This Christmas punch is a blend of pomegranate, lime and cranberry, all mixed together into a fizzy beverage that’s perfect for any holiday party. A festive and refreshing drink that can easily be turned into a cocktail for the adults!
I like to serve some fun drinks when I entertaining during the holidays – for a hot drink, I opt for slow cooker apple cider or homemade hot chocolate. For a cold drink, I serve this easy Christmas punch, and it always gets rave reviews. If you’re entertaining adults, don’t forget to also offer some festive Jello shots!
Every holiday party could benefit from some seasonal drink offerings! This super simple Christmas punch is cheery, refreshing and the perfect balance of sweet and tart. It takes about 5 minutes to put together and looks so pretty on your table.
Move over eggnog, this punch is one of my favorite drink recipes for Christmas parties. While you enjoy this cool beverage, why not snack on some appetizers like cheese ball bites, bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers or pigs in a blanket.
Table of Contents
Christmas Punch Ingredients
To make Christmas punch, make sure you have pomegranate-cranberry juice, frozen limeade concentrate, lime flavored sparkling water, fresh cranberries, lime slices and mint sprigs.
How Do You Make Christmas Punch?
To make this Christmas punch recipe, first place the pomegranate-cranberry juice in a large pitcher along with a can of frozen limeade concentrate. Stir the mixture until well combined. Pour in some sparkling water and stir. Garnish the pitcher with sliced limes, fresh cranberries and mint. Serve right away, or refrigerate for later use.
Tips For The Perfect Drink
- I use a pomegranate-cranberry juice blend. This drink contains sugar and other fruit juices which makes it sweet and pleasant to drink. Do not try to use plain unsweetened cranberry or pomegranate juices, they’ll be much too tart.
- I use a lime flavored sparkling water with no added sugar.
- You can serve this drink either in a pitcher, drink dispenser or a punch bowl, whichever is more convenient.
- Freeze your cranberries before you add them to the drink. They will serve as ice cubes – the drink will stay cold but won’t get watered down! You can also make ice cubes with cranberries or lime wedges in them, or even a festive ice ring if you’re using a punch bowl.
- You can double this recipe to make a big-batch of punch for all your guests. Just make sure you have a big container. You can also make multiple batches during the holiday season.
Quick Tip
Can’t find a pomegranate-cranberry juice blend? Try a cranberry juice cocktail instead.
Recipe FAQs
Christmas punch is typically made with a blend of fruit juice, citrus and a sparkling drink. Champagne or liquor can also be added for an alcoholic offering.
This drink is best served right after it’s made, as the carbonated water will start to go flat within a few hours of being added to the punch. Luckily this punch takes just minutes to make, so it’s easy to whip up at the last second. If you run out of time, you can mix the pomegranate-cranberry juice and limeade together up to 8 hours in advance. Store the mixture in the fridge, and add the sparkling water at the last minute.
The top contenders for the most Christmassy drink are eggnog, apple cider, hot chocolate and cool and refreshing Christmas punch. When you try this punch, you may have a new favorite.
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Flavor Variations
This non-alcoholic Christmas punch is light and refreshing as-is; however, you can modify this holiday punch recipe to suit your own taste:
- Sparkling Water: Instead of lime flavored sparking water you could use plain sparkling water, or the lemon or orange flavors. My store even has a seasonal cranberry orange flavor which would be delicious!
- Garnish: Fresh pomegranate seeds make a nice garnish if cranberries aren’t available. You could also use blackberries or cherries.
- Orange: You could make an orange version of this drink with orange juice concentrate instead of lime juice concentrate and a few orange slices.
- Spiced: Try a winter spice version of this punch by adding a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of allspice and a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves.
- Sweeter: If you want a sweeter taste you can add a little ginger ale, lemon-lime soda, white grape juice or pineapple juice to the holiday punch.
AlcoholIc Christmas Punch
You can turn this Christmas punch into an alcoholic beverage with the addition of any of the following
- Champagne (add 2 cups)
- Prosecco (add 2 cups)
- Red Wine (add 2 cups)
- Rum (add 1 cup)
- Brandy (add 1 cup)
- Vodka (add 1 cup)
I’ve listed my recommended alcohol amounts above, but you can always add a bit more for a stronger drink.
I make Christmas punch for every winter gathering, and I always make a big pitcher of it on Christmas Day for everyone to enjoy while we’re relaxing around the house. It’s pleasantly sweet, but not overly so, and you can never go wrong with a little bit of fizz!
More Holiday Entertaining Recipes
Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus
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Christmas Wreath Cookies
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Reindeer Chow
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Winter Fruit Salad
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Stained Glass Cookies
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Christmas Punch Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Christmas Punch
Ingredients
- 6 cups pomegranate-cranberry juice
- 1 can frozen limeade concentrate
- 6 cups lime flavored sparkling water
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 2 limes sliced
- 4 sprigs mint
- Optional addition: rum, champagne or vodka in quantity of your choice.
Instructions
- Place the pomegranate-cranberry juice and limeade concentrate in a pitcher. Stir until combined.
- Add the sparkling water and stir until well combined.
- Garnish with cranberries, limes and mint, then serve.
Notes
- I use a pomegranate-cranberry juice blend. This drink contains sugar and other fruit juices which makes it sweet and pleasant to drink. Do not try to use plain unsweetened cranberry or pomegranate juices, they’ll be much too tart.
- Can’t find a pomegranate-cranberry juice blend? Try a cranberry juice cocktail instead.
- Use a lime flavored sparkling water with no added sugar.
Hi! Can this make before and freeze?
This cannot be frozen as it will lose its carbonation!
This was delicious and easy! Made this for Xmas Eve but added 2 cups of vodka and it came out great. My in-laws even loved it and they are quite picky. Thanks for sharing!
Do you thaw the limeade before mixing it?
You don’t need to thaw it, it will melt on its own.
I made this recipe for Christmas Eve and
followed the recipe, adding a bottle of Prosecco .
Big hit and definitely a keeper. Thank you! 🎄👍🎄
12 cups of liquid, 12 oz of limeade concentrate, 2 cups of cranberries… this is about a gallon worth of punch. You sure about those measurements for one pitcher? I figured it’s half that, but in the video you used a whole can of limeade. Thanks.
The recipe is correct as written.
How many ounces is your pitcher?
How much vodka would you add?
I would add 1 cup!
For anyone who has added rum/vodka, how much did you add to the recipe to give it the right amount with out overwhelming?
Is the ocean spray juice frozen or in the juice aisle?
In the juice aisle in a plastic bottle.
I made this for a family gathering. One with vodka and one without. It was a big hit!! I used a blended cranberry and pomegranate juice.
Where can you buy the limeade concentrate
It’s in the freezer section of most grocery stores, it comes in a can!
Do you replace the lime sparkling water with alcohol of choice or just add the alcohol with everything else?
Add the alcohol with everything else! Unless you’re using a sparkling drink such as Prosecco, in that case you’d want to omit the sparkling water.
Can I use a rum flavoring, instead of real rum, have a couple of recovering alcoholics?
Martha
You can, just make sure your rum flavoring is free of alcohol, as many extracts do contain it.
This sounds dangerously good. Better keep the vodka locked away when I’m making this one…….!!
Ohhh this looks so good. Perfect for any holiday party – I’ll use the option to add champagne to mine!
This sounds like it’ll be my new favorite festive drink! YUM!
Oh my, how lovely is that color? And cranberries and pomegranate just scream festivities and holiday. This is going to be on my Thanksgiving menu for this year. 🙂
This is a great looking Christmas punch and I am sure it is thirst quenching! I would be having mine with some champagne mixed in, that sounds like a delicious option!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 minute
Total Time 6 minutes
What am I supposed to cook for 1 minute? Thanks
No need to cook anything, it’s a default that my recipe card puts in there when there is no cooking time!
Hello! This sounds wonderful. What size can of limeade concentrate? Thank you.
12 ounces!
Hi, Which I do you recommend, Ocean Spray Cran-Pomegranate Juice Drink or OceanSpray 100% Cranberry Pomegranate Juice.
Thanks!
I use the juice drink, only because the 100% juice version is quite tart!
Thank you so much! And please forgive my typo 😔
That sounds like a delicious drink! Definitely, want to give this a try.