How to “fancy up” soft drinks

[mermaid101]

I’m not sure my title is really explaining what I’m asking very well. Sorry.

I am looking for ideas to make shop bought soft drinks a bit fancier and seem a bit special.

I am hosting an event soon and it’s going to be in a room which can get quite hot. I’m planning to serve cold drinks throughout the day to counter this a bit (and use fans etc)

There will be about 25 people there. I will have access to freezer space two floors up from the room.

I will be running the event myself so won’t have a lot of time to cut up fruit or do anything fancy but want to provide something that’s a bit fancy.

maybe along the lines of pomegranate seeds in pink lemonade or something similar. It all needs to be shop bought and have absolute minimal preparation.

I am not great with ideas so please hit me with all your examples of fancy easy cold drinks that look fab and take not much putting together

Some nice cordials with sparkling water?

Pomegranate juice, sparkling water, lime slice and sprinkle of pomegranate seeds

Put some frozen berries in.
Garnishes eg lemon/orange slices
Fresh mint/lemon slices in water
Fancy cordials with sparking water eg elderflower - I like bottle free or seedlip.

I had this the other evening and it was lovely. Add a few mint leaves to garnish and it would be 👌
Otherwise fancy cordials and sparkling water would be good.

Dried fruit also looks a bit posh. Dried grapefruit slice etc. DIY then in the oven

A handful of frozen summer berries in a glass of lemonade works well.

Yes - do this. Limes work really well dried in the oven. Make sure you slice them really thinly.
Fresh cucumber and blackberries are also lovely

Naturally fruit flavoured, no sugar added sparking water mixed with 100% fruit juice/nectar, maybe with a fruit garnish. It's fabulous and as easy as it gets.

Thanks so much. These are all great. I’ve never done this before so sorry if these are silly questions. What sort of frozen fruit would you suggest? I was going to serve the drinks in jugs with ice. Will the fruit sink? What about the mint? Should I separate the leaves off the stalks? Will I just put the leaves on the top or do you sort of stir it through. So sorry as you can tell I am totally clueless!

Can you premake a bunch of fancy ice cubes? Boil water (no idea why but ice cubes made with boiled water are totally clear and transparent) and you can add a spring of mint, edible flowers, slice of strawberry, etc. Pinterest is your friend.

Buy some large silicone ice cube trays off temu/amazon. Then get creative. If you make large square icecubes they will take a while to melt.

Might be too ‘posh gym’ but one of those massive glass jars with a tap at the bottom full of lemon slices or strips of cucumber or mint or whatever looks pretty and they can help themselves which might save you a job.

What about an old fashioned glass punch bowl and ladle? Again they can help themselves, you just have to keep it topped up

Fresh berries in fizzy water look pretty.

can your venue give you a big container so you can do a bed of ice or bucket of ice in water and leave bottles of soft drink in there for your guests to choose from?

Love the cucumber and blackberries! Would I just slice the cucumber in circles or cubes do you think?

Frozen berries tend to give off a bit of juice and squashed bits of berry into the drink as they get a bit mushed in the bag so they will be less picture perfect, if that’s your aim btw

Current hun thanks so much. Picture perfect is absolutely my aim!

Iced tea is really refreshing!. If you can't make it yourself, big bottles of peach iced tea soft drink are £1.50 in Lidl. Just pour into jugs with ice in the kitchen and hide the bottles!

https://fruitsfordrinks.com/ I've been to several places which use them on a regular basis, friend had them in drinks at their wedding and local independent wine merchant stocks them. No mess, no waste and they're really good. No need for a freezer.

Please also include some artificial sweetener free drinks too. Nearly all lemonades for example are full of them.

NNS can make some people really ill (including me) and I’m so tired of going out and only being able to drink water.

Grenadine, pineapple juice you just pour a little on top and it oozes down, few pomegranate seeds on top and sprig of mint.

Pineapple juice and coconut milk blended together with a little lime juice.

Aldi have a few decent options readymade eg kiwi lemonade

Thanks @Elphame that’s something I wouldn’t have thought of but will definitely do. Can you suggest any you recommend

All the Bottle Green cordials are “safe” and most supermarkets will have them. Rose’s lime cordial too. Sainsbury Classic lemonade is also sweetener free but only sold in 1 litre size.

Classic coke is ok too but all the Pepsi and supermarket own brands have sweeteners in.

There are others but these will be fine. Thank you on behalf of your sweetener intolerant guests!!