My Favorite Holiday Mocktails

ChangeHappiness

Dec 2

The holidays are here! No matter what your plans are, it’s really great to have options this holiday season. Just because you’re taking a break from alcohol doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have a special drink. A mocktail or a non-alcoholic wine or beer can hit the spot and help you feel like you’re taking part so you don’t feel deprived.

Here are some of my favorite holiday mocktails for Christmas dinner or holiday parties:

Try Something Warm and Spicy

First of all, go into it with the right attitude! This is actually a really fun opportunity. It’s a great time to explore all the alcohol-free drinks out there. There are literally thousands and thousands on the market. Plus, there are a ton you can make on your own.

We’ll start with the ones you can make at home. Around the holidays, I love to make something warm and spicy—something really cozy and comforting. One of my secrets is to use tea. Most mocktails you make usually have alcohol in them. An easy tip is to replace the alcohol with tea.

Make a cup or a half cup of tea, let it cool, and then use tea as a substitute for the alcohol that would normally be in that cocktail. I love using spiced tea, like chai, Bengal spice, warm vanilla spice, or orange spice tea. It makes such a beautiful mocktail.

One idea is to mix a little bit of cool chai tea with a spiced apple cider. It makes a gorgeous apple drink with more body and tannins to it than cider on its own. It’s more elevated than a cup of cider. It feels more like a full-bodied apple toddy.

Another thing I love to do is mix spiced tea and sweetened coconut milk. If you don’t have sweetened coconut milk, add a little simple syrup. That makes a drink similar to a White Russian without the gross overpowering vodka flavor. The non-alcoholic version is delicious!

My last suggestion is to mix spiced tea with tropical flavors, like pineapple and coconut cream. Make it seasonal by adding pumpkin. There are different ways to do it. You could use a little bit of pumpkin butter, pumpkin syrup, or whatever pumpkin-flavored items you can kind at your local store. Mix it with spiced tea, coconut cream, and sparkling water to taste, and you get a really great drink. For more ideas, order my book Euphoric: Ditch Alcohol and Gain a Happier, More Confident You using my website! You’ll get a free mocktail recipe book with your order.

Keep It Simple With Treasures From Your Local Store

Another option is to purchase something from the store to save time and make it really, really simple. For example, when it’s wintertime, one of my favorite things to drink is golden milk. Golden milk is ancient milk from India. The spices in it warm you up and provide all kinds of health benefits, like improving your mood and reducing inflammation. I don’t drink regular milk, so I buy the plant-based version from Trader Joe’s. It’s called Trader Joe’s Turmeric Coconut Ginger Beverage. I pour myself half a glass and take it to the bath. It’s a divine experience. I feel so nourished. It’s great for a cold winter night.

Another great find is IKEA’s mulled non-alcoholic wine. The mulling spices are already in it. All you have to do is warm it up. Another option is to purchase non-alcoholic wine and make your own non-alcoholic mulled wine by adding citrus and some cinnamon sticks.

Curious elixirs makes really good craft drinks with spices. They’re great for the holidays too.

Buy NA Wine and Bring It with You!

Another thing to remember is, that if you’re going to a dinner party where it may be customary to bring a bottle of wine, why not make it a non-alcoholic bottle of wine? You’re not the only one who won’t be drinking. At least 52% of drinkers wish they drank less or not at all, and 46% of Americans bought a non-alcoholic drink this year.

The sober curious and alcohol-free movements are growing fast! There are more and more people who want to live an alcohol-free lifestyle. You don’t have to feel embarrassed about it. People want what you have.

See What You Can Find

One last tip is to stay curious! Go to a health food store and see what drinks they have. There are so many beverages out there. For example, the other day I bought kombucha with immune-boosting mushrooms like reishi and chaga mushrooms. The flavor was root beer. I love trying new drinks like that. It’s so fun. They're not even non alcoholic versions of something. They're just health drinks, health tonics, and all these different things that they sell.

Another really great drink I love during the holiday season is called Rebbl. They make smoothies with a thin consistency and all different kinds of flavors. There are ashwagandha-, golden milk-, coffee-, matcha-, and chocolate-flavored Rebbl drinks. They’re really comforting drinks you may enjoy having as a treat.

I think we forget that there are so many drinks out there. Once, I asked a client to make a list of all the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks she loved. She had one item on her list of alcoholic drinks: chardonnay. Her list of non-alcoholic drinks was much longer with at least 20 different things, like coffee, smoothies, juice, and non-alcoholic beverages. We have so many options. We never have to feel deprived.

Don’t be shy about making mocktails or bringing a non-alcoholic beverage to a Christmas party this season! Remember 52% of drinkers want to drink less or not at all. You're not the only one craving the health and vitality you get from not drinking.

If you want to get my free mocktail book including the full recipes with all the ingredients and measurements, grab your copy of my book Euphoric: Ditch Alcohol and Gain a Happier, More Confident You! Order through my website to make sure you get your freebies. You’ll also get a checklist with 50 things to do instead of drinking and a guide to help you socialize while confidently alcohol-free.

I’m grateful for you and wishing you a very happy holiday and beautiful New Year! Keep this list handy as a reminder to explore all the delicious mocktails and non-alcoholic beverages out there this season!