When you throw a summer gathering, it can be a good idea to provide both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages for your guests. Mocktail recipes are great to have on-hand for gatherings where children will be present, as well as adults who don’t prefer to drink. Sure, you can have sodas and fruit juice, but we’ve got a few ideas for some great nonalcoholic creations.

Now that summer is quickly approaching, surely you’ll be whipping up some easy at home cocktails, such as margaritas! But what about offering your guests some delicious mocktail margaritas? They’re easier to make than you might think!

Traditional Margarita Mocktail

Looking to serve up a non-alcoholic version of the traditional margarita? Start by gathering the following ingredients:

• fresh squeezed lime juice
• lime wedges for garnish
• a tablespoon of your favorite sweetener or syrup
• tonic water
• ice
• sugar for the rim (optional)

Directions:

If you’re putting sugar on the rim, start by pouring some sugar into a saucer dish. Then, after wetting the rim of a margarita glass with juice from a lime wedge, dip the glass into the sugar so that it sticks on the rim. Next, fill a cocktail shaker with ice before adding the rest of the wet ingredients. Shake well. For a mocktail margarita on the rocks, strain through the cocktail strainer into the margarita glass. Garnish with a fresh-cut lime wedge before serving up to your guests for a delicious mocktail that will be the talk of your party.

The great thing about this mocktail recipe is that it’s absolutely versatile; you can change up the ingredients to achieve different flavors. For example, you can transform this mocktail recipe into a strawberry mocktail margarita recipe with just a few simple tweaks. For this recipe, you’ll want to have:

• a pound of fresh strawberries
• half a cup of orange juice
• half a cup of sparkling water (for carbonation)
• a quarter cup of fresh lime juice
• lime wedges (for garnish)
• coarse sugar for garnish
• ice

This mocktail is best served up frozen, but you can also do it on-the-rocks if you don’t have a blender! Start by garnishing the rim of a margarita glass with coarse sugar and fresh lime wedges. Then, set the glass aside while you mix up the mocktail. Add ice to the blender, along with the strawberries, orange juice, sparkling water, and lime juice. Blend until smooth and pour into a margarita glass. Yum! Also, keep in mind that if you don’t have fresh strawberries on-hand, you can also use frozen ones. The taste won’t be quite as fresh, but it’ll still be amazing and your younger guests probably won’t even know the difference.

The next time you host a summer gathering and are looking for some easy to make at home cocktails and mocktails for your guests, be sure to keep these wonderful and simple margarita mocktail recipes on-hand.

We’ve got more alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage recipes for you to try on the Macayo’s blog! Come on by any location anytime to try your favorite drink!