turns braaiing their marshmallows over the coals, and use biscuits to build s’mores.

Blooming beautiful

For the more experienced crafter, these floral-themed drink stirrers will add an elegant touch. Hot-glue or tape paper muffin cups onto the tops of your straws to look like flower petals. You can cut out shapes and layer them for a realistic effect. As the finishing touch, pop a sweet onto the top.