I made an ice bucket using a kitchen item everyone has, I layer with oven trays to save money but some say it’s ‘gross’
A CRAFTY hostess said you don’t need to hire a bartender or buy a giant cooler to throw a booze-filled party.
You’ve got everything you need to make it cost effective and aesthetic.
Self-proclaimed “cocktail party connoisseur” Talia (@talia.dianee) found a hack to make her favorite hobby a bit easier.
She uses her sink as an ice bucket.
And the best part? She doesn’t waste bags of ice, as you do in a cooler, to keep her drinks fresh – so it’s budget friendly.
“This is perfect for any upcoming holiday parties,” she explained in the clip.
Step one: put a sink stopper in the drain so that no cool water or ice seeps out.
Next, she lays down large bowls in her sink, layering a salad bowl face-down with a smaller bowl face-up on top.
“Essentially, I am just trying to create a structure to take up more space in the sink so that I need less ice.”
She then places two trays on top of the bowls – and you can use oven trays or serving ones if you have extra.
“It’s important to make sure that the trays are super sturdy, so I push down on them to make sure they’re secure.”
Talia explained that this is the most affordable and green way to do it.
“I have a deep sink, so filling up the entire thing would take 10 to 15 pounds of ice, and that’s just extremely wasteful.”
With this method, she only needed three pounds of ice to fill her sink.
As for how she did it, she simply poured the ice on and around the trays and then laid her bottles on top.
“I always chill my bottles prior to putting them out, because this method of cooling your wine bottles just keeps them cold, it does not chill them.”
She also recommended doing this last when setting up, right before your guests arrive so that everything stays chilled.
The final product, she noted, was “just as aesthetic, but less waste.”
This isn’t the ice she uses to serve the cocktails, however.
“I get a lot of comments about how it’s gross to use your sink as an ice bucket, so I assume people think that I am putting the ice in my sink in the cocktails.
“But, I always have an ice bucket off to the side for my cocktails.”
As for not having a free sink while she entertains? That’s not a problem for her, as she does all the cleaning once everyone has left.
Viewers liked her idea.
“I think it looks fancy and adds to the party vibe,” one noted.
“This is a brilliant idea that saves like 75% of the ice you’d need otherwise,” added another.