The Fourth of July is a pretty easy holiday. It’s summer, people are laid back, fireworks provide automatic entertainment—you don’t really have to do much of anything. However, if you’re feeling ambitious this year, why not take your hosting to the next level? There are several ways to up your game, especially when it comes to serving cocktails. We’ve gathered four must-try techniques that are perfect for your patriotic beverages.

Layered Drinks

This is a great place to start for your Independence Day celebration. The key is to mix colors separately, double the amount of the white layer in the middle so the other colors don’t bleed it into extinction, and keep the drink as chilled as possible! We found a great how-to video to guide you:

For more recipes, try the swirling blue Liberty Cocktail or this luscious Red, White & Blue Daiquiri.

Colorful Cubes

If you’ll be serving clear alcohol like vodka or gin, colorful ice cubes are a great way to add some pizzaz to your cocktail. Berry cubes are simple to make and charming to look at, and they offer the added bonus of an antioxidant boost for your health-conscious guests. Even berries on their own add a nice touch!

Photo courtesy of Amy Flanigan at Bellyfull.net

If you want to go all-out, these layered cubes are the answer. And don’t forget the designated drivers, the nondrinkers, and the kids—the best part about fancy ice cubes is that they add a special touch to nonalcoholic drinks too! They’d look fantastic in a refreshing mocktail.

Fireworks

Image courtesy of John O’Nolan

This one is pretty easy—take whatever drink you’re serving, stick a food-safe sparkler in there, and light it up! The important point here is food-safe. Your average drugstore sparkers contain chemicals that you should not ingest. Luckily, you can get cocktail sparklers in bulk from the UK.

Smoke

After an epic fireworks display, the haze of smoke lingers on the air for hours. To commemorate this nostalgic effect, why not make a smoke bomb ice cube? This is an advanced cocktail technique, but the results are sophisticated and sultry, and we can’t wait to try it. Cocktail Chemistry Lab shows you how:

If you employ any of these stunning cocktail techniques, please let us know how it goes!