I make this punch for Thanksgiving. The kids love having their own special drink, and it's not too sweet for adults (who have been known to lace their individual cups with a splash of vodka...)

APPLE HARVEST PUNCH

2 Cups Chilled Cranberry Juice (not as sweet as the cocktail)
2 Cups Apple Cider
1 l/2 Cups Orange Juice
2 Cups Chilled Club Soda

The recipe I found calls for thin orange slices and frozen cranberries to be floated in it. But in place of frz. cranberries, I usually freeze additional cranberry juice in a ring mold and put that in before serving to help keep chilled without diluting. And in place of the oranges, I very thinly slice red delicious apples crosswise and float them in the punch.

Doing apples instead of oranges sets you up for the "red" flavors that make it a holiday punch. They also differentiate it from all the citrus/sherbert punches.

I always go to cranberry of some sort....either cranberry juice cocktail and 7 up mixed equal parts with lots of lime slices, or Cran apple and club soda with apple slices floating.
Or should it be a wine punch?
The thing about a 2 ingredient punch is, when it's time to add more to the bowl, it's easy to do and you don't have a lot of mixed punch to store or to spoil.
Linda C

I've made this before; very good!

KRIS KRINGLE PUNCH

6 c. bottled cranberry juice, chilled
3 c. bottled apple juice, chilled
3/4 c. chilled lemon juice
1 1/2 c. chilled orange juice
2 (28 oz.) bottles ginger ale
Sugar to taste

Combine all of the above ingredients in a punch bowl except the ginger ale. When ready to serve, add chilled ginger ale.

I make this every Christmas for both kids and adults (adults like it with red wine in it).

Cranberry Punch

2 cups cranberry cocktail
1 cup pineapple juice
2 cups ginger ale

Combine first 2 ingredients and chill. Do not add ginger ale until ready to serve punch so that it doesnÂt go flat.

Add frozen raspberries to the punch as a garnish and/or make ice cubes out of cranberry cocktail and pineapple juice (red and yellow cubes) so that it doesnÂt water down the punch and keeps it chilled. Or put some of the punch mixture (without the ginger ale) into a bundt cake pan and freeze. When frozen solid, dip pan in hot water to loosen then put the big cube into the punch bowl. It keeps the punch chilled for quite some time.

Variation: Add 2 cups orange juice, or red wine (to taste).

I like the cranberry punches at Christmas time too. Here is one that I had at a party last year and it was very good.

Sparkling Punch
Prep: 10 min., Chill: 1 hr.

2 (46-oz.) cans pineapple juice
1 (12-oz.) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 (10-oz.) can frozen strawberry daiquiri mix concentrate, thawed
2 (1-liter) bottles ginger ale
Garnish: lemon slices

1. Stir together first 3 ingredients. Cover and chill 1 hour. Stir in ginger ale just before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 gal.

Southern Living, APRIL 2007

Wow, they all sound so yummy. If I hadn't bought my ingredients already I'd deviate, but maybe next year. I use:

Cran-rasperry juice
lemon lime soda
rainbow sherbert (lime, lemon, orange)

Then I take a jello mould and put some whole cranberries in and put just enough water to cover them. Top that with orange slices and a little more water, but not enough to make them float. Freeze until solid and then add more water. Freeze that till solid and float in punch. It looks beautiful. I suppose you could use cranberry juice instead of water if you were concerned about the the punch getting watered down as it melts.

Thanks everyone! These all sound good!

Nancy

Is this a kid thing? My kids love this one, of course grandma and grandaddy didn't turn it down either.

Reindeer Punch:

Peppermint Candy Ice Cream
Ginger Ale

Served with candy canes.