Please make the children's table festive! I watched a little munchkin's face fall last holiday when she realized she was relegated to the "children's table." I make it the focal point of my own decorating, and invite you to consider the possiblities!

Here are some festive drink recipes for the little elves at your celebration.

Choose festive ware and garnish. Any drink with whipped cream, you can put sprinkles atop, candied fruit, cinnamon candies, Christmas "picks," drizzle with (non-alcoholic) crème de menthe for color, shaved colored chocolate, a candy kiss.

Tie a red bow with an evergreen sprig on the punch ladle; surround the base with greens and sugared cranberries or toy ornaments. If it's hot, stick in a cinnamon stick or candy cane; dollop with whipped cream and garnish with sprinkles, cinnamon candies, confectioner's sugar; add a holiday "pick"; stick a sparkler in each mug and light at presentation time.

If it's cold, use decorated ice cubes - freeze cranberries, tiny ornaments, mint leaves, anything festive and NON-POISONOUS into the cubes and add at presentation time. (Remember that holly berries and all parts of the mistletoe are poisonous); or freeze the same things in an ice mold. You can have great fun with floating ice rings for punch for the kids - put in ornaments,
cherries, greenery, anything you can make hygienic-enough and that isn't poisonous!

Whatever you serve, serve it with festive flare, and give it a holiday name! There's no more appreciative audience when you go the extra mile.

NANA'S NOG
3 cups milk 1 cup half 'n' half 3 T. sugar Put in blender with
ice and frappe. Consider food coloring and candy sprinkles.
Serves 4.

CHRISTMAS MINT PUNCH
1 1/2 c water 10 oz mint jelly 3 c
pineapple juice, chilled 1/2 c lemon juice 64 oz Sprite 1 qt
lime sherbet

In small saucepan, combine water and mint jelly; cook and stir
until jelly melts. Cool. In large punch bowl, combine jelly mix
and juices. Just before serving, add Sprite and lime sherbet.

TRIM-THE-TREE CIDER PUNCH
1 gallon apple cider 12 whole cloves 2 large apples (Granny
Smith, Rome Beauty), peeled, left whole 2 cinnamon sticks Ground
nutmeg

Pour apple cider into large pot. Insert 6 cloves into each
apple. Add apples and cinnamon sticks to pot. Bring to boil.
Reduce heat; cover and barely simmer over very low heat 1 hour
to allow flavors to blend. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover
and refrigerate. Rewarm over low heat before continuing.) Ladle
hot cider punch into mugs. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve.
Source, Bon Appétit, December 1995

SNOWMAN PUNCH
Stir up a pint of ice cream - vanilla, peppermint, mint, adding
a little milk to thin it. Scoop it into snowcone cups or other
festive ware. Disposable plastic Christmas ware is great for
little elves!

Variation: Add green creme de menthe flavoring, non-alcoholic.

SPICY CRANBERRY PUNCH
1/2 cup red cinnamon candies 4 C. water 8 C. cranberry juice
cocktail, chilled 6 oz. can frozen limeade concentrate 6 oz. can
frozen orange juice concentrate

In small pan, melt candies in water; chill. At serving time,
combine candy liquid and fruit juices in punch bowl. Stir to
dissolve. Makes 18, 5-oz. cups.

WASSAIL BOWL
Whole cloves 1 large orange 2 qts. apple juice or cider 3 T.
lemon juice 4 cinnamon sticks Heat oven to 350. Insert cloves
into orange. Place in shallow baking pan and bake at 350 for 30
mins. Pierce orange in several places with tines for a fork.

In large saucepan, combine apple and lemon juice, cinnamon
sticks and baked orange. Cover; simmer over low heat 30 mins.
Remove sticks and orange. Pour into heatproof punch bowl. If
desired, float the orange in the bowl. Serve [safely] hot. Makes
16, 4 oz. servings.

CRANBERRY "CHAMPAGNE" FOR CHRISTMAS CERUBS
Combine 2 well-chilled 750-ml. bottles non-alcoholic sparkling
cider with 1 cup cranberry juice cocktail or to taste.

ELF WARMER
1 qt. vanilla ice cream 3 sticks margarine 1 box brown sugar
nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice Combine and keep in freezer. At
serving time, put 1 heaping T. scoop into a mug, add hot water
(to taste) and heat.

SANTA-RED PUNCH
4 cups water 3 cups sugar 2 small packages of red Jello l large
can pineapple juice 1 bottle of almond extract Serves 25-30.

EVERGEEN PUNCH
2 pkgs. unsweetened lemon-lime Koolaid 2 cups sugar 2 qts. water
1, 46-oz. can pineapple juice 1 quart gingerale

Dissolve sugar and koolaid. Add pineapple juice and chill. Add
gingerale at serving time. Good too if you freeze it for a while
until it's slushy. Then call it Santa Slush. Serves 36.

Author: Susan Dunn

About the author:
©Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach, http://www.webstrategies.cc .
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