Holiday drink (non-alcoholic) ideas?

[atpeace]

Hello, I'm hosting an Xmas pot-luck next week and need some drink ideas. What are some good festive drinks that kids and adults would enjoy?

Does anyone have any cranberry-containing drink recipes?
How about something sparkling (non-alcoholic)?
How about unique punch ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[onthemove]

cranberry, black cherry or pomegranite juice and club soda. my grandma used to make a punch with lime sherbert and sprite that was very tasty but not very healthy.

I just bought a vanilla sugar martini rimmer and will use it for the kids and adult cocktails over the holidays...ice cubes also enhance the experience.

[columbusmomma]

We've made "poinsetta" punch in the past.
Cranberry juice
Seltzer water or 7UP(more sweet)
Raspberry(or other red fruity)sherbet
Mix in bowl. The sherbet makes it pretty to look at and tastes yummy. It also looks nice with a big ice ring or pretty shaped ice cubes.

[KatWrangler]

Spiced apple cider. You can do this in the crockpot with orange slices and a orange studded with cloves. Or Cinnamon sticks.

[BetsyS]

Cranberry and seltzer is always very Christmas-y, I think.

Eggnog, of course.

[artemis33]

I have a bottle of Martinelli's Apple-Pomegranate Cider for Christmas dinner.

Otherwise, we often just mix a little pomegranate juice with mineral water.

[LemonPie]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler

Spiced apple cider. You can do this in the crockpot with orange slices and a orange studded with cloves. Or Cinnamon sticks.

This! And it makes your house smell sooooooo good

[velochic]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler

Spiced apple cider. You can do this in the crockpot with orange slices and a orange studded with cloves. Or Cinnamon sticks.

This. Although, we call this Wassail, I think the authentic Wassail has alcohol in it.

To apple cider, add some orange and lemon juice, a bit of sugar and a bag of spices: clove, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg. Steep for a couple of hours as it simmers. Yum! If the adults want some extra oomph, you can spike individual cups with rum.

[inkedmamajama]

mix equal parts ginger ale and pomegranate juice and add sliced limes.

if you want you can add pomegranate liquor for an alcoholic version

[puffingirl]

Cranberry juice with seltzer and a generous portion of fresh lime. I love it!
When I did spiced cider, I put the cider in a crockpot and filled a giant tea ball with loose cardamom cinnamon herbal tea and just let it go for hours. Lovely stuff.

[treemom2]

We love this Cranberry drink we make in the crockpot.
1 can pineapple juice
1 (48 oz) bottle cranberry juice
1 gallon apple juice or cider
1c cinnamon red hots

Put everything in the crockpot. Stir occassionally so the red hots don't just stick to the bottom. . .delicious!!

[Blueone]

Originally Posted by artemis33

I have a bottle of Martinelli's Apple-Pomegranate Cider for Christmas dinner.

I LOVE Martinelli's. They have so many different flavors. There is Welches sparkling cider too.

[JamieCatheryn]

I'm serving Martinelli's sparkling cider and another brand sparkling 100% juice cranberry stuff. Great stuff, and the early-teen cousins love that it comes out a wine bottle.

We've made spiced cider before too, steeping cinnamon and allspice and orange and lemon peel in hot cider. Yummy!

[ollyoxenfree]

If you are serving something sparkling (even just sparkling water), you can make it more festive by dropping a few pomegranate seeds into the glass for garnish. They look like tiny Christmas ornaments floating in the bubbles.

A handy tip for peeling and seeding a pomegranate is to do it in a bowl filled with water. It prevents staining everything with the juice.

[henny penny]

Pellegrino and orange juice tastes remarkably like a mimosa (at least that's what I'm telling my pregnant self!) Put it in a champagne glass and float a couple frozen cranberries on top. Pretty!

And I'll second all the other suggestions for warm spiced cider. So festive and comforting and adults can spike it to their liking. I slice an orange into chunks and stud it with cloves and each mug of cider gets a pretty orange piece, a cinnamon stick and a dab of BUTTER for extra lusciousness.

[atpeace]

Ooooo, these all sound so scrumptious! Thanks guys, I'll have a hard time narrowing it down!

[mumkimum]

Really, my fave punch is part lemonade, part grape juice (you could use concentrate, it's sweeter that way), part sparkling water or lemon lime soda. Then float lemon slices and ice in it. My aunt always used to make this for holidays.

The cranberry or pomegranate with lime and ginger ale sound real tasty, may have to try those myself.

[zech13_9_goforgold]

I like to freeze cranberries in ice cubes (for the wow factor) and then serve cranberry serra mist from the bottle. It's super easy but screams party.