by Holle Abee

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: May 23, 2008

Most Fourth of July celebrations are held outside, under the blazing heat of the summer sun, so you'll want to be sure to offer plenty of cool, refreshing drinks to your guests.

To keep with the patriotic theme of red, white, and blue, choose liqueur, mixers, and licquors of those colors.

For red, choose grenadine, red punch, cherry juice, or strawberry daiquiri mix. For blue, use blue vodka, blue punch, blue curacao, or blueberry puree. For white, try pina colada mix, white russian mix, frozen lemonade, or any clear spirits or mixers.

You can also dress up your drinks with colorful garnishes like red or blue sugars, available in the baking aisle - the kind used to decorate cookies.

Other nice garnishes include fresh blueberries, strawberries, and cherries.

One of the best garnishes for Independence Day drinks is starfruit. Just slice the fruits crosswise to make little stars. Then dampen each star and toss in powdered sugar until they appear white. These make festive, edible additions when placed on the rim of a glass!

For a neat way to keep your drinks cool, place fresh blueberries and sliced strawberries in ice cube trays. Top with ginger ale and freeze until hard. These look great in drinks, and add to your patriotic theme!

Give these Fourth of July cocktails a try:

Fourth-a-colada

Prepare frozen pina colada mixture, making sure it's extra thick, and divide into 3 containers. Add red food coloring to one batch, and blue to another. Spoon into clear hurricane glasses in layers, to make a red, white, and blue frozen treat. Garnish with a slice of star fruit.

Fourth of July

Pour grenadine into the bottom of a clear glass. Float vodka on the grenadine. Then float blue curacao on top. Voila! A great-tasting red, white, and blue cocktail!

Watermelon Slush

4 cups frozen, seeded watermelon cubes
1 cup vodka
1/2 cup ginger ale
sugar to taste

Freeze watermelon cubes for two hours. Place in blender with vodka, ginger ale, and sugar. Blend until smooth. Wet rim of clear glass and dip in blue sugar. Fill each glass with slush and garnish with blueberries on top.

Apple Pie Cocktail

3 ounces apple shnapps
1 splash cinnamon shnapps
pinch cinnamon
apple wedges

Mix shnapps together and pour over ice. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and garnish glass with apple wedge. Delicious!

Learn more about this author, Holle Abee.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.