Princess Punch

A girly shower needed a girly punch! This pink punch has the right amount of sweet and tang. You could add raspberry sorbet or frozen raspberries for an extra color and flavor punch, too!

Princess Punch

48 oz pineapple juice
1 qt white grape juice
1 liter lemon lime soda (diet works)
2 cans frozen raspberry lemonade

Combine all ingredients. If it's too sweet for your tastes, add a little water or more soda.

Handheld Watermelon "Margaritas"

Yep, saw it on Pinterest. I pinned it and my cousin commented that we needed to try them for July 4th. Done! This was a creative idea and people really enjoyed them. It says to soak the watermelon for at least 45 minutes. We found after about six hours, they were getting kind of mushy, so don't prep them the night before. You could make the spiked simple syrup the night before, then soak the watermelon the day of. These aren't strong in the booze area, which most people appreciate. Some reviewers said they added more liquor, but I don't think that's necessary. These were great, simple, and fun!

Handheld Watermelon "Margaritas"

1 inch-thick watermelon wedges (enough to lay flat in two 9x13-inch baking dishes)


1/2 cup sugar


1/2 cup water


1/2 cup tequila
2 limes, halved or cut into wedges


sea salt

Arrange watermelon wedges in a single layer on dishes with a rim.
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Don't boil longer or it will get really thick. Remove from heat and stir in tequila. Set aside to cool.


Pour cooled syrup over watermelon and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes (longer if you wish).


Remove watermelon from syrup and arrange on a platter. Squeeze limes over the watermelon and sprinkle with sea salt.

from Martha Stewart

Jello Punch Slush

For the baby shower, we went with a Jello punch recipe from allrecipes. My friend remembered having it at a retirement celebration last fall, and if it's good enough to remember for the next shower, it must be good! We just cut the sugar drastically and it was plenty sweet. This was good stuff, and fun because you can make it whatever color you want! Keep the pineapple and orange juice in mind--we didn't think about that and turned out with green punch when we intended to have blue. It turned out perfect because it matched our green cupcakes, but keep the color combos in mind:)

Jello Punch Slush (Luscious Slush)
1 cup sugar
6 cups water
2 (3 oz) packages jello (whatever flavor you like)
46 oz pineapple juice
juice of 4 lemons
1 quart orange juice
2 (2 liter) bottles lemon lime soda (diet works great)

Bring sugar, water, and jello to a boil for three minutes. Remove from heat and stir in juice. Place in ziploc bags or containers and freeze overnight. About thirty minutes before serving, place slush mix in punch bowls. Pour the soda over the slush mix about five minutes before serving and break up any big chunks.

slightly adapted from allrecipes

Fresh Cherry Margaritas

I am enjoying my last couple days of summer (really, last couple days...I go back on Wednesday!! I take the GRE on Tuesday so that's pretty much it for me!). These cherry margaritas were perfect with the juicy fresh cherries in the stores and markets right now. A nice change from the regular margaritas and a great summer drink! We are also thinking of all the good names to use for these for a Halloween party because they could defintely look gory!!

Fresh Cherry Margaritas

makes 2 quarts

1 lb fresh cherries, pitted
1 cup silver tequila
juice of 2 limes (or more, I love lime)
1/3 to 1/2 cup simple syrup
1/4 cup maraschino juice
lime slices for garnish

Muddle cherries. (I used my hands because I only have a tiny muddler...I looked like I sliced my palm in half by the end!!) Smash them up really well and get a lot of the juice out of them. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Serve over ice.

adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Fine Cooking

Pomegranate Spritzer

We had a great afternoon early Thanksgiving meal with a lot of our family on Sunday. We won't get to see them on Thanksgiving day, so it was nice to be able to get everyone together. We had lots of great food, but the company was even better! Thanks to everyone for coming!

I wanted to make a drink using pomegranate (actually, I really wanted some pomegranate seeds/aryls to use for decoration and wanted to put them in a drink to make it pretty, so thought I'd find a drink using pom flavor...). I searched a little, just planning on something fizzy and pomegranate-y (nope, not a word!). Surprisingly, this recipe came from Paula Deen and there wasn't any butter in it!! It actually came from her daughter-in-law, so that's probably why:) I really enjoyed this! This would be really nice for a shower, also. If you want to make it pretty, throw in some pom seeds and a lemon twist. To sweeten it up, add a little more pomegranate.

Pomegranate Spritzer

2 parts diet ginger ale, chilled

1 part seltzer water, chilled

1 part pomegranate juice (I used a juice drink, not the concentrate--if you use the concentrate, don't use so much), chilled

Combine ingredients, garnish with pomegranate seeds and lemon twists, and serve!

Party Punch

This is the basic recipe I use, that I got from Kraft foods, called "Crystal Light Juicy Punch". They provide a lot of different options for flavors. I know it's really basic, but it's been enjoyed at everything I have brought it to. It's also low cal (under 20 calories per cup), which most people appreciate. Those that don't care whether it's low cal won't notice--it's just as sweet as that other stuff!!

2 tubs of Crystal Light Drink Mix
3 qts chilled club soda
2 cups cold juice
1 T flavoring (lime or lemon juice)
Slices of lemons, limes, grapefruit, or oranges

Pour the drink mix into the pitcher FIRST! The club soda will cause it to bubble a LOT. Add the club soda, and stir it in. Then add the juice and flavoring, stirring to combine well. Toss the lemon or lime slices in for extra flavor and to make it look pretty:)
My favorite flavor combo: pink lemonade Crystal light, pink grapefruit juice, and lime juice. Another good one is raspberry ice Crystal Light, limeade "juice", and lemon juice. Like to keep a pitcher of this stuff in the fridge for a good water alternative. Caffeine free as a bonus!