The holiday season is all about feeling cozy and comfortable, eating and drinking well, and relaxing the days away. However, if you don’t drink alcohol, you may think your options are limited.
If you want delicious non-alcoholic versions or healthy drinks for the festive season, then here are a handful of amazing booze-free drinks you can enjoy this Christmas and beyond.
Pumpkin Smoothie
Christmas doesn’t just have to be about eating and drinking everything unhealthy. There are a few health-friendly options that you can choose from, most notably a pumpkin smoothie. While it doesn’t sound like it would work, it most certainly does.
You combine pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, maple syrup, and almond milk. You can adjust the flavors as you see fit, but this is Christmas in a cup without the calories.
French-Style Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate is synonymous with cold evenings and Christmas time. It is thick and creamy, delicious, and one mug is never enough. The French version of hot chocolate adds a twist that makes it the perfect breakfast drink too.
Dark chocolate hot chocolate is mixed with some freshly-made coffee and topped with sweetened whip cream. You can have it as your morning pick-me-up or as a delightful after-dinner drink.
Peppermint Eggnog
Another Christmas classic has to be eggnog. The creamy and vanilla-filled drink may contain a couple of raw eggs, but don’t let that fool you. Every cup is a tasty and heavenly experience that is ideal for Christmas time.
You can leave out any alcohol in a regular recipe and, instead, coat the rims of your cups or glasses with crushed peppermint cane.
Mulled “Wine”
Mulled wine is a winter warmer across most of Europe and the US. It is a rich and spicy hot drink that gives you all the taste of Christmas in a single sip. The best thing about non-alcoholic mulled wine is how easy it is to make it booze-free.
Plenty of brands and retailers sell alcohol-free wine; switch regular wine for the alcohol-free kind and then add it to a recipe of your choice.
Christmas Punch
Punch is a party favorite and incredibly easy to make. The recipe is entirely up to you; you can mix your favorite fruit juices with fresh fruit and then bubble it up with a bottle of sparkling water or lemon and lime soda.
As mentioned, the recipe is up to you; just taste as you go along to balance the flavors. It is also easy to add alcohol if not everyone is going alcohol-free.
S’mores Hot Chocolate
S’mores hot chocolate is just as good as it sounds. Combining a fireside treat and a winter classic can only lead to one thing; the best combination of dessert and drink, and the recipe is simple too.
Take your favorite hot chocolate recipe, top it with marshmallows that you quickly melt, and top them with chocolate sauce and crumbled-up crackers.
Slow Cooked Pear Cider
Hot cider is a popular Christmas drink all over the world. This recipe calls for some sweet and crisp pears to be mixed with a fantastic collection of spices, slow-cooked and served while you relax next to a raging fire.
All you need to do is slow-cook some pears in water and add vanilla, orange, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and star anise. Let it cook for four hours before mashing the pears and straining them.
Non-Alcoholic Sangria
If you live somewhere that gets long and hot days over Christmas, you will definitely be looking for a drink to cool you down, not warm you up. Sangria is one of the tastiest party drinks around, and the non-alcoholic version is just as good.
Christmas Pudding Mocktail
If you love eating Christmas pudding, then you are definitely going to love drinking it. The drink combines delicious fresh fruit juices with a dried fruit zing and a mixture of spices that will bring in the holiday spirit.
The base consists of cranberry and pomegranate juice, to which you add your favorite dried fruits, a touch of orange, cloves, nutmeg, and mixed spice. It is all the flavor of a Christmas pudding but lighter, fruiter, and spicier.
