Christmas Jello Shots

Your holiday parties won’t be complete without a round of Christmas Jello Shots! These festive and jiggly cranberry-flavored treats are made with cranberry juice cocktail, vodka and unflavored gelatin. Top them with sugared cranberries for extra sparkle!

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About this Christmas Jello Shots recipe

We love a festive and fun jello shot around here! Champagne jello shots are one of my most popular recipes, especially for New Year’s Eve, but I always felt Christmas parties needed something a little more merry and bright.

This recipe has been on my to-make list for a few years. I tried making it a few years back with 100% pure cranberry juice, and they just were not sweet enough no matter how hard I tried! And they weren’t pretty, either. (In other words, I do not recommend this!)

I usually love making drinks like my Yule Mule with pure cranberry juice, but it just didn’t work well here, so this year I finally tried it with cranberry juice cocktail, a much sweeter type of cranberry juice. They were just right this time and such a big hit!

They’d be perfect for holiday parties of all kinds. Top them off with sparkly sugared cranberries and little sprigs of rosemary to turn then into little jello shot cups of cheer!

More jello shot recipes: Moscow Mule Jello Shots • Apple Cider Jello Shots • Classic Jello Shots • Margarita Jello Shots • Rumchata Pudding Shots

Why you’ll love this recipe

Homemade Christmas jello shots are so much fun for the holiday season!

• Flavored with cranberry juice and not from a gelatin mix, you can control the sweetness and booziness.
• Jello shots are a fun way to bring people together at a party! Plus these would look pretty on a party spread.
• They are delightfully festive for holiday parties, Christmas Eve or even Thanksgiving. Feel free to leave them out for Santa for a jolly twist! (Surely he’s tired of cookies by now?)

Tools & equipment

To make jello shots, you’ll need a few things from your kitchen.

• 1-ounce shot glasses*: I like plastic shot glasses for making them en masse for a party. Here are my favorite jello shot cups.
• Stirring utensils like spoons or whisks
• Measuring cups
• Saucepan for boiling water
• Pouring tool: Totally optional for more precise pouring. You could use a turkey baster or funnel with a measuring cup. A measuring cup with a spout works well too!
• Mixing bowl for making sugared cranberries

*Note: Using 1-ounce glasses or 1½-ounce ones is best. Bigger ones will have more booze, but you’ll make fewer shots. You can also make these jiggler-style in a greased baking pan — cut them into cubes or with a star cookie cutter.

Best cups for jello shots

Jello shots are most often served in disposable plastic cups for individual enjoyment. Jello shot cups with lids, which are essentially condiment cups like you get with takeout, are great for storing a lot of them in the fridge (they stack!) and for transporting (their smooth tops are protected!)

Plastic shot glasses are great for shots that look like mini cocktails. If you don’t have enough small shot glasses, you can improvise! Use ice cube trays or even a muffin tin.

You can also make jello shots jigglers-style (remember those?) by pouring the mixture into a lightly-greased baking dish, then cutting them into squares. You can even use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.

favorite jello shot cups

squeezable jello shot cups

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jello shot cups with lids

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plastic shot glasses

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Ingredients

You can pull these jello shots together with only four simple ingredients. (Plus the garnishes if you want to add those!)

• cranberry juice cocktail: Don’t use 100% cranberry juice! I mean, you can, but it’s much less sweet and doesn’t have the same Rudolph’s Nose Red color that cranberry juice cocktail does.
• granulated sugar: You want to use white sugar here, as brown sugar will alter the color.
• plain vodka: You can swap in another clear spirit like gin, light rum or tequila, or use a flavored vodka like vanilla vodka or orange vodka.
• unflavored gelatin: Exactly what it sounds like, unflavored gelatin is the jiggly powder without all the color and flavoring you get from a box of gelatin dessert mix. The brand I use is Knox. You’ll need two packets (7 grams) for one batch.

Garnishes

I finished these beauties off with my favorite holiday garnish: easy-to-make and glittery sugared cranberries, plus a few tiny sprigs of rosemary for extra pizzazz. (You could eat the rosemary but I’d pick it off, personally! The sugared cranberries are like candy though, so I do eat those.)

To make sugared cranberries, you’ll also need sugar, water, fresh cranberries and more granulated sugar. Add them right before serving, not in advance.

If you want to go another route, you could use plain cranberries or whipped cream with festive sprinkles and/or a maraschino cherry on top. Or skip the garnish altogether!

Best vodka for jello shots

There are a number of vodka brands on the market, and it can be confusing to decide which one. Budget is an important factor, but keep in mind that less expensive brands are more likely to burn the mouth. Save these for flavorful cocktails like a Bloody Mary.

Remember that stores stock the cheap stuff on the bottom shelf and premium brands will be at eye-level to catch your attention. The best bargains will be somewhere in the middle.

If you are only making one or two batches of jello shots (this recipe makes 16 but only uses 1 cup vodka), you can get away with a smaller bottle. But if you’d like to have more leftover for vodka cocktails, grab a bigger bottle — perhaps with more quality as well.

Cheap doesn’t always mean bad, though. My recommendation for flavorful jello shots that don’t taste too boozy is an 80-proof vodka. Look for one of these brands in the $10-$20 range (I like Tito’s a lot but it’s a bit pricier!).

• New Amsterdam
• Pinnacle
• Seagrams
• Smirnoff
• Svedka

Substitutions & variations

There are a number of ways to make this Christmas jello shot recipe!

With gelatin mix: If you’d prefer not to use unflavored gelatin, you can make my classic jello shots with a red-colored box mix, like strawberry, cherry or cranberry.

Other alcohol: As far as alcohol, I typically use vodka, but you have options! You can use white rum or tequila too. You don’t really need to use a flavored rum or vodka (like coconut or pineapple) because the jello is so flavorful, but you could.

Non-alcoholic: Yes, you can make these boozy treats without alcohol! Replace the vodka with 50% water and 50% cranberry juice cocktail — you need to have the same amount of liquid for them to set. You could also serve something else non-alcoholic like a virgin yule mule or this sparkling holiday mocktail.

Shapes: You can make these layered jello shots in a baking pan to make them like jigglers. By pouring the mixture into a lightly-greased baking dish, then cut them into squares or use a cookie cutter.

Layered look: If you want to make layers, follow my recipe for red, white & blue jello shots. Instead of the blue, use green like lime jello or green apple jello. You’ll have perfect stacks of Christmas colors! You could also alternate a red layer and a white layer (no green jello) to make them look like candy canes!

Instructions

Cranberry jello shots are so super simple to make! If you’ve never tried making jello shot with unflavored gelatin before, do not be daunted as it is pretty straightforward! Your next Christmas party is worth the effort! (And it’s hardly any extra effort, honestly.)

First, prepare the molds. Spray them lightly with cooking spray and use a paper towel to wipe away any excess, leaving a very light coating.

In a small saucepan, add cranberry juice cocktail. Sprinkle gelatin over top and allow to rest for 5 minutes until gelatin is softened and the liquid’s surface appears slightly wrinkled.

The mixture should look wrinkled at this point. Warm the pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sugar. Whisk until the jello mixture is completely dissolved. Do not let it boil — we’re just warming it up! Remove from heat.

Pour in the vodka and stir it up well. It’s okay if the mixture is a little bubbly — these will dissipate.

Distribute the liquid equally amongst your molds of choice. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours before serving, until set. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy within 2-3 days. (They can be made ahead, but not too far in advance. Also, jello shots do not freeze well.)

Before serving, garnish with rosemary and sugared cranberries, which you can make while the jello shots set. They are easy to put together with a little simple syrup and some more granulated sugar!

How to store them

Jello shots have the best flavor when fresh, so make them the day of your event or up to 2 days before. Technically, you can make them more in advance, but they tend to shrivel and shrink after a week in the fridge. Don’t serve them if they are more than a week old.

However, jello shots do not freeze well. You can make them a couple days ahead of your event, however.

This recipe makes approximately 16 shots when using 1-ounce shot glasses, so put them on a baking sheet so they are easy to transfer in and out of the fridge.

Tips & tricks

• Use a measuring cup with a spout to get clean pours into the cups! Spills on the sides will show up.
• Place the cups on a tray for easy carrying into the fridge.
• Greasing your containers is always a good idea, and one of my top jello shot tips. Simply spritz cooking spray around the interior of your jello shot containers, and use a paper towel to spread it around so that all that’s left is a light coating.
• Jello shots taste best fresh, so make them the day of your event or up to 2 days before.

Food pairings

Serve up these Christmas jello shots with all your favorite holiday foods! They’d be great for a party with salty finger foods like sausage balls and cheese straws. A Christmas charcuterie board is always a hit too.

And anything cranberry would be good too, like these cranberry white chocolate cookies or cranberry bliss bars. And of course, some more sugared cranberries is always welcome! (They are so fun to eat if you like sweet-tart treats!)

When to serve them

These cranberry jello shots are perfect for holiday parties! But they can go far beyond Christmas too. Try serving them at one of these:

• Christmas in July parties (July 25)
• Thanksgiving dinner (fourth Thursday in November)
• Holiday parties in December
• Christmas Eve/Christmas Day dinner (December 24/25)
• New Year’s Eve parties (December 31)

FAQ

More holiday party recipes

• Red Christmas Sangria
• Christmas Mimosa
• Holiday Punch
• Christmas Mojito
• German Glühwein