Remember those bomb popsicles from your youth? My kids love the ones we get from Schwan’s. Its just plain fun to eat a striped popsicle with different flavors for each layer. Several years ago I decided to take the same concept and turn those bomb popsicles into a drink.
The results were one cool to look at, refreshing to sip on a sweltering summer day drink. This drink is da BOMB! It’s a layered red, white and blue patriotic drink fun for the 4th of July or any patriotic holiday.
Ingredients:
Cranberry Juice
Blue Gatorade or Powerade
Diet 7 Up
Fill a clear glass with ice. Pour some cranberry juice into the bottom. Next pour in some blue Gatorade making sure you pour directly onto the ice and not into the cranberry juice. Fill the rest of the glass with Diet 7 Up, again pouring directly onto the ice and not into the Gatorade.
How does this work? The cranberry juice, Gatorade, and Diet 7 Up all have varying amounts of sugar. The more concentrated a drink is (more sugar it has) the more dense it is. Those that are less dense “float” on top. The other trick is to pour right on the ice otherwise you just end up mixing the colors, which I admit can be fun, but you don’t end up with a multi-layered masterpiece. Knowing the tricks of the trade you can create rainbow colored drinks of your own catering the colors to match a birthday theme, baby shower, or other holiday get togethers. The colors will eventually blend together so these drinks can’t really be made ahead of time. I’ve found that kids will wait for their drinks because the magic of watching it come together is so much fun.
Yum! I remember having this at your house when we had the book club there.
I’m excited to do this with my family. My children will love it!
Do you think I could use blue koolaid instead of the gatorade, though? Or any other suggestions for a blue drink? I’m not a big gatorade fan.
Sheri,
You could use kool-aid but it may contain more sugar than the cranberry juice so might go on the bottom. Any juices can be used you just need to check how many grams of sugar each juice has to figure out the order for pouring into the glass. The juices with more grams of sugar get poured into the glass first. If you have juices that are very similar in grams of sugar they might not work but give it try!
Hope that helps. 😀
Oh my gosh I love this!
Very cool! Perfect for 4th of July this week.
And I tagged you for a meme over at my blog.
Very, very cool. We’ll be trying these at our house for the 4th.
That’s awesome!
This is awesome!! I love this. Thanks for sharing.
okay, that’s cool…I’m not even a fan of soda or Gatorade, but I think I could drink them just to try this 🙂
How clever! I’m definitely putting that in my “party idea book”.
You are not kidding, da bomb! I have to try this, thanks!
Cocoa you have the BEST ideas! I love it! My boys will love making these…
Thanks so much for sharing! I am very excited to try this drink:)
I love it! Thanks for telling us how!!! All sorts of possibilities are going through my head…
Fantastic idea! I love the look of layered drinks, but never knew you could make your own. You’re so clever! I can’t wait to try this ourselves.
what a great drink! looks very festive and perfect for the holiday!
happy POW!
What a great idea!!! And it look cool too. I just wonder if you could use Grenadine, to switch things up from time to time, rather than the cranberry juice? It’s denser (well it’s really a syrup) so I’m assuming will stay on the bottom. Hmmm, might have to try it. And like Sheri, I’m not a fan of blue Gatorade but I might try that sugar free blue berry flavoured PowerAde stuff.
Thanks for the post. So glad I found you through POW…ok well actually I originally found you through Mommy’s Martini, but just never got around to commenting. Will be back for sure.
love this idea, very clever
Impressive!! May have to try that.
What a cute idea!
Happy POW
Great idea. The kids will love it.
Thanks!
Happy POW!
Cool drink, I was kind of hoping for chocolate with your blog title. This is my first visit… maybe next time you will have some chocolatey delight???
Happy POW
What an excellent idea! I’ll definitely give this a try this weekend.
That is super cool. I’m headed out for get some cranberry juice and diet7-up now.
Happy 4th! And Happy POW!
That is one good looking drink. No pun intended. It probably doesn’t work with diet 7 up, though. Oh, heck, I’ll try it anyway. Happy POW!
What a fun idea!!
Mary
How festive!! Thanks for the suggestion!
happy pow!
Groovy. 🙂
Love, Sprittibee
That looks soooo refreshing!!! I’m definitely trying it 🙂
Thanks for the idea- hope you don’t mind that I used it on my 30 days blog. I can’t wait to try it!
I was the coolest mom this year for making these on the 4th of July. And I think I impressed the adults the most.
Oops, I meant to add:
Thanks for the great idea!
=)
Oooh, those are very cool. My boys would love them!
Just a quick note to say thanks for entering the giveaway yesterday and stopping by my blog.
Hope to see you again soon…
That’s a cool trick! 🙂
So is it safe to say that regular 7-up, Sprite or whatever is out because of the sugar content? I really strongly dislike “diet” drinks.
Any soda can be used just make sure to check the amount of sugar. Those with the most sugar should be used first as they will be more dense. It works out better if there is a bigger difference in the sugar amounts. If the sugar grams are to close together for cranberry juice and Sprite they might not stay separated in the glass.
Just made our family these for our 4th. They turned out Ok but not great since I didn’t have quite enough ice to fill the cups. The kids didn’t love the cranberry juice, but we taught them to hold their straws up a little to taste the different flavors and they loved that. Thanks for a very very fun idea!
Thank you for your idea to use cranberry juice. I made a layered breakfast drink:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judyjowers/5615536935/