Santa Claus Christmas Punch is an extra-delicious, easy, make-ahead holiday punch that's perfect for celebrating the holidays. This festive boozy punch is so good you will want to plan a party just so that you can serve it to your friends.
1cup100% cranberry juicenot cranberry juice cocktail
750mldry sparkling wineI used Prosecco
Instructions
Refrigerate all ingredients except the sugar until you are ready to make the punch.
Make a simple syrup by placing the sugar and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir constantly and boil about 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves, and the mixture is clear. Let the syrup cool.
Stir together the pomegranate juice, tequila, lemon juice, and cranberry juice in a large gallon-size container or punch bowl and add the cooled simple syrup. Chill at least 4 hours.
If making an ice ring, add cranberry juice and cranberries to a mold and freeze until firm, which should also take about 4 hours. If you don't have a mold, you could fill the cups of a muffin tin, use paper cups, or even a plastic storage bowl to make a block of cranberry ice to keep your punch cold.
Right before you serve your punch, add the sparkling wine and ice ring.
Notes
You can substitute lime juice for lemon juice. If you are in a pinch, you can also use frozen lemon juice, but don't use the bottled lemon juice.
You can also substitute vodka for the tequila.
The fruit juice mixture is delicious by itself, so if you want to make this punch non-alcoholic, leave out the tequila and sparkling wine and add a bottle of club soda.
If making an ice ring, you will need additional cranberry juice and fresh or frozen cranberries. You can use water instead of cranberry juice for the ice ring, but it will dilute your punch when it melts.
If you don't have a mold, you could fill the cups of a muffin tin, use paper cups, or even a plastic storage bowl to make a block of cranberry ice to keep your punch cold.