New Years parties are often equated with alcohol. However there are many reasons you may want to host an alcohol free party this year, perhaps you are pregnant, hosting a party with underage guests or maybe you don’t drink for religious reasons. You can still serve fun and novel drinks called mocktails. Mocktails are cocktails that do not contain alcohol.
Non Alcoholic Bubbly Drinks
Carbonated drinks are festive and fun to drink. You can buy sparkling apple cider or grape juice, or you can make your own.
For White Sangria, mix 4 cups white grape juice, 1 cup pink grapefruit juice, 1 tablespoon lime juice together in a pitcher. Just before serving add 1 bottle of lemon lime soda like Sprite and garnish with pink grapefruit slices.
The Shirley Temple cocktail is traditionally non alcoholic and is a perfect choice. For a single serving mix 3 ounces of lemon lime soda, like Sprite, 3 ounces of ginger ale, a splash of grenadine and ice into a glass. Garnish with maraschino cherry.
Try this twist on the classic Cosmopolitan. In a single glass mix 4 ounces orange juice, one shot of cranberry juice, half an ounce of pomegranate juice, 2 drops of vanilla extract, half an ounce of sparkling water with ice. Squeeze a wedge of lime into the drink and use it to garnish the glass.
Non-Alcoholic Frozen Drinks
Margaritas, Strawberry Daiquiris, and Pina Coladas all translate well into alcohol free treats. All of these are available as mixes you can make in your blender or if you are serving a lot of guests you can rent a slush machine for around $100 to $200. Just replace the alcohol with plain water. Make sure you have all the garnishes. For Margaritas you will need salt to rim the glass. First dip the top of the glass a shallow plate of water and then into the plate of salt. Buy either Kosher salt or salt specifically for margaritas. It is coarser and sticks to the glass. For Strawberry Daiquiris you will need sugar to rim your glass. You can use plain sugar or colored sugar. Use a sliced strawberry to garnish each glass. Pina Coladas can be garnished with a wedge of pineapple.
Serving Tips
You can choose to serve one or several mocktails at your party. Ask someone to help you mix drinks if you are serving more than one type and have everything organized and the recipes posted where you can refer to them. Buy or rent unusually shaped glasses. Fun glasses and garnishes make drinks more festive.
Search the web for more recipes like non alcoholic eggnog and keep these measuring guidelines handy:
1 ounce equals 2 tablespoons
1 shot equals 1 ½ ounces
1 cup equals 8 ounces
30 milliliters equals 1 ounce
Have a fun and safe New Years or any other party this year by serving mocktails.
