Q: I've been given the task of providing a non-alcoholic punch for the launch party of a new local magazine. (I'm on the editorial staff, and we're on a very tight budget.) Can you recommend any recipes for a delicious and attractive non-alcoholic punch? Also, can you provide any guidelines for figuring out how much punch to make for x number of guests?
Sent by Amy
Editor: Amy, the first rule of making a party punch is: Make it fizzy! Anything with a bit fizz feels special and fun. As far as planning quantities, this depends on whether there will be other drinks. If there are, I would aim for about 8 ounces per guest. If this is the only drink, I would probably say 16 ounces, with a little extra on the side.
Here are some ideas, too:
• 5 Non-Alcoholic Drinks For Showers Of All Sorts
• Straight Up: Non-Alcoholic Cocktails that Impress
And since it's a holiday party, you could also do this Wassail Punch.
Readers, any ideas for Amy?
Related: Non-Alcoholic Champagne Alternatives for New Year's Eve?
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My aunt's old standby was orange or rainbow sherbet and 7up.
1 part cranberry juice, 1 part 7 up, twist of lemon. For a punch size drink, I'd squeeze a lemon in there and float some lemon slices. Love this drink.
I find most punches WAY too sweet, especially if they accompany desserts.
One classic punch ingredient that we've forgotten is tea, so think about incorporating that. And ginger ale has a little bite and tastes less sweet than lemon-lime soda.
One idea is equal parts cranberry juice cocktail, orange juice and ginger ale. It has a ton of sugar, of course, but the bite of the ginger ale and the bitterness of the cranberry juice keep it from being cloying.
Cheers!
@mdorothy--that is exactly my grandmother's punch recipe, and I love it. So nice. It's also pretty and practical to do an ice ring. So as to not water it down, you can do some of the cranberry/orange mixture in a bundt pan or tube pan as the ice mold--sometimes my grandmother would add in whole cranberries for the color, which is pretty.
I always think having to do ice buckets at a party is messy and takes up a bunch of space. If you do the ice ring in the punch and chilled white wine, chilled beer, and red wine, then you won't have to haul bags of ice around at all which is a plus (and saves some money).
Southern Living's White Christmas Punch is amazing, with vanilla ice cream and almond extract. It's a beautiful, creamy white drink and it looks great in clear cups.
Martha Stewart's Southern Comfort Punch is our classic holiday punch for years now. A nice refreshing taste. I omit the alcohol.
I LOVE the 7 up and Rainbow Sherbet punch. My family does pretty much the same thing, except we like Raspberry Sherbet with Raspberry Ginger Ale.
My signature punch is 1 can of frozen pink lemonade concentrate, 1.5 cups of frozen raspberries and 2 L of ginger ale. It's sweet, tart, and the best bright pink ever!
I had punch at my wedding made from cranberry juice, raspberry ginger ale and raspberry sherbet (or sorbet). The advantage was that you could top off all the ingredients throughout the party without needing to figure out how to handle things like frozen juice concentrate. Made it super easy for the caterers to keep the punch bowl filled.
My mom's punch is always a crowd-pleaser, I think because it's not so sweet like so many punches tend to be. Everyone always, without fail, asks for the recipe: 1 2-liter bottle of cranberry (or raspberry) ginger ale, 1 2-quart bottle of white grape juice, 1/2 cup grenadine. Raspberries and sliced kiwis make for a very pretty and delicious garnish too.