New year's celebrations can honestly be a total bust sometimes. You have to find something to do (although I vehemently believe in staying home), and it's pretty aggressively implied that people are supposed to drink copious amounts of alcohol, for reasons that go unexplained each year. But this year, your new year's party options are about to blow themselves wide open, because there are actually tons of non-alcoholic new year's drinks that taste way better than anything you were going to add whiskey to.
Although one of the biggest aspects of any holiday is the set of traditions that come with it, I refuse to believe that "drinking" is an acceptable bullet point or required tradition in order to do the New Year's Eve holiday right. After all, celebrating the onset of another year is cause to celebrate with your friends, and what better way to celebrate than by having conversations you'll actually remember the next morning?
Whether you love herbs, or citrus, or frozen drinks, there's a mocktail recipe out there for you, and the best part about the whole thing is that you won't spend the first day of the new year with a pounding headache! Here are 10 non-alcoholic drink recipes to help you ring in the new year.
This lemon lavender mocktini by The Merry Thought calls for one-quarter cup of lemon juice, one and a half tablespoons of lavender simple syrup, and one-quarter teaspoon of grenadine. Get a shaker to mix it all together, drip in a little bit of food dye (if you don't want the drink to be red, a drop of blue will do the trick), and top it all of with a classy-looking sprig of lavender.
There's something about frozen drinks that feels celebratory, even if it's five degrees Fahrenheit outside.
These frozen lemonade drinks from Town & Country will be sure to get you in the mood to set some resolutions and make some memories. All you need is lemon juice, sugar, water, and some vanilla ice cream — game, set, match.
Want to share your mocktails with the group? Make a big bowl of non-alcoholic punch. This cinnamon cranberry punch recipe from Tablespoon is equal parts spicy and sweet, and guaranteed to satisfy everyone's palates all night long.
This two-ingredient recipe is the perfect mocktail to whip up if you're in a rush and don't have the muddlers, shakers, and bitters to make something super fancy. Your ginger grapefruit mocktail by Tablespoon will be a recipe you keep coming back to, trust me. Just pour some grapefruit juice in with your cup of ginger beer, and you're completely good to go.
Cherry bombs are basically a grown-up version of a Shirley temple, and I'm so here for it.
This cherry bomb recipe by Martha Stewart takes a little bit of prep time, because you have to boil grenadine, then leave it overnight to freeze. But when you add a little soda water to that concoction and jump around all night on a sugar high, the prep time will have definitely been worth it.
This spiced cider recipe by Eat Drink and Save Money includes a simple tutorial on how to get a sugar rim, so these drinks are obviously going to be an instant crowd-pleaser. Although, any friend with a serious sweet tooth might start shoving their fingers into your drink as the night progresses.
A cucumber ginger mocktail looks so dainty and delicious that you'll love strolling around with one in your hand all night long. What's more, cucumber and ginger are excellent flavors to combine, because they create a dynamic of a cool, smooth base, combined with the almost-sweet spiciness of ginger.
This recipe by 40Aprons requires ginger, cucumber, water, and sugar — easy as can be.
Sometimes a hot drink is just the right type of liquid satisfaction to sip on all night when the weather's especially chilly.
Even better, this classic wassail recipe by Tablespoon will fill the room with delicious scents to intoxicate your whole party, without any actual booze. Plus, when a drink recipe calls for cinnamon cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, you know it's going to be good.
I am a big, big fan of sangria, and I will actively fight anyone who suggests it's more of a summer drink than a winter one. All you have to do is throw some dark colored fruits in there, and voila — it looks wintery.
This non-alcoholic sangria recipe by The Kitchn requires a whole bunch of sliced fruits (perfect to munch on throughout the party), a few black teabags, two cinnamon sticks, sugar, and pomegranate juice. Yum.
A sidecar is one of the more classic and famous cocktails, but this non-alcoholic version will taste just as good. The Steve McQueen recipe by Delish calls for a wedge orange, old fashion bitters, fresh orange juice, apple cider, and sugar — classy and delicious.
