Party Punch Recipes - from the South

Party punch recipes can be big hits at gatherings, and for the adults, you might want to consider alcoholic punch recipes. Punch recipes are pretty “wide open” as far as ingredients are concerned. Common ingredients include fruit juices, ginger ale, Sprite, club soda, sliced fruits, and whole small fruits like cherries and raspberries. In the South, cold brewed tea is another popular ingredient in party punch recipes. For alcoholic punch recipes, you might want to add rum, bourbon, vodka, gin, white wine, or champagne. Be careful not to make your alcoholic punch recipes too strong – you don’t want a bunch of inebriated party goers on your hands, and there could even be legal implications in the case of an accident. Continue reading for some southern party punch recipes!

Easy punch recipes are…well, easy! Beverages don’t have to be complicated to be thoroughly enjoyed by your guests. Some of the easiest punch recipes of all are made from a fruit punch recipe. You can concoct your own mixture or use commercial fruit punch as your base. I’ve found that the red Hawaiian punch makes a great base, especially for rum punch recipes. You might also want to include some ginger ale, Sprite, or club soda.

Once you find some easy punch recipes that sound tempting, I suggest making a small sample before serving it to guests. If it’s not to your liking, you can tweak it or find other easy punch recipes that might be a better fit for your event.

When you’ve made your final decision on a punch recipe, make it ahead of time, if possible. Of course, if the party punch includes a carbonated beverage, you won’t want to add that until just before serving the punch, or it will lose its “fizz.” Pour the other combined ingredients in clean gallon milk jugs and keep them in the fridge so that they’ll be nice and cold at party time.

Party punch recipes made with fruit juices are some of the best! Who doesn’t like juice? When I have time, I prefer making my own fruit juices from fresh fruits. Most fruit juices blend together nicely, so you can use almost any fruity liquids in a fruit punch recipe. Just make sure your fruit punch is sweet enough and strong enough to stand up to melting ice, which can substantially reduce the flavor. The solution is to use concentrated fruit juices in your fruit punch recipe. You can do this by adding frozen concentrates, powdered drink mixes, or fruit syrups. You might also want to include some pureed fruit pulp, which adds flavor and texture.

Rum punch recipes are some of my favorites for serving at parties. Rum blends perfectly with fruit flavors, in my humble opinion. The type of rum you use is completely up to you, but keep in mind that strongly-flavored liquors might overpower the other flavors in your punch, and they can also have an impact on the color of the punch. If presentation is important to you, you might want to use light rum instead of dark rum or golden rum.

You might also want to think about using spiced or flavored rums in your rum punch recipes. Spiced rums usually include vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, anise, and/or allspice. Another option is to use flavored rums, which include infusions of fruit flavors, including lime, orange, pineapple, guava, melon, raspberry, apple, coconut, banana, or mango.

Summer punch recipes should be light and refreshing. Of course, they should be served cold, too. If you’re having an outdoor event, the “chill factor” is especially important. I like to use larger chunks of ice in the hot months – usually in the form of an ice ring. Since larger pieces of ice have less surface area than crushed ice has, the ice ring won’t melt as quickly. If your outdoor event is super casual, you might even consider serving your summer punch recipes in coolers. Believe me – your guests won’t mind! They’ll welcome a frosty drink to quench their thirst and cool them off – even if it doesn’t come from a fancy punch bowl.

This watermelon punch recipe is awesome! It practically screams “Summer!” This is especially true if you use the hollowed-out shell as a punch bowl. This makes an attractive centerpiece for your party table and is especially appropriate for July 4^th parties and other summer soirees. Just be sure to remove all the mature black seeds from the pulp! Even seedless watermelons have a few seeds sometimes. Don’t worry about the tiny white seeds – they’ll be pulverized in the blender.

I love fresh peaches, especially those grown in my home state of Georgia. If you’ve ever had a “fuzzy navel” cocktail, you’ll find that this party punch is very similar in flavor. I made a batch of this punch today for the grandkids - sans alcohol - and they loved it. I could drink myself silly on this stuff – literally!

6 fresh peaches (cling-free varieties work better)

2 quarts orange juice

2 pints peach schnapps

1 pint vodka

Crushed ice

1 liter ginger ale

Directions: Peel and slice peaches. Puree pulp with 2 cups orange juice. Add remaining orange juice, peach schnapps, and vodka. Stir with crushed ice. Add ginger ale just before serving.

Iced tea punch is pretty popular here in the Deep South, which isn’t surprising. You know how we southerners love our iced tea! In case you’ve never sampled tea punch, you might be surprised at how well the tea combines with fruit flavors, especially orange juice, pineapple juice, and lime juice. Of course, iced tea punch just about has to include some lemon juice!

Ingredients:

1 gallon unsweetened brewed tea

1 quart orange juice

2 pints spiced rum

1 pint pineapple juice

1 ½ cups sugar

3 six-ounce cans frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

1 cup fresh mint leaves, bruised

Crushed ice

Sliced lemons, limes, and oranges

Directions: Combine tea, orange juice, spiced rum, pineapple juice, sugar, lemonade concentrate, and mint leaves. Using a funnel, pour punch into clean jugs and refrigerate. When ready to serve, pour punch through a strainer into a large punch bowl. Add crushed ice and fruit slices.