5 Simple Champagne Cocktails for a Supremely Baller Evening

With New Year's Eve fast approaching, you can bet there will be some bubbly in your future. After you pop the bottle, ask yourself: "Do I want to drink only Champagne tonight?" No. It's far more baller to put top-shelf Champagne into cocktails.

There's nothing quite so affluent as wasting money (just kidding—using good Champagne in a cocktail just makes for a good cocktail). Here are 5 easy Champagne cocktails to ring in 2012 fashionably.

1 oz Tequila
Splash simple syrup (one part sugar, one part water)
.5 oz Champagne

Thumb a piece of sliced strawberry on top as garnish if you're craving something pretty.

1 oz Bourbon
4 oz Champagne

A kitchen sink approach—if your alcoholic uncle hid booze under the kitchen sink, add it to the Champagne you bought for New Year's.

.5 oz Fresh lemon juice
.5 oz Simple syrup (one part water, one part granulated sugar)
1 oz Gin or cognac
3 oz Champagne

Add the lemon juice, simple syrup and the gin or cognac to a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake well and strain into a Champagne flute. Top with the Champagne and garnish with a lemon twist. Part of a long tradition of putting whatever booze is on hand together in a glass and drinking 'til the voices stop.

5 oz Guinness (or any heavy stout)
5 oz Chilled Champagne

Pour stout into a stout glass. Add champagne carefully, so it does not mix with stout, and serve.

1.5 oz Rum
.5 oz Simple syrup (one part sugar, one part water)
2 Basil leaves
Top with Champagne

The tropical sweetness of the rum humps the dryness of the sparkling wine. Maybe it'll get you laid?