Alcohol-free party drinks: a fizz planner and mocktail menu
For 12 guests at a four-hour New Year's Eve party, at one drink each an hour, plan 48 glasses. With three of our fizzy mocktails that means 6.4 litres of sparkling water, 800 ml of cranberry juice, 1.3 litres of apple juice and 720 ml of homemade syrups, plus about 4.8 kg of ice. Change the guests, hours and drinks below, then print the menu card for the table.
Blue Fizz ClubParty card
Drinks to plan for
48glasses
12 guests × 4 hours × 1 per guest per hour, 200 ml (6.8 fl oz) each before ice.
Make 320 ml (10.8 fl oz) of ginger syrup, 240 ml (8.1 fl oz) of rosemary syrup, 160 ml (5.4 fl oz) of winter-spice syrup: equal weights of sugar and water, 443 g (15.6 oz) of sugar in all, warmed until clear with the flavouring, then chilled.
Keep the sparkling water cold until it is poured: cold water holds its fizz longer.
Your menu card
Blue Fizz Club
New Year's Eve Fizz Bar
Thursday 31 December 2026
Cranberry Rosemary Fizz
Tart cranberry and a piney sprig of rosemary, lifted with cold bubbles.
50 ml cranberry juice · 15 ml rosemary syrup · 135 ml sparkling water
About 16 g sugars a glass · alcohol-free
Ginger Lime Highball
Warm ginger syrup, a squeeze of lime and plenty of fizz over ice.
20 ml ginger syrup · 15 ml lime juice · 165 ml sparkling water
About 13 g sugars a glass · alcohol-free
Spiced Apple Sparkler
Apple juice with cinnamon and clove syrup and a little lemon.
80 ml apple juice · 10 ml winter-spice syrup · 10 ml lemon juice · 100 ml sparkling water
About 14 g sugars a glass · alcohol-free
Every drink here is made without alcohol. Ask for less syrup or more fizz.
How many drinks to plan for
The planner multiplies three numbers: guests × hours × drinks per guest per hour. There is no official figure for the last one, so it is yours to set; one an hour suits a relaxed evening, and you can raise it for a long dance or a hot room. The total is split evenly across the drinks you pick and rounded up, and each drink's recipe is scaled to your glass size, so every base ingredient comes out in millilitres, litres and bottles to buy.
Ice works the same way, from your grams per glass. For the food, Kindred Picnic's party food quantity calculators work out the rest of the table.
Six alcohol-free drinks for Christmas and New Year
These are Blue Fizz Club recipes, written for a 200 ml glass before ice. Sugar per glass is worked out from USDA FoodData Central for the juices and a 1:1 syrup for the syrups.
Cranberry Rosemary Fizz (about 16 g sugars): 50 ml unsweetened cranberry juice, 15 ml rosemary syrup, 135 ml sparkling water; a rosemary sprig and three cranberries.
Ginger Lime Highball (about 13 g): 20 ml ginger syrup, 15 ml lime juice, 165 ml sparkling water; a lime wheel.
Spiced Apple Sparkler (about 14 g): 80 ml apple juice, 10 ml cinnamon-and-clove syrup, 10 ml lemon juice, 100 ml sparkling water; an apple slice.
Pomegranate Mint Spritz (about 13 g): 50 ml pomegranate juice, 10 ml lime juice, 10 ml simple syrup, 130 ml sparkling water; a mint sprig, slapped to wake it up.
Clementine Sparkle (about 12 g): 60 ml orange or clementine juice, 10 ml lemon juice, 10 ml simple syrup, 120 ml sparkling water; a strip of orange peel.
Lemon-Lime Bubble Water (under 1 g): 10 ml lemon juice, 10 ml lime juice, 180 ml sparkling water; a lemon wheel. The no-sugar-added glass for drivers, children and anyone counting.
Cold everything, fizz last: the less the sparkling water is stirred, the longer it stays lively.
Make the syrups ahead
All three syrups are 1:1 by weight: warm equal weights of sugar and water until clear, then steep the flavouring as it cools. For rosemary, a few sprigs; for ginger, thin slices of fresh ginger; for the winter-spice syrup, cinnamon sticks, cloves and strips of orange peel. Strain, bottle and chill. The card tells you how much of each to make and the sugar it takes; the soda syrup calculator scales any of them and shows the sugar per glass.
Keep it fizzy
Cold water holds its carbon dioxide far better than warm, so keep the sparkling water in the fridge until the moment you pour, and open bottles one at a time. If you make your own, carbonate it cold: the carbonation calculator gives the pressure, and the soda maker cost calculator works out whether that beats buying bottles for a party this size.
Dry January 2027
Dry January is Alcohol Change UK's 31-day challenge to take a break from alcohol, starting on 1 January, which in 2027 runs from Friday 1 January to Sunday 31 January. The charity runs a free Try Dry app with tips and day-by-day tracking. It also warns that people who are physically dependent on alcohol can be harmed by stopping suddenly: anyone who gets shaking, sweating, fits or hallucinations after drinking should talk to their doctor or a local alcohol service before they stop.
Is it really alcohol-free?
These recipes contain no alcohol: nothing in them ferments. Home-fermented drinks are different. A kombucha second fermentation or a homemade ginger beer makes some alcohol along with the bubbles, often more than the 0.05 % that England's labelling guidance allows for "alcohol free" (Department of Health and Social Care, 13 December 2018). The same guidance lets "de-alcoholised" drinks contain up to 0.5 % and "low alcohol" up to 1.2 %, so check shop-bought labels too if a guest must avoid alcohol entirely.
Common mistakes
Too little ice. It melts faster than you expect at a warm party; err high.
Pre-mixing the fizz. A jug of mixed drink goes flat; mix syrup and juice ahead and top up each glass.
Only sweet drinks. Put at least one no-added-sugar option on the menu, like the bubble water.
Warm bottles in the queue. Keep the next bottles cold in a tub of ice.
Sugar figures are estimates for a typical pour. This is general information, not medical or dietary advice.
Questions
What are good alcohol-free drinks for a Christmas party?
Fizzy drinks built on sparkling water, with a little syrup and a seasonal juice, feel festive without alcohol: try a Cranberry Rosemary Fizz, a Ginger Lime Highball or a Spiced Apple Sparkler, and offer a no-sugar-added citrus water alongside.
How much sparkling water do I need for a party?
Multiply guests by hours by drinks per guest per hour for the number of glasses, then by the fizz in each recipe: for 12 guests over 4 hours at one drink an hour, our three-drink menu needs about 6.4 litres, or seven one-litre bottles.
How much ice per guest?
We have found no official figure, so the planner works from the grams of ice you put in one glass. At 100 g a glass, 48 glasses need 4.8 kg; weigh one glass of your own ice to get your number.
When is Dry January 2027?
Dry January is Alcohol Change UK's 31-day challenge starting on 1 January, so in 2027 it runs from Friday 1 January to Sunday 31 January. People who are physically dependent on alcohol should talk to a doctor before stopping.
Are mocktails low in sugar?
Not automatically. Our recipes carry about 12 to 16 g of sugars a glass, for comparison with the NHS's 30 g of free sugars a day for adults. The lemon-lime bubble water has under 1 g.
Can I make the drinks ahead?
Make the syrups and squeeze the citrus a day ahead and keep them in the fridge, and chill the juices and sparkling water. Build each drink in the glass when you serve it, so it keeps its fizz.
Sources
Sugars in cranberry, apple, pomegranate, orange, lemon and lime juice and their weights per fl oz: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy items 168117, 173933, 167787, 169098, 167747 and 168156 (published April 2018; checked 5 November 2026). Density of a 1:1 sugar syrup, 1.2296 g/ml: NBS Circular 440, Table 109 (1942).