Nothing could be prettier or more festive than this delicious Sparkling Christmas Slush Drink! It is super impressive to serve for dinner parties, holiday parties, bridal showers, or any other excuse you can think of!
Hey guys! How was Thanksgiving yesterday? Are you eating Tums for breakfast this morning? (Thanksgiving: the great American Holiday of Indigestion.) Regardless, I know I’m still going to be eating pie for breakfast. (We have SO many leftovers. I feel it’s my duty.)
It’s really fun to watch what recipes you guys are making over the holidays. Did you know that for many food bloggers, the day before Thanksgiving is the highest traffic day of the year? (It was for me!) Here were my top recipes on Wednesday:
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
- Literally the Best Mac and Cheese I’ve Ever Had
- Make Ahead Turkey Gravy
- Aunt Shirley’s Famous Dinner Rolls
- Slow Cooker Brown Butter Carrots
Some close runner up recipes include this Crème Brulée Pumpkin Pie that you’ve all had to endure me obsessing over lately (with good reason, guys) and also Cinnamon Honey Butter (for the rolls!) Save these recipes for Christmas when we do it all again!
Is Mac and Cheese a Thanksgiving menu item where you’re from? I had NO idea this was a thing until I started getting tons of traffic on on my Mac and Cheese every Thanksgiving. (Do you make it in place of mashed potatoes??) I asked my neighbor Tyrone what he was making for T-day and he said Mac and Cheese, HIS VERSION. Just remember, I won that contest, guys.
Then on Thanksgiving day all the traffic in the second half of the day shifts to this Turkey Broth from the Bones recipe and Leftover Turkey Barley Soup. Which is exactly what I’ll be making with my turkey carcass tomorrow. Gosh, we’re all just so predictable :)Â Do you have a ton of turkey leftovers? You can use it for literally any recipe that calls for cooked chicken.
This Christmas Slush is another recipe from my Aunt Shirley! She is just full of amazing recipes. I was so excited to share this with you so that you could make it for Thanksgiving like I did, but I ran out of time! I was busy prepping for hosting. I added the recipe to my Instagram stories a few days ago. (I often give sneak peaks of upcoming recipes on Instagram stories, along with behind the scenes type stuff. Follow along, it’s fun! You have to be on mobile.)
You freeze the slush in two 9×13 inch pans so that they are really easy to break up with a fork, pretty much right out of the freezer. DON’T do it in a 1 gallon ice cream bucket like I did at first (left.) It’s too hard to break up.
Hopefully you can use this recipe for Christmas this year. It’s such a fun and easy way to make your holiday table look festive! Plus it’s DELICIOUS. It’s just so nice to have a special drink in a pretty glass with your dinner (I used stemless wine glasses), it makes everything feel more fancy. The sugared rims definitely ups the fancy-factor! It’s super easy, all you need is some lemon juice and colored sugar.
But guys, now that Thanksgiving is over, I’m SO excited to start sharing more Christmas recipes with you! I have plans to share recipes for my Gingerbread Trifle (it’s so good and super easy!), a quick tilapia dinner, Raspberry Thumbprint cookies, Classic Pot Roast, and so much more! I’m mostly sharing that last one to give you the base recipe you need for my Leftover Roast Beef and Potato Pie. I’m so excited about that one!! Have a great weekend everyone!
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One year ago: Classic Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie (you could make this with your leftover turkey!)
Two years ago:Â Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
Six years ago: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Sugar Icing
Sparkling Christmas Slush Drink
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 1 & 1/2 cups sugar
- 5 cups 100% cranberry juice*
- 2 (24-oz) cans frozen lemonade
- 3 cups orange juice
- 1/4 lemon or orange, optional
- colored sugar, optional
- 6 liters Cherry 7Up, Three 2 liter bottles
- fresh cranberries, to garnish
- orange slices, to garnish
Instructions
- In a large pot, combine 4 cups water with the sugar. Heat over high heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- Remove from heat and add the cranberry juice, frozen lemonade (don't make it into juice, just add it frozen), and the orange juice.
- Stir until the lemonade is dissolved.
- Pour the juice into two 9x13 inch casserole dishes or cake pans. Or any wide shallow dish will do.
- Cover and freeze until solid, at least 3 hours or up to 1 week.
- Meanwhile, sugar the rims of the glasses. Pour colored sugar into a small bowl or a plate. (Any color would be fun, but I love to do red sugar. Plain white sugar would be pretty, or yellow. Green would be festive for Christmas!)
- Rub the rim of the glasses with the lemon slice. Dip the glass into the sugar, then set aside to let dry. It's great if you can do this an hour or so before serving, but it's not necessary. You can even do it the night before your party to save time.
- When ready to serve, use a fork to break up chunks of the slush and add to each glass.
- Pour Cherry 7Up in each glass.
- Garnish with fresh cranberries and an orange slice, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Other party drinks you will love!
Easy Cucumber Lime Punch << this is a totally favorite of mine. It’s soooo easy, and very unique!
June Bug: Orange Grenadine Ginger Ale << another super tasty party drink!
Chilled Pineapple Apple Cider << This is an old recipe (these photos! haa!) but it’s a great holiday drink!
More tasty drinks from blog friends!
Cran-Pomegranate Citrus Slushie from Tried and Tasty
Easy Frozen Punch from Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
Raspberry Sherbet Party Punch Slush from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
Beautiful drink! I plan to improve on it by using Champagne instead of 7-Up.
I hadn’t received a response on my question below regarding using g molds for the cubes.
I tried it anyway, and am happy to report that th mostly worked! Rigid molds worked better than the soft/floppy silicone molds. Those were not as deep & many broke. I even added fresh cranberries to some! Wish I could post a pic, but for anyone else wondering…YES you can make molded ice cubes instead of freezing n a boring solid.
Also, since I wasn’t scraping thin to make a slush, I filled the glasses with the ice, and then filled halfway with leftover juice I did not freeze & half with cherry 7-Up Zero. It was very tasty!
If I wanted to add vodka how much would you suggest and what step?Â
Hi Michelle! Unfortunately I don’t drink alcohol so I can’t really help you with this! I imagine you would add it at the end with the soda?
My mom has been making basically this same drink for like 30 years! I have been making it for 15 years. It’s the best drink ever!
Yay! Another believer! I wonder where the original recipe was published? It’s so good!
Woohoo, second times a charm! Haha still feel bad about not commenting on the Insta video. By the way, I believe my PB smore pie recipe may be in my mom’s recipe book if she gave you a copy, if not let me know and I’ll finally hook you up. 😊
Haha no big deal, live and learn right?? And I don’t have a copy of the book I just took a bunch of pictures of Jessica’s book with your mom’s permission. I’d love the PB Smores pie recipe!!
Mac n cheese with turkey sounds like a dream. This slush looks super easy to make, I like the idea of freezing it in a big batch.
Right?? Now I seriously need to try this combo! Mac and cheese AND mashed potatoes!! Thanks Mariana!
Hey Karen, I made this slush drink as per your instruction. And it was delicious!
I’m so glad you liked it Cristina!!
How firm is the slush? Thinking of using it in molds to make shaped ice cubes vs a shredded slush. But worried they’ll fall apart when taking them out.