Cocktails: Ready-to-pour and delivered to the door

Want to raise a glass at cocktail hour without the faff (and, frankly, expense) of buying in an entire barful of spirits, syrups and mixers? Order a box of direct-delivery, ready-mixed drinks. All you need to add is the ice. . .

NIO Cocktails best-selling premixed cocktail box, £39, niococktails.co.uk

With a menu devised by star Italian bartender Patrick Pistolesi, founder of World’s Best 50 Bars’ Drink Kong, NIO (Needs Ice Only) Cocktails offers letterbox-friendly packs of three, six or nine classic and/or signature drinks. If you’re gifting a box, this curation of NIO’s six best-sellers is unbeatable; including the brand’s award-winning Cosmo and Negroni, a crowd-pleaser pours from every pouch. Be prepared to scrum for the Gimlet: pairing Tanqueray with Finest Call Lime Cordial, NIO’s version of the gin-and-lime classic is truly top notch.

Hunter & Grey five-bottle gift set, £22.99, hgcocktails.com

The brainchild of the team behind Coxtails, the premium cocktail provider which has been pouring at private and corporate events since 2009, Hunter & Grey pledges to bring bar-quality drinks to your doorstep. This five-bottle box contains five customer favourites and is the perfect Christmas present for the Martini lover in your life: every iteration - Espresso, Lychee, Pornstar - is slurp-the-dregs delicious.