When throwing a holiday party for the little ones, Halloween drinks for children are a must. While it may be easier to find some great cocktail recipes for adults, some of those concoctions can also be made without the alcohol for a kid-friendly version. The simplest thing to do is make a punch bowl the centerpiece of the foods table and be ready to refill it as it gets low.
Gross and Ghastly Halloween Drinks for Children
“Rotten Apple Cider” is a popular favorite around Halloween, and just needs a little prep the day before the party. Depending on how much punch you want to make, most recipes call for using five cupcake tins or trays in the prep. Each of these gets filled with cider and 2 drops of red and one drop of green food coloring, and then stir. Hang 2 worms within each cup, with some of the gummy worm dangling over the side, and freeze. These wormy “cups” can either be added to plain apple cider in a punch bowl, or in individual glasses.
Another holiday punch classic is the “Squirmy, Wormy Punch.” This one calls for a day before prep step, too. So, just keep that in mind for your Halloween party planning. Freeze some gummy worm ice cubes the day before. Then, blend up a swampy looking concoction using Lemon-Lime Kool Aid, orange juice concentrate, ginger ale, sugar and water in your punch bowl. Add the cubes and top with a few scoops of orange sherbet, and you will have a mucky, yucky looking but great tasting beverage.
Also, the “Bloody Buggy Punch” is a fun Halloween beverage for a group. This punch tends to be a favorite of parents too, as it uses fruits. This one requires starting by mashing full strawberries in a bowl using a fork. Then mix the strawberries, ginger ale and lemonade in a pitcher. Put a handful or two of blueberries and raisins in the bottom of the glasses and pour the mixture over top of the fruits acting as “bugs.” It tastes good, is healthy and still looks terrible, which is the perfect combination for any Halloween beverage.
Seasonal Treats versus Halloween Sweets
Want Halloween drinks for kids with more of a season theme than a Halloween twist? For something tasty suiting for this time of year, but without the yuck factor, try pumpkin smoothies. It’s like the classic, seasonal pumpkin pie without the baking. It uses canned pumpkin, vanilla yogurt, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, a bit of honey and some ice cubes. All the ingredients get blended and poured into glasses with an optional dab of whipped cream or yogurt on top.
The other option, instead of a smoothie, would be a milkshake. Use a frozen banana, peeled and divided into smaller sections, and add to orange juice concentrate, pumpkin puree and a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt and water for a blended treat.
Extra Special Tips for Your Halloween Drinks for Kids
Extra details can add that much gorier pizzazz to your holiday punch. Peeled grapes are great for floating eyeballs, and as you may have noticed from the above recipes, gummy worms can be added to almost any drink idea for some gross out appeal. You can also make glasses look like they have bloody rims. Mix red food color with corn syrup or honey and then glaze the glass rims with enough mixture to enable it to drip down the glass. The clean up can be a little more involved, but is worth the added effect.
To make floating hands, freeze water in a disposable glove, the kind without the powdered lining, and simply cut it off before serving and add to the punch bowl. You can either add one or several floating hand cubes, or have one standing up and protruding from the center of the bowl. Normally ice cubes with fake bugs frozen inside would be a great detail, but when working with kids it is better to do away with any potential choking hazards.
Set the Mood
The perfect Halloween party should include snacks, music and games as well to create a holiday party feel. Have a Halloween costume contest, maybe tell some spooky ghost stories and, above all else, have fun and be safe. Keep games, foods, drinks, ghost tales and anything else appropriate to the ages of the children attending. There’s more to creating a holiday party than just the Halloween drinks for children, but it can all come together for perfection.