This holiday season, we want you to do more with less. To give yourself a break without sacrificing an ounce of pomp and circumstance. To create something people adore—like a butter tower, shrimp cocktail, or a frigidly-cold cocktail—that doesn't require an elf-like work ethic.

Recipes that adhere to the following principles: Five(ish) ingredients or less. Minimal equipment. Low effort. Even less brain power. Flavor that blows through the sum of its parts.

Is there anything more delightful—or easier to execute—than a giant butter mountain on an appetizer table? Inspired by Stissing House, an Upstate New York restaurant that keeps theirs under a glass cloche, Nea from our Test Kitchen took 7 sticks of softened butter and formed them into a swoopy mountain sprinkled with flaky sea salt. Just add fresh veggies and hunks of fresh sourdough for buttery a good time.

Make better cocktails for bigger groups by following these trusted techniques, tricks, and recipes from our stable of drink-smart staffers and community members.

We asked our friends—from NYC's downtown cool crowd our own Food52 team—how to make a party feel like the most, while doing the least.