Looking for an easy Holiday Punch to serve all your guests this season? Try this recipe with cranberry juice, apple cider, vodka and champagne for the ultimate festive drink everyone will love!
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About this Holiday Punch Recipe
This easy Holiday Punch recipe is about as festive as it gets! Loaded to the brim with fresh cranberries, sliced blood oranges and the warming flavor of apple cider, this punch truly embraces the flavors of the season.
As with my Halloween punch and Thanksgiving punch, a festive punch is a really easy way to serve a large crowd. Instead of being tied to the bar cart all evening, making cocktail after cocktail, you can mix up a batch of punch and have everyone serve themselves. A win-win!
Holiday Punch is one of our favorite drink recipes when it’s time to ring in the season. Our friends always love it and it doesn’t take much effort to put together on my end. That’s always helpful when you’re hosting and there’s a million things to do!
Serve this easy Christmas punch recipe with any of your favorite appetizers. A bacon ranch cheese ball is always tasty and these cranberry brie bites are an extra festive option. Make your next holiday party memorable with this tasty punch!
More punch recipes: Lemon Champagne Punch • Prosecco Punch • Jungle Juice
Why you’ll love this recipe
It’s really easy to love holiday punch that has so much festive flavor:
- As long as you prepare the juice ice cubes ahead of time, this punch only takes 15 minutes to make. A really quick prep before your party!
- This recipe is easy to double or triple to ensure that you can serve every single guest. It’s a fantastic party recipe.
- Easily make a few swaps or substitutions to serve this punch without alcohol. It’s such a versatile recipe.
Tools & glassware
To make this punch, you will first need something to serve it in. Whether you prefer a punch bowl with a ladle, a large drink dispenser with a spigot or a big pitcher, all will work for this recipe.
You will also need measuring cups, ice cube trays and punch cups for serving. (I love these disposable plastic cups with a gold rim — so festive!) Grab a sharp knife and cutting board, too, to slice the oranges and apples to use as a garnish.
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Ingredients
Before you’re off to make this yummy holiday punch, you need to make sure you have all the ingredients. Here’s what this recipe calls for:
- apple cider
- cranberry juice
- vodka
- champagne
- ginger ale
- sliced green apple
- sliced blood oranges
- fresh cranberries
- ice cubes
Garnishes
While fresh cranberries and apple and orange slices are perfect garnishes to use in the punch bowl, there are a few fun garnishes you can add for each glass of punch.
Some sugared cranberries on a cocktail pick will add a fun, snowy look to a glass of holiday punch. Dehydrated orange slices would be a stylish garnish too. Pomegranate seeds would be another great fresh option.
Herb ice cubes would be a fun way to chill the drink while giving it an extra aesthetic appeal. Or even make some berry ice cubes with fresh cranberries!
And don’t forget the appeal of a cinnamon sugar rim on each glass of punch!
Best champagne
Because champagne can only come from the Champagne region of France, it can be a tad expensive. Any kind of dry sparkling wine, such as cava or prosecco, will work here too. Look for “dry,” “brut” or “extra brut” on the label for a drier style that will match the sweet flavors of this punch.
Everyone has their opinions on what is the best champagne, but I’ve got a champagne 101 guide for those who don’t know what to choose. A great budget buy is Freixenet or La Marca, which are both in the $10-20 range. They are good quality yet they don’t break the bank.
Best vodka
Vodka provides a nice blank slate in this cocktail that lets the citrus and sweetness shine. You can also substitute a flavored vodka, like vanilla vodka, or use gin for more herbal undertones.
Tito’s is a widely used and popular brand and would be great for this punch. But you can really use whatever brand of vodka you prefer. Need help choosing? Check out my vodka 101 guide.
Substitutions & variations
Swap the spirits: You could swap vodka for light rum, tequila, gin or anything else you have on hand! The flavors of vodka and cranberry are delicious together, but you can make this recipe your own.
Cider swaps: Both store-bought cider and homemade apple cider will work in this recipe. You can also use sparkling cider for even more bubbles.
Non-alcoholic punch: Make this into a non-alcoholic punch by using non-alcoholic spirits in place of vodka or omitting it altogether. And you can replace the champagne with sparkling grape juice! Keep in mind that this will likely make it a bit more sweet.
No blood oranges? You can use regular oranges instead. Lemon slices, pomegranate seeds or a mix of red and green apple slices are also great additions.
Instructions
Follow these simple steps to make the most amazing holiday punch ever:
Fill half an ice cube tray with apple cider and the other half with cranberry juice. Freeze for about an hour or more to make ice cubes.
You’ll also want to prepare the fresh fruit when you’re ready to make punch, but if you’re not serving it right away, it’s better to add it just before serving.
In a punch bowl or pitcher, combine cranberry juice, vodka and apple cider. Only just before serving, add the champagne and ginger ale to keep the bubbles fresh.
Garnish the punch bowl with sliced apples, blood orange slices and fresh cranberries. Add juice ice cubes to the punch bowl as needed to keep it cold. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Tips & tricks
Check out these few tips and tricks to make the best punch:
- For the best flavor, use 100% cranberry juice and not cranberry juice cocktail, which is much sweeter. Be sure to double check the bottle before grabbing something at the grocery store!
- To keep the apple slices from turning brown, spritz them with some lemon juice after slicing and before adding to the punch bowl.
- To avoid regular ice cubes watering down the punch as it sits out, make ice cubes with cider and juice. It also helps to use chilled champagne and ginger ale in the punch.
Food pairings
It’s party time! Serve this punch with fun appetizers like sausage balls, spinach artichoke dip or this Christmas charcuterie board. I’m also known to put out a few of these DIY Christmas popcorn tins with homemade popcorn for some light snacking during parties!
This goes great with easy holiday meal recipes too. It’d be tasty with this sheet pan Thanksgiving dinner for sure!
If you want something extra fancy on those appetizer trays, this bacon, fig and goat cheese crostini is perfect.
FAQ
To make ahead, prepare the base of cranberry juice, apple cider and vodka — refrigerate until needed. Then add add the champagne, ginger ale and fruit just before serving
Absolutely not! This delicious recipe can be made without alcohol. Just omit the vodka or replace it with a non-alcoholic spirit. Then swap the champagne for sparkling grape juice.
More holiday drink recipes
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Holiday Punch
ingredients
- 4 cups apple cider chilled, plus more for ice cubes
- 1½ cups 100% cranberry juice chilled, plus more for ice cubes
- 1½ cup vodka chilled
- 750 ml champagne chilled
- 12 ounces ginger ale chilled
- 1 green apple sliced
- 2 blood oranges sliced
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- ice cubes
instructions
- Fill half an ice cube tray with apple cider and the other half with cranberry juice. Freeze for 30 minutes to make ice cubes. (See note.)
- In a punch bowl or pitcher, combine cranberry juice, vodka and apple cider.
- Just before serving, add the champagne and ginger ale.
- Garnish the punch bowl with sliced apples, blood orange slices and fresh cranberries.
- Add juice ice cubes to the punch bowl as needed to keep cold. Serve immediately and enjoy!
notes
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