Enjoy a drink inspired by Dracula himself!

Halloween is going to be a little different this year. We thought it would be fun to share a few ideas to help you celebrate a great Halloween at home with your family, and also get a little creative. For the first part of the series I’m introducing – Dracula’s Drink!

I got the inspiration for Dracula’s Drink from our family tradition of making “Shirley Temples” at Thanksgiving. This recipe is a fun, easy to make, non-alcoholic drink. Feel free though, if you would like to make a more “adult” version to experiment with. A traditional Shirley Temple is typically made with Ginger Ale and grenadine. Grenadine is a syrup made with pomegranate and a bit of citrus, usually lemon or orange. As some may not commonly have grenadine in their pantry, Dracula’s Drink is made with ingredients that are more commonly found: lemon-lime soda, and a jar of maraschino cherries.

To get started chill a can or two of your favorite lemon-lime soda. After your soda is chilled, fill your favorite beverage cup 3/4 of the way full. I love to use ball jars for cups, isn’t the look of the fluted Ball jars I used just awesome? Next, add about 2 tablespoons of the syrup from the maraschino cherries in your cup. This will give your drink the “Dracula” look! Lastly, add some cherries into your drink and enjoy your drink! This is a spooky and easy way to make drinks for adults and kids alike.

Warning before reading on – we took all necessary precautions when doing our experiment, and anyone wanting to try this, be sure to follow precautions as well. Dry ice looks very cool but requires a good amount of caution to use and we want everyone to be safe!

I love to experiment and try new techniques in the kitchen. I’ve been reading a lot about Halloween cocktails (thanks to Pinterest) and came across the use of dry ice in drinks. Our local big-box store sells dry ice, so it was time to do a little experimenting. Dry ice is actually noted safe to use in cocktails. It will not alter the drink, BUT you will need to warn your guests that there is dry ice is in the drink and do not ingest it. If you swallow the dry ice, it is very harmful. Many like to use the dry ice for an effect and remove the dry ice before serving to their guests. For our experiment, it was a lot of fun, but the thought of someone may accidentally drink the dry ice concerns me (I’m quite the worrier!), so I wouldn’t suggest it, especially if you have children around. If you would like to add the foggy effect to your get together, I would suggest using the dry ice as a part of your display away from anyone being able to touch the dry ice or even better grab yourself a fog machine if fog is the desired look for you. Watch our little experiment video below, to see what happens when you add dry ice to a cocktail!