Skull Garnish Picks x 10

A scarily good way to add a garnish to your cocktail or to serve appetisers. Each of the ten stainless-steel picks in this pack are about 11cm long and come topped with a skull. Perfect for flamboyant Tequila-based drinks or adding a Día de Muertos style touch to your next taco night.

We also love using these to secure elaborate garnishes in tiki cocktails. Tiki culture is built on escapism, faux-Polynesian décor, exotic cocktails, beach vibes, laidback attitude, and a lot of South Pacific cultural appropriation. Its creation is attributed to the well-travelled and larger than life, Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt (later to change his name to Donn Beach), who opened the first tiki bar in 1934 in Hollywood, California. Called Don the Beachcomber, his bar offered a welcome break following Prohibition and very strong cocktails, including one of the most iconic tiki cocktails, the Zombie. His concept was taken to the next level by Victor Jules Bergeron, better known as Trader Vic, who added Chinese, Japanese and Tahitian dishes and a wide array of rum cocktails into the mix, the most noteworthy of the latter being the quintessential tiki cocktail, the Mai Tai. The tiki craze had all but disappeared by the 1960s, but it’s back now with a vengeance.

So, you’ve built up a substantial rum collection and you’ve purchased a stunning tiki mug. Where do you go next? Firstly, we’d recommend upping your garnish game considerably – think large chunks of tropical fruit, exotic flowers, banana leaves, pineapple crowns, umbrellas, wooden birds, the whole shebang. After that, if you really want the tiki bar vibe, then you’re going to want to consider donning a Hawaiian shirt and a lei, turning the lights down, pulling in some bamboo and rattan furniture, pinning some woven lauhala matting to the walls, dotting around some maritime paraphernalia (diver’s helmets, driftwood, an inflated puffer fish, etc.), investing in some carved tiki poles or Easter Island heads, and maybe even installing a water feature!