My Favorite Drink Recipes for Labor Day

I suppose you thought this would be about alcoholic recipes, well you are partially correct. I prefer to serve drinks that just need a shot or two of vodka or Bacardi in order to make them "party drinks" but can easily be served as non-alcoholic without losing any of the flavor. Since my celebrations often involve the kids I like to mix it up then add shots per glass for adults, and the less liquor I have to buy the better. Keep this in mind: I will indicate whether you should use vodka, rum (usually Bacardi), or tequila. Add one shot to each glass before pouring in the mixed drink and then add a charm or indication that this glass has alcohol so your family doesn't pick up what they don't want!

Rum-Lemonade is a tasty summer treat: mix the juice of 3-5 lemons with 12 oz water and sweeten with honey to taste. More lemons makes a stronger flavor to compensate when you mix it. However, more lemon will also require more honey to cut the bitter.

Tequila-Lemonade: Use the same recipe as Lemonade but with limes or grapefruit. If you like the mixed lemonades (strawberry, raspberry, etc) just add mashed or chopped fresh fruits to the top.

Vodka: You know about the screwdriver, orange juice and vodka, ever tried grape juice or Fruit Punch? These make great mixers for vodka. You can also mix orange juice with raspberry or strawberry juice and pineapple chunks. This makes a "sunrise smoothie" which kids love and is full of vitamin C. You can put them in small paper cups, add a popsicle stick, and freeze them for a tasty frozen treat.

Rum-Soda is a common treat, but add some pizzazz to it by adding a few drops of flavoring to each can or glass before serving. Get some over the counter containers with droppers (like infant's medicine droppers) and fill them with different flavorings; cherry, lemon, lime, vanilla, strawberry, raspberry, and mint will be your most popular. Your guests can add a drop of each to their soda and magical things happen.

Tequila or Rum: My favorite treat for summer is lime punch. Mix 1 2-liter bottle of 7-up, or other clear soda, and 1 quart limeade. Add in several scoops of lime sherbet (can also be done with orange juice and orange sherbet) and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes. Kids love getting the ice cream as well as the drink. Another is the orange crème punch where you use vanilla ice cream along with the orange sorbet and orange juice.

Vodka-Watermelon shots are always fun and easy to make. You can mix it up with honeydew, cantaloupe or even pineapple. Mix together a 2-liter bottle of 7-up and balls from a full melon or two. Make sure you mix in the juice from the melon or you won't have a lot of flavor in your drink. There can be very powerful so if you "party mix" them probably use only ½ a shot.