When you live somewhere like Alabama, the calendar may say that it is fall but that doesn’t always mean that the weather got the memo. So if you want to get into the spirit of the season, sometimes you have to get a bit creative, like turning traditional hot apple cider into a refreshing sparkling apple cider punch!
Made with only THREE ingredients, this is the easiest punch you will ever make.
This non-alcoholic apple cider punch was a huge hit at our Ralph Lauren inspired vintage backyard bonfire party (and I think it would be perfect for serving at a Halloween party or as a Thanksgiving punch as well).
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Apple Cider Harvest Punch Ingredients
- 1 Gallon Apple Cider: While you can feel free to mull your own apple cider from scratch, we happen to have a local apple farm that produces the most amazing cider, so I just used a gallon of theirs.
- 46 OZ Orange Juice: Again feel free to squeeze fresh orange juice, I just kept things simple and used a bottle of no sugar added, no pulp OJ from the store.
- 1 Liter Bubbles: The last magic ingredient here is bubbles of some sort, and for this you have options. The most commonly used is ginger ale. But if you want to cut down on the sugar (like I did) club soda or carbonated mineral water are great alternatives.
- Club Soda
- Ginger Ale (Or Ginger Beer)
- Carbonated Water
- Optional Whole Apples: I used these for a bit of garnish at the end.
Directions For Making Apple Cider Fall Party Punch
When I tell you this recipe is easy, I mean that in the “my toddler could make this” sense of the phrase. (Although if my toddler did make it, half of the juice would have probably ended up on the ground.)
Step One: Find & Dust Off Your Punch Bowl
In total you’ll be making about 208 oz or 1.6 gallons of punch so you’ll want to use a punch bowl that can hold at least 2 gallons. In an ideal world a 2.5 gallon punch bowl will give you enough room to add an ice ring or garnish if you choose.
I used a thrifted glass punch bowl I found a while back at a charity shop and it was perfect for this recipe. (If you want the same one I have, you can usually find it using this search term on Ebay!)
Step Two: Combine All Your Ingredients Into The Bowl
After refrigerating my ingredients overnight so they were all nice and cold, I simply combined the apple cider, orange juice and club soda, right into my bowl.
Step Three: Garnish Your Autumn Punch
If you want to get a little fancy, you can always add some easy garnish to your punch after you’ve combined all the ingredients. I personally just threw in some whole apples, but you could also use:
- Cranberries
- Orange Slices
- Apple Slices
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Star Anise
Optional Alcoholic Mixers For Our Cold Apple Cider Punch
Since we’re usually hosting a wide range of ages at most of the parties we throw these days, I like to make a base punch that everyone can enjoy and then provide optional mixers for adult friends who’d like a little something extra in their drink.
After testing out a few options my recommendations are:
- Spiced Rum – This one added some warm molasses notes and pairs particularly well with the apples and citrus.
- Bourbon or Rye Whiskey – These added more caramel and vanilla notes to the cup and upped the cozy campfire flavors of the drink.
- Prosecco – If you want to keep things on the lighter side, we found that prosecco was a delicious way to add some more bubbles to the drink.
Step Four: Serve & Enjoy Your Easy Fall Punch
When we served this at our fall backyard bonfire party, I styled my vintage glass punch bowl with a red plaid blanket as a tablecloth, and pulled out my collection of vintage silver punch cups which I stacked next to the bowl on a tiered silver tray.
(If you want the same silver punch cups, try searching this search term on ebay. They are one of my favorite thrift finds)
Final Thoughts
I have two big takeaways from making this autumn punch recipe for our fall bonfire party. First, if you plan to serve it outdoors know that the bugs were *very* attracted to this mixture. So you might want to consider keeping it covered, or serving it out of a lidded pitcher instead. Secondly, sometimes simple is great! Not everything has to have a complicated complex recipe to be delicious. (And after all the work I put into creating the charcuterie table for the party, I needed this quick easy win!)
Let me know if you try making this harvest apple cider punch this fall and what you think about it!
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