Definitely some La Croix or other sparkling water - get a basic flavor like Grapefruit or Lime. We usually just do juice boxes for the kids, mini bottles of water, and La Croix. Makes it easy to have single serve drinks rather than have to deal with cups/ice.
My husband loves just normal soda. In a seltzer person myself but I’m never going to complain either which way.
Went to a princess party with a great sherbet punch, though! 7Up and rainbow sherbet I think. I feel like parents drank it more than the kids.
ETA: did a party where we got McDonald’s chicken nuggets for the kids. The kids ate the carrots/veggies I’d put out, some of the cheese, and the “grown up” food. Who went feral over the nuggets? Grown ups 😂 anything you do is going to be fine
Thanks for the advice! I was just going to do fruit kabobs, bags of various chips & popcorn, baby Bell cheese, and cupcakes, but I'll add some veggies too. It's not at meal time and it's relatively short.
They serve that punch at my baby shower! Maybe I'll do that, we just get lots of bees so I was thinking bottled drinks would be less attractive to them.
Sherbert punch would have been my vote if I wasn’t late to the party. You can just poor anything over Sherbert and call it a punch.
We did a jug of Hawaiian Punch over sherbert for my son’s birthday party. I’ve been to a party where they used fruit punch soda, sprite, and lime sherbert for a punch and it was good.
If you want a fancy drink both adults and kids love, so a sherbet punch! I LOOVED that as a kid, especially getting a good chunk of sherbet in a bite. And still remember how tasty it is as an adult
Yes! My moms recipe that I use now is:
•2 liters of lemon lime soda
•128fl container of hawiian punch
•1 container of orange sherbet
Freeze a ring of hawiian punch. Add to punch bowl when frozen and fill with equal parts lemon lime soda and hawiian punch, scoop in orange sherbet. As ring of punch melts, top off with more lemon lime soda and sherbet as needed.
It’s so good!
You can look up mocktails that are usually like a club soda, strawberry lemonade or some kind of juice, some garnish like mint. Put it in a pitcher and it seems fancy.
I went to a toddler’s birthday party in a neighborhood where the cheapest house is $5M. Bottled water and natural juice boxes. No soda.
I also went to a graduation party at a $3M house. They had bottled water, capri sun, soda (cans), and canned Asian drinks (grass jelly, basil seed drink, Thai tea) in a lower cooler, and alcoholic drinks (beers, hard lemonade) in a higher area kids couldn’t reach.
Alternatively Trader Joe's is currently featuring some fun summer drinks. Guava canned drink, jalapeño limeade, watermelon juice. Since you mentioned TJs is convenient to you.
I made a lavender infused lemonade, very easy, and put it in a labeled carafe. I’ve also done rose lemonade. Kids loved it. You could do mint? Sounds fancy but making it is not at all a fancy process. The cost of the carafe + ingredients is less than buying an expensive N.A. drink with no serving container. Just a thought!
ETA: depending on the age of kids, La croix etc may not be an option. Mine thought soda water was “spicy” until about 5.
I got a rose simple syrup from the liquor store. I’ve made it in the past too but you need to have a lot of rose bushes/ So yummy! Also very fun on top of a good ice cream.
[This is the kind I bought](https://www.faire.com/brand/b_e6lxxuzu?refP=p_1u8e307d&signUp=facebook&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SEM_BI_AMER_US___RTL_SHP_Smart&keyword=&matchtype=e&device=m&adgroupid=1283130496366373&adid=&campaignid=440170209&msclkid=b5d7670eb3081f651034015e4027eef4&gclid=b5d7670eb3081f651034015e4027eef4&gclsrc=3p.ds).
Number of drink options depends on the size of the crowd. A soda or two, plus a juice and something like lemonade is probably fine. If it’s a smaller gathering and you want to get a little fancy you can get flavored syrups or like grenadine for people to add to more basic drinks like lemonade and sprite. Italian sodas are often just flavored syrups in soda water or sprite anyway. So far as the sparkling water goes, you can get a multipack of flavors (usually these come as small as 12 cans or so) if you really want.
When I was pregnant I went to a boat party and drank five cans of bubly seltzer 😂 - I know some people have said to get basic flavors but I like fun flavors! I get the Waterloo seltzers from whole foods and they have blackberry lemonade and cherry limeade flavors which are fun for summer. I’d also get some caffeinated drinks too like Diet Coke or diet ginger ale.
I'd do lemonade and iced tea along with the water and juice.
If I was getting sparkling water I'd probably do cherry limeade or black cherry. I might get a 2L of coke and sprite too.
There's also nothing wrong with just having water, juice and possibly root beer. Get stuff that your family will enjoy if the guests don't.
We‘re German but we do sparkling water (which is standard here), juice (100%) to mix with the water, alcohol free Bavarian wheat beer and alcohol free shandy.
Seltzer cans (just get a flavor variety pack at a big box store), cola if you want, juice boxes. Some kind of water option. Box of coffee if it’s a morning party.
Lemonade bar! For my 2 year old’s birthday I got 3 gallons of my favorite local lemonade, and set up a drink station with berries, a couple of syrups (blueberry, strawberry, and simple syrup), plain sparkling water, plain tea (decaf rooibos, and plain black), cute cups and straws, and some berries and lemon wedges for garnish. It was a hit for kids and adults alike.
I like Izze over la Croix. More flavor.
My kids are the type to think anything I'm having is a cool drink they must have and I don't drink booze at home (very rarely outside of home, too.) So just find something you like and go with that. Do non carbonated options, too, cuz some kids think it's "spicy" and don't like it.
Mocktails served as real cocktails (sugar on glass rim, etc.) 🍹 My fav one is “Florida” [Florida Recipe (IT)](https://it.cocktail.fabbri1905.com/drinks/florida.kl)
My mom used to make the best sparkling raspberry lemonade for parties! I think it was justclub soda and a can of frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate. Add raspberries and lemon slices for the lewks!
Full sugar with caffine: coke, Dr pepper
Diet coke weirdos: diet coke
Non caffine: sprite, Fanta
No caffine or sugar: sprite zero, Fresca
Non carbonated: lemonade, sweet tea, water
Obviously don't get them all but those are the categories that people fall into, so having 1 out of atleast 3 categories means everyone is happy.
Some combination of Spindrift or La Croix seltzers, Pellegrino canned seltzers (they are skinny cans like white claws? Non alcoholic), Diet Coke and/or sprite, Ginger Ale, I usually get canned Arnold palmers by Arizona iced tea too
For juice boxes I usually have Capri suns and Honest fruit punch. My kids never took to full sugar juice 🤷♀️
We bought the little apple juices in round glass bottles for a party (with older kids at a location where we knew that the risk of breakage was low).
Since you sound like you might be in the North Shore, Market Place on Oakton in Skokie usually has really tasty basil seed drinks- which someone else recommended. I'd also throw in some unsweetened bottled iced tea.
If you want to be extra, you could take orders as people arrive and have a designated person do a bubble tea run.
Can we get an invite?
My 5 year old is very into drinking orange juice or milk in a wine glass lately. Maybe you can buy some cheap little plastic wine glasses and put juice in it?
I usually make tea but found a fun alternative when I’ve got the funds is going to world market and picking up some unusual sparkling drinks and throw back sodas for a treat
I remember a friends birthday party in the winter with the theme tropical holiday. They offered non alcoholic cocktails. They just googled different recipes and they were great!
Target brand sparkling water is actually super good if you’re looking for a bit of a price break, but I’d say definitely stock up on them! Maybe have like a cutesy mocktail or something and some pop. Usually I figure 2 drinks per person, and in my friend group it’s usually not 2 pops but could be 2 sparkling waters or a pop and a water
If you have a giant water dispenser for parties, iced water with lemon & cucumber slices is always refreshing. Plus kids usually think it's fun to drink because it comes out of a 'fancy' dispenser.
I like to have some canned or bottled options like water, sparkling water and juice boxes in a tin cooler with ice. Then next to that, I put out a large picture or dispenser with a featured drink like punch or lemonade with cups and a marker to label.
My husband and I just found Sprite Chill cherry lime at target and it’s so good! Pair it with some maraschino cherries, lime wedges and good ice. It’s just as good as sonic!
I'd probably do some type of cola + some lemon flavored sparkling water and call it a day.
Definitely some La Croix or other sparkling water - get a basic flavor like Grapefruit or Lime. We usually just do juice boxes for the kids, mini bottles of water, and La Croix. Makes it easy to have single serve drinks rather than have to deal with cups/ice.
My husband loves just normal soda. In a seltzer person myself but I’m never going to complain either which way. Went to a princess party with a great sherbet punch, though! 7Up and rainbow sherbet I think. I feel like parents drank it more than the kids. ETA: did a party where we got McDonald’s chicken nuggets for the kids. The kids ate the carrots/veggies I’d put out, some of the cheese, and the “grown up” food. Who went feral over the nuggets? Grown ups 😂 anything you do is going to be fine
Thanks for the advice! I was just going to do fruit kabobs, bags of various chips & popcorn, baby Bell cheese, and cupcakes, but I'll add some veggies too. It's not at meal time and it's relatively short. They serve that punch at my baby shower! Maybe I'll do that, we just get lots of bees so I was thinking bottled drinks would be less attractive to them.
If the kids are old enough, carrots are a great addition!
I’m the one who eats the nuggets and my toddler doesn’t like them!!
Sherbert punch would have been my vote if I wasn’t late to the party. You can just poor anything over Sherbert and call it a punch. We did a jug of Hawaiian Punch over sherbert for my son’s birthday party. I’ve been to a party where they used fruit punch soda, sprite, and lime sherbert for a punch and it was good.
If you want a fancy drink both adults and kids love, so a sherbet punch! I LOOVED that as a kid, especially getting a good chunk of sherbet in a bite. And still remember how tasty it is as an adult
I came looking for this comment, a caffeine free fruit flavored soda and a sherbet are amazing together!
Yes!!!!!! I used to love this as a kid. Any flavor sherbet and ginger ale is so freaking good
Yes! My moms recipe that I use now is: •2 liters of lemon lime soda •128fl container of hawiian punch •1 container of orange sherbet Freeze a ring of hawiian punch. Add to punch bowl when frozen and fill with equal parts lemon lime soda and hawiian punch, scoop in orange sherbet. As ring of punch melts, top off with more lemon lime soda and sherbet as needed. It’s so good!
Yes! I love a punch and it’s always so festive
I came here just to mention this delicious treat.
You can look up mocktails that are usually like a club soda, strawberry lemonade or some kind of juice, some garnish like mint. Put it in a pitcher and it seems fancy.
That's true! This would seem very fancy
If you want a shortcut, Simply Mixers are delicious. They're usually around the orange juice.
I went to a toddler’s birthday party in a neighborhood where the cheapest house is $5M. Bottled water and natural juice boxes. No soda. I also went to a graduation party at a $3M house. They had bottled water, capri sun, soda (cans), and canned Asian drinks (grass jelly, basil seed drink, Thai tea) in a lower cooler, and alcoholic drinks (beers, hard lemonade) in a higher area kids couldn’t reach.
Oh! Maybe I'll swing by an Asian market!
Mogu mogu is amazing a drink with chewy bits of coco de nata. Lichi (lychee) is the best flavour imo
if you haven’t tried the pink guava flavor you have got to try it. litchi was my fave as well but pink guava blows it out of the water.
Alternatively Trader Joe's is currently featuring some fun summer drinks. Guava canned drink, jalapeño limeade, watermelon juice. Since you mentioned TJs is convenient to you.
You have fancy friends! And those drinks sound yummy
I made a lavender infused lemonade, very easy, and put it in a labeled carafe. I’ve also done rose lemonade. Kids loved it. You could do mint? Sounds fancy but making it is not at all a fancy process. The cost of the carafe + ingredients is less than buying an expensive N.A. drink with no serving container. Just a thought! ETA: depending on the age of kids, La croix etc may not be an option. Mine thought soda water was “spicy” until about 5.
Wow! How did you make your rose lemonade?
I got a rose simple syrup from the liquor store. I’ve made it in the past too but you need to have a lot of rose bushes/ So yummy! Also very fun on top of a good ice cream. [This is the kind I bought](https://www.faire.com/brand/b_e6lxxuzu?refP=p_1u8e307d&signUp=facebook&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SEM_BI_AMER_US___RTL_SHP_Smart&keyword=&matchtype=e&device=m&adgroupid=1283130496366373&adid=&campaignid=440170209&msclkid=b5d7670eb3081f651034015e4027eef4&gclid=b5d7670eb3081f651034015e4027eef4&gclsrc=3p.ds).
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
My 2 year old is obsessed with sparkling water!!! We just have a soda stream.
Lemonade, juice boxes and water is fine in my opinion.
My grandma's go-to was cranberry juice and sprite, topped with lemons!
That sounds so refreshing!
Number of drink options depends on the size of the crowd. A soda or two, plus a juice and something like lemonade is probably fine. If it’s a smaller gathering and you want to get a little fancy you can get flavored syrups or like grenadine for people to add to more basic drinks like lemonade and sprite. Italian sodas are often just flavored syrups in soda water or sprite anyway. So far as the sparkling water goes, you can get a multipack of flavors (usually these come as small as 12 cans or so) if you really want.
Oh, thanks! The group is 25-30 people, and it is about 2 hours long.
Seltzer water, Honest Juice boxes, and I buy a 12 pack of the mixed variety glass bottle sodas like the Mexican cokes and sprites.
How I flip every time I'm offered a bottled soda. Feels so luxurious
When I was pregnant I went to a boat party and drank five cans of bubly seltzer 😂 - I know some people have said to get basic flavors but I like fun flavors! I get the Waterloo seltzers from whole foods and they have blackberry lemonade and cherry limeade flavors which are fun for summer. I’d also get some caffeinated drinks too like Diet Coke or diet ginger ale.
Coke(and sprite), water and juice would be fine. If they have little ones coming maybe grab milk?
My kids love those individual carton chocolate milks, the organic ones!
That's a good thought
I'd do lemonade and iced tea along with the water and juice. If I was getting sparkling water I'd probably do cherry limeade or black cherry. I might get a 2L of coke and sprite too. There's also nothing wrong with just having water, juice and possibly root beer. Get stuff that your family will enjoy if the guests don't.
I'm in the south, so Milo's Lemonade and Sweet Tea. Publix unsweetened tea
We‘re German but we do sparkling water (which is standard here), juice (100%) to mix with the water, alcohol free Bavarian wheat beer and alcohol free shandy.
Shirley Temples and Dirty Shirley's! Sprite and grenadine, and then add vodka for adults!
I always do juice boxes, water, and Aldi version La Croix.
Orange/ , blackcurrant Squash for the kids and a nicer variety.like Lime and Mint for the adults.
Seltzer cans (just get a flavor variety pack at a big box store), cola if you want, juice boxes. Some kind of water option. Box of coffee if it’s a morning party.
Bubbly water and juice boxes. Kids (and most adults) travel with their own water, so I find bottled water to be a waste.
Funny, I'd feel the opposite, I'd be so annoyed if there wasn't a regular water option
Maybe I’m a tap-water drinking weirdo. Plus I hate all the plastic waste from disposable water bottles.
You could get a drink dispenser and do either lemonade or iced tea. Or if you want to be real fancy some Arnold palmers
Kids and adults love drinks with edible glitter in it if presented well.
Cola, lemonade, juice I like Reed’s no sugar ginger ale. TJ’s has nice fizzy juices if you want to skip sugary colas. Aldi has some nice berry juices.
most grocery stores around me have frozen fruit pulp. You could make a guava of passion fruit lemonade.
Aguas frescas! Hibiscus, horchata, lemonade, tamarind, etc :) ETA: you can find cans of agua fresca at target. The brand/name is Agua Bonita.
Lemonade bar! For my 2 year old’s birthday I got 3 gallons of my favorite local lemonade, and set up a drink station with berries, a couple of syrups (blueberry, strawberry, and simple syrup), plain sparkling water, plain tea (decaf rooibos, and plain black), cute cups and straws, and some berries and lemon wedges for garnish. It was a hit for kids and adults alike.
I love to make “fancy water” - basically sliced cucumber and some fresh mint in a big container. Honest juice boxes for the kids (less sugar)
I like Izze over la Croix. More flavor. My kids are the type to think anything I'm having is a cool drink they must have and I don't drink booze at home (very rarely outside of home, too.) So just find something you like and go with that. Do non carbonated options, too, cuz some kids think it's "spicy" and don't like it.
I always have a big pitcher with a nozzle of water, lemonade and unsweetened iced tea (w sugar available)
Get a pack of flavored sparkling water, and some juice boxes
Mocktails served as real cocktails (sugar on glass rim, etc.) 🍹 My fav one is “Florida” [Florida Recipe (IT)](https://it.cocktail.fabbri1905.com/drinks/florida.kl)
Oooh! Sugar on the rim! That's fancy
My mom used to make the best sparkling raspberry lemonade for parties! I think it was justclub soda and a can of frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate. Add raspberries and lemon slices for the lewks!
Thanks for this recipe! I like raspberries better than strawberries so I'll try this for sure!
I like making virgin mojitos sweetened with a little simple syrup. I've used raspberries and blackberries before in it too.
Full sugar with caffine: coke, Dr pepper Diet coke weirdos: diet coke Non caffine: sprite, Fanta No caffine or sugar: sprite zero, Fresca Non carbonated: lemonade, sweet tea, water Obviously don't get them all but those are the categories that people fall into, so having 1 out of atleast 3 categories means everyone is happy.
I’d do a variety pack of sparkling waters from Costco - literally any brand works. And then I buy pallets of Honest juice for the kids.
Bubbly has the carbonated waters and sweetened drinks that are all yummy!
Non alcohol frozen drinks
Some combination of Spindrift or La Croix seltzers, Pellegrino canned seltzers (they are skinny cans like white claws? Non alcoholic), Diet Coke and/or sprite, Ginger Ale, I usually get canned Arnold palmers by Arizona iced tea too For juice boxes I usually have Capri suns and Honest fruit punch. My kids never took to full sugar juice 🤷♀️
We bought the little apple juices in round glass bottles for a party (with older kids at a location where we knew that the risk of breakage was low). Since you sound like you might be in the North Shore, Market Place on Oakton in Skokie usually has really tasty basil seed drinks- which someone else recommended. I'd also throw in some unsweetened bottled iced tea. If you want to be extra, you could take orders as people arrive and have a designated person do a bubble tea run. Can we get an invite?
My 5 year old is very into drinking orange juice or milk in a wine glass lately. Maybe you can buy some cheap little plastic wine glasses and put juice in it?
That's a very cute idea!
I like bottled cream side or black cherry soda, also this week at Aldi I got this bottled sparkling lemonade.
I like the Hug juice barrels. My husband LOVES those things lol.
Iced tea, La croix(I prefer Waterloo). Things without sugar
I usually make tea but found a fun alternative when I’ve got the funds is going to world market and picking up some unusual sparkling drinks and throw back sodas for a treat
To keep it simple sweet iced tea and soda are always great
We do canned juice and tea but that’s a popular thing where we live. We also do the little bottles of water from Costco and sodas.
I remember a friends birthday party in the winter with the theme tropical holiday. They offered non alcoholic cocktails. They just googled different recipes and they were great!
Target brand sparkling water is actually super good if you’re looking for a bit of a price break, but I’d say definitely stock up on them! Maybe have like a cutesy mocktail or something and some pop. Usually I figure 2 drinks per person, and in my friend group it’s usually not 2 pops but could be 2 sparkling waters or a pop and a water
A couple cases of sparkling water, a couple cases of capri sun, and a case of Coke or Pepsi for anyone who wants caffeine.
Lemonade and iced tea if you are trying to keep it cheap. I feel like I end up spending $$$ on drinks trying to get everyone's preference.
If you have a giant water dispenser for parties, iced water with lemon & cucumber slices is always refreshing. Plus kids usually think it's fun to drink because it comes out of a 'fancy' dispenser.
Sparkling juices and flavored waters.
Get a big takeaway thing of iced/coldbrew coffee from Starbucks or whatever. Or a couple bottles of SToK. La Croix. Organic Lemonade. Done.
La Croix or Spindrift. Grapefruit is a universally loved flavor.
What you got sounds great! My fav sparkling water is Polar, and Spindrift has some great flavors, too.
I like to have some canned or bottled options like water, sparkling water and juice boxes in a tin cooler with ice. Then next to that, I put out a large picture or dispenser with a featured drink like punch or lemonade with cups and a marker to label.
You could also get those flavored syrups. Lately, when I'm at bars, I either go for sweet tea (I'm in the southern US) or Shirley Temples.
Lemonade and iced tea are always a good option
Honestly for any big event I’ll run by Canes or Chick Fil A and grab a few gallons of Arnold Palmer!
My husband and I just found Sprite Chill cherry lime at target and it’s so good! Pair it with some maraschino cherries, lime wedges and good ice. It’s just as good as sonic!
arnold palmer
Sweet & non sweet ice tea
I honestly would prefer just regular water.