Large Batch Cocktails | Cocktail Recipes for a Crowd

Some party hosts out there make the mistake of just buying alcohol and chasers for a larger crowd. However, there are simple cocktails that we can turn into big batch cocktails. The recipes won’t diminish the drink’s flavors and are far better than a single-serving recipe for a crowd. These large batch cocktails save the day.

These easy large batch cocktails make the perfect drink for happy hour, the holiday season, or special occasions. There was a time when the punch bowl was the place to go for a drink at a party.

It was an easy way to create big-batch cocktails that guests can serve themselves while having a good time. The idea was simple: combine ingredients in the punch bowl, add a ladle, and a stack of cups, then enjoy your party.

This worked for fruity sangrias with fresh fruit, apple cider with some alcohol, and even a themed cocktail for party time. Now, people rely on canned cocktails, beer, or shots with chasers. There’s nothing wrong with that option except maybe the cost.

Those canned cocktails can be pricey when they are the only thing providing drinks for party guests. Essentially, individual drinks are not the way to go when you have a crowd to provide for at home.

Instead, we should use large batch cocktails to get the job done. It is like making a home-cooked meal for dinner parties rather than ordering out. Everyone prefers homemade, but no one wants to mix cocktail ingredients during the entire event.

That is what a large batch cocktail is for. We can make these fruity cocktails in a cocktail pitcher and allow guests to pour their own drinks. That way, we can keep working up a sweat on the dance floor.

Large Batch Cocktails | Cocktail Recipes for a Crowd

Big-batch cocktail recipes are no more difficult than other easy cocktails. You can even turn your favorite summer drink into a big batch cocktail. Essentially, all we’re doing is increasing the amount of each ingredient in the recipe.

For example, you can make a blue margarita or blue margaritas in a pitcher. The same idea works for strawberry margaritas and cranberry margaritas. Obviously, each has its place, like cranberry margaritas for holiday parties or strawberry margaritas with fresh lime juice for summer.

We took the original recipe and turned it into a crowd-pleasing recipe. The whole batch doesn’t need to be drinks either. There are other ways to provide tasty alcohol options for party guests.

Large Batch Jello Shots for Parties

Jello shots are another classic way to solve the large batch cocktails problem. We can easily apply the idea of making large batches of jello and just add some alcohol. Of course, we don’t want to add any type of alcohol like rye whiskey or red wine.

However, we can make jello shots for St. Patrick’s Day or even Valentine’s Day shots. Jello shots will require a bit of work ahead of time. However, it is far better than spending your holiday mixing cocktails for guests.

We can even have more control over the number of servings we make using Jello shots. That is a bit more difficult to control when making cocktails. One of our guests might have a heavy hand when pouring.

Still, that doesn’t mean we should avoid making large batch cocktails for a crowd. It just means we need to have a variety of options so that we don’t run out.

How Long Can You Keep a Batched Cocktail?

These large batch cocktails are perfect for any occasion. However, we still have to make them. We could make a delicious blue Hawaiian rum punch on the day of the event. The easier way is to make it ahead of time.

A big-batch recipe can easily be made the night before, the day before, or even a few days before the actual event. In fact, some cocktails will benefit from the extra time in the fridge, like this peach sangria recipe.

A day or two in the fridge will give the flavors a chance to meld together into a delicious cocktail. Make the cocktails you want to serve up with plenty of time to enjoy the event by just making them two to three days in advance.

However, we do not want to let the cocktails sit in the fridge for more than five days, three if it has citrus juice. Also, be sure to use a food-safe glass container for the cocktails.

This will keep the cocktails fresh and tasty. Skip batching altogether if the cocktail you want includes an orange peel; those are best made fresh.

Serving and Garnishing Large Batch Drinks

Serving these large batch cocktails is just as easy as making them. We can serve them up in punch bowls or in cocktail pitchers. However, garnishing these cocktails is not something you need to worry about. Sure, some cocktails do better with garnishes.

We just aren’t going to stand at the drink table to garnish drinks. Instead, we can prepare the garnishes and let guests garnish their drinks however they’d like. For example, this strawberry lemonade vodka can be garnished with lemon slices, strawberries, or even a mint leaf.

Prepare the lemon slices, strawberries, and mint leaves in small containers and set them by the pitchers or bowls. Guests can add as many as they want to their drinks. We can even make an entirely different cocktail like this Ocean Breeze cocktail that benefits from the same garnishes.

This way, we don’t have a table filled with different types of garnishes. The right level of planning can lead to great things with these drinks in tow.

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