Your home bar should be, at least on an emotional level, an oasis, a place where you and friends can hang out and decompress. And with the right additions you can bring that oasis closer to a literal reality. Here’s how to outfit your home bar in a tropical manner.
Fit out your bar with a frozen concoction maker. We all know and love these adult slushies (come on, you know in your heart that’s what they are) and making them properly requires that finely shaved ice that makes them both cool and sippable. The shaved ice is the key; crushed ice will be a bit too grainy in your drink, unless it’s really ground down. Shaved ice will give you a better texture and an easier mix, not to mention going down easy by the pool.
One Cup to Rule Them All
Add some tiki mugs to your glassware selection. Tiki mugs date back to the craze of the 1950s and ’60s, and came in all sorts of styles and colors. Classic mugs from the era can run you hundreds of dollars and are incredibly collectible, so you probably won’t be finding them at a yard sale. Technically speaking, any ceramic mug with a retro, nautical, or tropical theme is a “tiki mug,” but to really set the mood, get mugs that look as much like real tiki, which are Maori carvings of small figure in human form.
Boost the atmosphere with a palm tree that never wilts. Part of the fun of tropical bars is that they lean into the kitsch factor, so pick up some decorations that cater to that campy sense of fun. Think light-up palm trees, faux carven tiki masks, dim lighting, perhaps some reeds on the wall, whatever your bar will cater to. But at the very least, have a palm tree; even if you can’t kick back under a real one, the light-up one will help set the same mood.
