Santa Cocktail

This Santa Cocktail is the perfect holiday drink for the season. Cranberry juice, grenadine, vodka, sprite, and corn syrup come together to create a deliciously sweet cocktail that all the adults will love after a long day of eating and holiday fun.

Two Santa cocktails surrounded by red garland.

Who doesn’t love a cocktail at the end of the day? Or maybe even around noon depending on when you’re having your family holiday get-together. There are some cocktails that you drink for their effects and there are some that you drink simply for the vibe, and this Santa Cocktail is a little bit of both.

We love to make this cocktail when we have guests over for the holidays. It’s a great way to get into the holiday spirit for the grownups. It’s so good and has a classic holiday look. It also has the perfect kick of alcohol that is just enough, if you know what we mean.

Santa Cocktail

This Santa cocktail brings so much holiday spirit to any gathering to all the good grownup boys and girls. It has a great sweet flavor that combines cranberries and maraschino cherries along with corn syrup, vodka, grenadine, and Sprite. It’s a sort of sweet and tangy, fizzy concoction that has just the right amount of alcohol to make you feel extra fantastic for the holiday but won’t hit you so hard that you become THAT guest that gets obnoxious (you know the one). LOL

Cocktail ingredients
This Santa Cocktail is the perfect holiday drink for the season. Cranberry juice, grenadine, vodka, sprite, and corn syrup come together to create a deliciously sweet cocktail that all the adults will love after a long day of eating and holiday fun.

Ingredients

It only takes a few simple ingredients to make this cocktail. Unlike some more complicated cocktails that require simple syrups, muddlers, and other paraphernalia, this recipe just takes glasses and a handful of ingredients.

  • Grenadine
  • Vodka
  • Cranberry juice
  • Sprite
  • Corn syrup
  • Granulated sugar
  • Maraschino cherries

**See the recipe card at the end of the post for quantities.

Instructions

Just like the ingredient list, making this cocktail is super easy. It only takes a few simple steps, and you’ll have a holly jolly cocktail that all the adults will love.

Step 1: Rim the Glass

Coat the rim of the glass in corn syrup, then coat the corn syrup with granulated sugar.

Step 2: Make the Cocktail

Add ice to a cocktail shaker, then pour in the grenadine, vodka, juice, and Sprite. Shake lightly.

Measuring cup pouring juice into shaker

Step 3: Assemble the Cocktail

Strain the cocktail into the rimmed glass. Then, add a cheery to garnish.

Storage

You won’t have to worry about storage. This Santa cocktail recipe is enough for two drinks, so it’s perfect for a couple. If you’re having a party, make them individually for the guests as they want them.

Santa cocktail in stem glass with red garland

Tips

This is just about the easiest cocktail recipe you’ll ever make, but even so, we have a couple of tips to really make it pop. These are simple tips, but they add a lot to the presentation, so give them a look.

White Food Coloring – Add white food coloring to the corn syrup to give your cocktails a fantastic holiday vibe.

Flavored Vodka – For a traditional cocktail flavor, use plain vodka. For a more specialized flavor, use your favorite vodka flavor.

Sugar Coating – When coating your corn syrup with sugar, fill a small bowl with sugar and quickly flip the glass over, dipping the rim in the sugar. If you do it in a quick, controlled motion, you’ll easily coat the corn syrup without it dripping of the glass rim.

PIN IT!!

More Cocktail Recipes

If you love serving up cocktails, we have some more recipes that we think you’ll love.

Holly Jolly Christmas Citrus Cocktail

Green Iguana Cocktail

Caramel Apple Hard Cider

Closeup overhead shot of Santa cocktail

FAQ

Before you dive into this recipe, take a moment to read this FAQ. There’s not much here because this recipe is so simple, but what is here will be a good source of information as you go about making this cocktail.

Can I use any vodka?
Yes. We recommend plain vodka for a more classic cocktail. Other varieties like cranberry or citrus vodka gel very well with the other flavors in this cocktail as well.

How do I rim the glass?
It can be a bit daunting at first, but the trick is quick hands. Prepare a bowl of sugar that’s big enough for the rim of your glass to fit. Then, rim the glass with corn syrup and quickly flip it and dunk it in the sugar. If you move in one quick, even motion, you’ll have your glass rimmed in sugar with no issues.

Why don’t you have storage information listed?
We designed this recipe to be enough for two people. Cocktails that have soda in them are never really the same if you keep them for any length of time, so rather than trying to make a batch of these, we recommend simply making them as needed.

Santa Cocktail

This Santa cocktail is like a glass full of presents from Old Saint Nick himself. Loaded with sweet flavors and just the right amount of alcohol. It packs the perfect punch of flavor and social lubrication, allowing you and yours to enjoy your time together happily and responsibly. Give this one a try, and we know you’ll fall in love with it.

MORE COCKTAILS YOU WILL LOVE:

Caramel Apple Hard Cider

Easy Pina Colada

Birthday Cake Shots

Holly Jolly Christmas Citrus Cocktail

Cuban Peach Cocktail

Santa Cocktail

This Santa Cocktail is the perfect holiday drink for the season. Cranberry juice, grenadine, vodka, sprite, and corn syrup come together to create a deliciously sweet cocktail that all the adults will love after a long day of eating and holiday fun.
1 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Cocktails, Drinks
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 2 Servings

Ingredients

  • 4 oz. Grenadine 
  • 4 oz. Vodka
  • 1 cup Cranberry juice
  • 2 cups Sprite
  • Corn syrup
  • Granulated sugar
  • Maraschino cherries 

Instructions

  • Start by rimming your glass. Coat the rim in the corn syrup then coat with the granulated sugar.
  • Time to assemble the cocktail by grabbing a cocktail shaker and adding ice.
  • Pour in the grenadine, your favorite vodka, juice and sprite.
  • Shake lightly.
  • Strain into the rimmed glass.
  • Add a cherry to garnish.
  • Serve and enjoy.

Notes

Notes:
Add a couple drops of white food coloring to the corn syrup before rimming to make it pop.

Disclaimer

Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.

1 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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