Poinsettia Drink

When you’re in between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, you need a festive cocktail that pulls triple duty, like the Poinsettia drink! This easy yet elegant sparkling cranberry cocktail is worth toasting the holidays with. 

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Poinsettia Drink Recipe

The time between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve is always so strange. One holiday ends. Family leaves. You might have time to catch up with an old friend. It feels like you are cleaning and organizing forever. Do you take down the decorations now or do you wait until 12 days have passed? I never know. 

Anyone else feel like it’s a whirlwind? And then New Year’s Eve creeps up on you, and it’s suddenly time for a new year, sequins and resolutions. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll plan a NYE bash chock full of champagne jello shots, elderflower French 75 cocktails or lemon champagne punch. But I like to have a fun beverage that I can use at any moment during that time of year for any and all winter holiday parties.

This poinsettia cocktail is fruity, fizzy, and so fun for the holiday season. With the pink and red colors, they’d even be so cute to serve for a Valentine’s Day dinner! It’s the best elegant cocktail that is festive, yet general enough to be used for a variety of different holidays.

So if you’re needing a drink that isn’t just a Christmas cocktail, but still has a festive look, then this poinsettia drink is just the thing!

More champagne cocktail recipes: Champagne Margaritas • Pink Champagne Cocktail • Caramel Apple Mimosas

Why you’ll love this recipe

This cranberry champagne cocktail has such a vibrant color and a delicious flavor. You’re going to love it because:

• You only need four ingredients to make this cocktail recipe. The more simple around the holidays, the better right? This no-fuss drink is so easy to make but still has the prettiest presentation and tastiest flavor.
• Easily make as many of these drinks as you need for your holiday gatherings. Every guest can have their own tasty and festive poinsettia cocktail!
• Since this drink is made glass by glass, you can make a non-alcoholic version very easily! Cranberry juice pairs so well with a non-alcoholic sparkling wine type beverage.

Tools & glassware 

To make this festive cocktail, you’ll need to have a few tools on hand.

Make sure you’ve got a cocktail shaker and something to measure the alcohol needed for each glass. Prepare ahead of time and make sure you have enough champagne glasses for the amount of guests you plan to serve.

The cranberry garnish can just float on top of your drink if you’d like. However, you can also use cocktail picks if your prefer.

Ingredients

With just these few simple ingredients, you can make this festive cocktail for all of the winter holidays that you want! Here’s what you need:

Triple sec: Check out my orange liquer guide for everything you need to know about triple sec. This ingredient is your opportunity to make this cocktail shine though, so I recommend a fancier one like Cointreau or Grand Marnier if you can splurge! 

Unsweetened cranberry juice: You can use sweetened cranberry juice if you prefer, but I like how the tart flavor of unsweetened cranberry juice balances everything else in this recipe. I do not recommend grabbing any kind of cranberry juice cocktail mixture. They have tons of added sugar and don’t mix nicely in a classy cocktail like this. Just pure cranberry juice will do!

Champagne: Don’t know what champagne to grab? Check out this guide to picking out a champagne and sparkling wine and I’ll help you decide on the perfect champagne to make this poinsettia drink. I recommend a brut champagne or prosecco. A dryer sparkling wine will be best to highlight the flavors of the cranberry juice. Spring for a nicer bottle, if you can, for elevated flavors in this cocktail.

Fresh cranberries or sugared cranberries: I love sugared cranberries as a sparkly garnish on this holiday drink, but you can use fresh cranberries too. For a different garnish, you could use an orange twist or a candied orange slice.

Rosemary sprigs: Use these for garnish. Fresh thyme would also be pretty. For Thanksgiving, use sage leaves for a festive touch.

How to make a Poinsettia Drink

You can make this easy Poinsettia Cocktail recipe in a few simple steps:

A few hours before you plan to make the cocktail, place the bottle of champagne in the fridge to chill.

When you’re ready to make the poinsettia drink, add triple sec and cranberry juice to a cocktail shaker that’s filled with ice. Shake well.

Pour the mixture into a champage flute and top with chilled champagne.

Then garnish with either frozen cranberries or sugared cranberries. They can float on top or you can place them onto a cocktail pick. A sprig of rosemary would also be a nice touch!

Serve immediately and enjoy!

What to serve with a Poinsettia Drink

There are so many fun treat to serve with this delicious drink at your holiday parties. A Christmas charcuterie board is always a massive hit, as well as this creamy whipped feta dip.

But I like to have an assortment of cookies ready at any moment during this time of year. Snowflake sugar cookies are so pretty, but a classic chocolate chip cookie is never a bad idea either!

If you’re more a small bite appetizer fan, then serve these bacon fig and goat cheese crostini or bacon wrapped dates with a poinsettia champagne cocktail.

For an easy appetizer, make some DIY popcorn tins filled with delicious salty and sweet popcorn like cheddar cheese popcorn or caramel corn!

Tips & tricks

Check out these tips for the best results on your yummy poinsettia inspired cocktail:

• Freeze your cranberries ahead of time because they will act as ice cubes and will help keep your drinks cold! But if you would rather use sugared cranberries, then just chill your liquid ingredients ahead of time.
• It can be tempting to make a few drinks at a time and let them sit on a table, but for best results just make each drink fresh so that the flavor is perfect and the champagne is still bubbly.
• Use a non-alcoholic sparkling wine or ginger ale with plain cranberry juice to make an alcohol-free version of this beverage for guests who avoid alcohol or who don’t drink. See more in my virgin mimosa recipe for ideas.

FAQ

More Christmas cocktails

• Yule Mule
• Christmas Margaritas
• Apple Cider Mimosas
• Cranberry Mimosas