Sangria Party Week 2: Cucumber & Berry Sangrias
Welcome to Foxes Love Lemons Sangria Party Week 2014! I had such a great time throwing a backyard sangria party last year that I decided to do it again! Stay tuned all week for details about party planning, sangria recipes, appetizers, dinner and desserts!
The most important part of any sangria party is obviously the sangria itself. Each year, I make two types of sangria – one with red wine and one with white wine. I’ll share the recipes I used this year below, but first some general tips:
- As I mentioned yesterday, you will need a lot of ice for this party for people to fill and re-fill their glasses. Just ask several guests to bring bags of ice, and stash a cooler full of ice right near the sangria so it’s always readily available.
- We learned the hard way this year that stray blueberries can get stuck in the spigot part of beverage dispensers and prevent the sangria from dispensing at all. So, if you’re going to be serving a sangria with berries in it, either serve it out of pitchers, or devise a system to prevent the berries from entering the dispensing part of the jug. Luckily, I had an engineer husband and two friends volunteer to remedy the situation this year using a (new) piece of window screen, tape, and ingenuity.
- I like to make both sangrias on Thursday, for a Saturday party. The earlier you can make the sangria, the better, as the flavor improves after a few days.
- Just go ahead and use cheap wine. In the end, the fruit you add to the wine is what’s going to make the difference, and even the cheapest wine tastes great once it’s been hanging out with a bunch of fruit for a few days.
- Quantity is tricky, because it all depends on how long the party is, how warm it is outside, how many friends live within walking distance (or are spending the night), and if every guest will be drinking the sangria. This year, we ended up going through 11 bottles of wine for 14 guests (but the party started at 4pm, and the last guests left at 2:30 am, so we had quite awhile to drink it all). The best thing to do is make a bit more than you think you’ll need, and keep some extra wine, soda and other ingredients on hand so that you can quickly make another batch.
- A big tray of fruit garnishes proved popular this year. However, if you go this route, you really don’t need to serve fruit salad with dinner. Because, um, no one will eat it. Another lesson learned the hard way.
The white sangria this year was Cucumber White Sangria from Midwest Living. I made a quadruple batch, and used Sprite Zero in place of seltzer water for extra flavor. The only other deviation I made from the recipe is that I did not stir in ice, but rather just let guests fill their glasses with ice and pour the sangria over. It’s the only sangria I’ve ever made where the wine sits with fruit, then that fruit is strained out and discarded, and new fruit is added. It was a bit of work, but in the end, the flavor was great so I think it was totally worth it.
This year’s red sangria was Berry Sangria from Kitchen Confidante. I again made a quadruple batch, and deviated from the recipe in a few ways. I only added half the rum that is called for, so it wouldn’t be too strong. I also added only about one third the simple syrup that is called for, because I prefer my sangrias on the less sweet side. Additionally, I added some sliced oranges for extra fruit flavor. I did not add the optional mint (since there was mint in the other sangria) or optional ice (again, let guests put ice in each glass). I used Sprite Zero in this sangria as well.
For serving, I used a variety of plastic wine tumblers, and, in classic sangria style, mason jars. I’ve long been a fan of these jars for their style and functionality. In fact, my fridge and pantry are full of them, as I use them to store and organize all sorts of grains, pastas and baking ingredients.
photo credit: @kjnaber
They are my favorite kind of drinking glasses.
Thanks for the giveaway…we use them as drinking glasses for summer BBQ’s !
I love the new colored mason jars. My favorite way to display them is filled with homemade jelly and canned tomatoes and pickles from the garden, but they do make nice iced tea glasses too. Thanks.
I like use them mostly for homemade sauces & for pickles.
I like using mason jars for storing leftover soup.
I use them for canning
I love to use the to serve deserts 🙂
I love using mason jars for homemade salad dressings!
I use them mainly for homemade applesauce. But also to store some things or make dressings.
love me some ball mason jars! love using them for drinks or salads or canning my fresh salsa!
i use them when i juice, i love having fresh juice on hand. and i love using them for storage, esp craft items like buttons or knitting needles
My son keeps collections of rocks, marbles, toys, etc in them.
I use them in my seasonal decor And we also drink out of some
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I love to use them as vases, fill them with flowers and give them away as gifts.
I love to use them for vases for my garden flowers!!~
I do raw foods juices and love to drink my juice from them!
we like to drink out of mason jars.
I like to use them for drinks.
We like to use them to make Jam.
I like to use them for vases and drinking glasses.
My favorite way to use Mason jars are for drinking tea or lemonade.
I like to fill them with cookie mixes and give them as gifts.
I use the, to organize my cabinets. I also use them for canning. I love seeing all my jars, lined up in the pantry, full of stuff from our garden. I also use them as a vase.
I like the jars to be filled with fresh flowers.
I like to put sauces and left overs in them.
I like to use them at parties in a lot of different ways.
I like to use them in canning.
My favorite way to use Mason jars is in canning. Thanks for the chance to try using them as glasses!
I like making banana pudding mason jars.
My husband likes to drink out of them. I like to can with them.
canning
i use them as drinking glasses. i have an attachment that goes on the top. love the look of them and the size.
I use them for drinking glasses
Flowers from my kids go in my mason jars!
I love them as vases for garden flowers. And I have bath salts in one in the master bath.
We like drinking out of them.
I use them to store food.
I use them to store dried beans.
I use them for canning, storing dry goods, vases and drinking glasses.
My favorite way to use mason jars is as flower vases!
I LOVE to make homemade pickles from a recipe that my mom passed down to me! these would be perfect since they are green!!
We have a few as décorations in our den.
Our favorite way to use them is to drink out of!
I use them to make grape and strawberry jam. I also use them to make glow in the dark nightlights for my little girl-we buy glow in the dark paint-paint the inside, and then add sparkles. It glows for months.
I really enjoy drinking from them. They are so sturdy and I never fear that they will fall over.
I use them in my art
I can food from my garden in them.
Flowers!
I love to drink my sweet tea from Ball jars.
I like to use them as jars for my flower arrangements.
August 15, 2014 at 1:05 am
I have a set of mugs that are fruit jars and the grandchildren love. I had an uncle who would not drink out of anything but qt. fruit jar
I have never used a Mason jar for anything but I have found some really neat things on Pinterest that you can do with a mason jar 🙂
My favorite way to use Mason jars are for drinking. I think that they keep drinks cooler than plastic cups. I also like how they are clear and you can easily see how your drink is doing.
I like to actually can things in them. I make my own jams and vegetable combinations.
I like top use them as drinking glasses
I like them as canisters for beans and such to put on the counter.
vmkids3 at msn dot com
I get your email updates sent to jefflammers at rocketmail dot com.
I like to use them to make layered desserts.
I have such a thing for Mason Jars. I have bunch lined up on my counter with M&Ms, Cat Treats and Nuts in them (so cute). I can stuff too! I make a lot of jam.
I do like to layer homemade cookie mixes to give as presents along with the recipe.
I use mine as drinking glasses and also to store homemade vinegar and lemon cleaner.
I use them to freeze leftovers.
Use as drinking glasses
I have them in every room of my house. In my livingroom I use them to hold flowers. In my kitchen they hold cupcake liners and and pens and in my bathroom I use them for my bobbypins and cotton balls. but my favorite way to use them in my home is for a drinking glass.
We use Mason jars as drinking glasses, to store food in frig and pantry, for canning, and we use the vintage ones for decoration in the kitchen and dining room.
We just drink ice tea, pop or anything out of them.
Drinking drinks out of and eating pickles out of are my favorites!
I fill mason jars with salad dressing and salad ingredients and then shake it up!
The sangria was delicious! Thanks for the inviye , even though I was a self-proclaimed Sangria hater! Not anymore!
I grew up using Mason jars for all kinds of things. My favorite is to drink iced tea.
I really use them for what they were intended for to can my jams and food. DOn’t have any extra
These sangrias look so refreshing and flavorful! As for mason jars, I always keep one ready either at work or home as a shaker to make salad dressing!
I like to put colored sand in them and add a candle for the table.
They make awesome candy dishes!
I use them for storage for dried goods and for bringing a salad in for work. They are great for that because the dressing does not leak.
I like to make salads in them for on the go when I need something fast.
Shhhhhhh . . . The best way to enjoy the sangrias was a mixture of half cucumber and half berry. By the end of the party is was a complete craze – everybody was doing it!
This looks delicious!