The Best Holiday Mocktails According to Fetch

Holiday cocktails are certainly festive, but you might not always want alcohol at your brunch or on your date. Enter the best holiday mocktails (according to Fetch, of course). From holiday punch to mulled pomegranate juice to cranberry cooler, there’s a delicious and easy holiday mocktail for you. 

Before you dive into our delightful drinks, be sure you’ve added the Fetch app to your phone so you can earn points on ingredients for your holiday mocktail recipes, as well as all kinds of holiday snacks with which you can pair the beverages below.

Stock up on mocktail ingredients and earn rewards with Fetch

The first step to earning rewards with Fetch is to snap your receipt. It’s as simple as opening the app and taking a picture. The best way to earn rewards is to take advantage of all the different ways to rack up those points: 

• Favorite Offers: Open up the app and browse the current offers for bonus points on specific products and retailers. Tap the heart icon to favorite them and make a grocery list full of bonus points.
• Boosted Brands: In addition to individual offers, you’ll find entire brands boosted in the app. Just look for the icons with the flame symbol next to them. The bigger the flame, the greater the point boost.
• Fetch Shop: You don’t need to leave the app, let alone the house, to pick up all of your holiday mocktail ingredients. Just tap the shopping cart icon and shop from the app, earning points on nearly every dollar you spend.

Our 5 best holiday mocktail recipes

When you need a mocktail in a pinch, you can usually go to tried and true cocktail recipes and just swap the alcohol out, but they can feel like they’re missing something. It’s why we’ve got 5 of the best holiday mocktail recipes for you here.

Sparkling cranberry lemonade

• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2.5 cups Sprite or club soda
• 2.5 cups Simply Lemonade
• Cranberries and lemon slices to garnish

Take your cranberries, sugar and water and combine them in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain the solids out and allow the syrup to cool, then combine with Simply Lemonade and your soda of choice in a pitcher. Garnish each glass with some fresh cranberries and a lemon slice.

Wassail

• 2 apples
• 8 cups apple cider
• 2 cups Simply Orange juice
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 15 whole cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar

If you can’t find an apple cider you like, sub in Simply Apple juice instead. Press your whole cloves into your apples, spaced equally apart. Place a large pot on the stovetop and add all of the ingredients (including the apples). Heat your wassail to a simmer on medium-high, then simmer for 30-45 minutes. Remove the apples and any cloves that fell out of them, ladle into mugs and drink up!

Eggnog

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1.5 teaspoons nutmeg, freshly grated
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 4 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Optional topping of whipped cream, cinnamon and fresh nutmeg

In a large mixing bowl, pour your heavy cream and fresh nutmeg. Place a fine strainer on top. Combine vanilla and milk in a saucepan, cooking over medium heat until bubbles form (be sure to stir occasionally). 

Beat together eggs, yolks, salt and sugar in another bowl until thickened, then whisk your heated milk and vanilla mixture in before returning it all to the saucepan. Heat on low for about 6 minutes (165 on a cooking thermometer), then strain into the mixing bowl with the heavy cream.

Place uncovered in the refrigerator and cool for at least 2 hours. Pour your eggnog into a glass ¾ of the way, then top with whipped cream, cinnamon and fresh nutmeg.

Christmas slush mocktail

• 4 cups water
• 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
• 4 cups Ocean Spray cranberry juice
• 4 cups Simply Lemonade
• 2 cans (12 ounces each) frozen orange juice concentrate
• 4 liters Sprite or Starry
• Fresh cranberries, for garnish
• Orange slices, for garnish

Add water and sugar to a large pot over high heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until sugar fully dissolved, then remove from heat. Add cranberry juice, lemonade and orange juice concentrate, stirring until the concentrate has melted. Once cooled, pour into a freezer-safe container with a tight lid to freeze overnight.

To serve, break up the slush mixture with a fork, then add a cup of the slush to a glass, top with cherry soda and garnish your Christmas slush with cranberries and orange.

White hot chocolate

• 4 cups milk
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

Take all of the ingredients and mix them in a medium saucepan. Whisk over medium-low leat until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Be sure you don’t boil the mi. Serve your white hot chocolate immediately, garnished with white chocolate chips or shavings, marshmallows or whipped cream and candy canes.

Tips for making the perfect holiday mocktail

The perfect holiday mocktail is going to depend on the event you’re serving it at, but these tips can help bring another layer to the drink:

• Use fancy or festive glassware
• Serve warm drinks in favorite mugs
• Opt for colorful (red and/or green) ingredients
• Decorate and garnish with festive fruits
• Garnish with cinnamon sticks

Easy holiday mocktail ingredients and substitutes

Most of your holiday mocktail ingredients can also double as cocktail ingredients, so you won’t just be stocking up for the mocktails. Here are some key ingredients you should keep on-hand:

• Sparkling water
• Seagram’s ginger ale
• Simply Lemonade
• Ocean Spray cranberry juice
• Fruit (oranges, apples and cranberries)
• Mulling spices

Mocktails vs. cocktails: why go alcohol-free?

If you love cocktails, you might wonder why anyone would ever choose non-alcoholic holiday drinks if they didn’t need to, but there are some advantages to making our easy holiday mocktails for your party:

• Low-calorie: Cutting the alcohol from a drink, making a cocktail into a mocktail, is one of the easiest ways to cut calories.
• Family-friendly: Maybe your party is full of kids or maybe you want to be mindful of guests who don’t drink; either way, mocktails help make your event more family-friendly.
• Memories: If you have one too many cocktails at your brunch or holiday party, you might miss out on some memories with friends and family.

Mocktail FAQs

How can I make healthy or low-sugar holiday mocktails?

You can add flavor to your holiday mocktails while keeping them low-sugar by 

• Muddling fresh fruit instead of using syrup. 
• Infusing your own syrups lets you balance the sugar and flavors to get them just right and could help in making low-sugar mocktails.
• Choosing Simply Light Lemonade for our Christmas slush or cranberry lemonade recipes to cut down on the sugar, too.

How can I prepare mocktails?

You typically prepare mocktails the same way as cocktails. Some mocktails should be shaken or stirred. Others served frozen or poured over ice. Still others should be served hot, like our white hot chocolate.

Can holiday mocktails be prepared in advance?

It all depends on the mocktail. Some of them you’ll need to prepare in advance while non-alcoholic holiday drinks with fresh ingredients like muddled fruit should probably be made to order.

Build your holiday mocktail shopping list with Fetch

Simply open the open the Fetch app, find offers on the ingredients you need for holiday mocktails and favorite them to make your shopping list. Happy holidays!