Poison Apple Halloween Punch

It wouldn't be a Halloween party without a punch bowl filled with a bubbling brew. Poison Apple Halloween Punch is a non-alcoholic apple punch perfect for serving your little trick or treaters. 

Halloween Punch

Over the years I've shared quite a few fun Halloween cocktails from my favorite Chocolate Old Fashioned to Chili Pomegranate Margaritas, but never a punch recipe. This Halloween Punch really is so simple to make but has so much delicious fall flavor and when served with dry ice, is extra delightful.

Because I can't help myself when it comes to Halloween, I carved a bunch of green apples into creepy floating "poison apple sculls" to float around in the punch. All you need is a small paring knife to make a quick scull face. 

Halloween Punch Ingredients

• Spiced Apple Cider - Use a good unfiltered or spiced apple cider for this. 
• Sparking Cider - Martinelli's works great and brings fizz and sweetness to the punch.
• Ginger Beer - The spicier the better in my opinion! Trader Joe's makes a decent ginger beer but my favorite is Fever Tree.
• Green Apples - Peeled and carved for garnish in the punch.
• Dry Ice - This is optional but I feel like dry ice really makes this drink spectacular!

How to Make Halloween Punch

1. Find yourself a large punch bowl and glasses. 
2. Combine the apple cider, sparkling cider, and ginger beer in the punch bowl.
3. Peel and carve apples and float them in the cider.
4. Carefully, using tongs, place a chunk of dry ice down into the punch just before serving.
5. Use a ladle to serve glasses of punch.
6. Garnish with gummy worms or slices of green apple.

How to make this an alcoholic Halloween Punch:

1. Add Vodka or Rum straight to the punch bowl. Both are delicious and will transform the drink, so add whichever you like best! If you add vodka, you can also add the juice of a few limes to turn this into a cider mule punch. As for rum, I would recommend adding white rum.
2. Add shots of vodka or rum to individual glasses. If you are serving this punch at a family party and want to keep it kid friendly, you can always spike individual glasses of punch with a shot of liquor. 
3. Bourbon is another favorite for mixing with apple and can also be added to this punch. This Bourbon Maple Apple Cider is one of my favorite fall drink recipes.

It's Halloween so candy garnishes are all but fitting. I personally like gummy worms for this drink but you could also garnish with a slice of green apple. 

Dry Ice Cocktails : tips for using dry ice

Dry ice is such a fun ingredient to add drama to Halloween drinks plus I love how it makes them extra cold. Here are a few tips for using dry ice in cocktails.

1. Finding Dry Ice - Smart & Final sells dry ice but so do some grocery stores and also ice companies. Do a quick Google search for dry ice in your area and call around. I found a small market that sells it by me.
2. Plan Ahead - Dry ice evaporates rather quickly depending on how it's stored and the size of the block. Make sure to pick up your dry ice 1 hour before you plan to use it and keep it in a tightly sealed cooler.
3. Handle Carefully - Never touch dry ice. We keep our dry ice block in a cooler and break it with a long metal rod (the sharpening rod from our knife set) to break it into smaller pieces. Remove dry ice with metal tongs to place it carefully in the punch. 
4. DO NOT DRINK Dry Ice - I don't recommend adding dry ice to kids cups however its fine to add a small piece to adult drinks. The larger cube in the punch bowl is totally safe. 

It just doesn't get any more classic Halloween than a caldron of bubbling punch. I hope you will try this apple cider punch this Halloween! I know that your family, big and small, will go crazy for this beautiful drink.

More Halloween Recipes:

• Halloween Taco Bar
• Bat Snack Board
• Jack-O-Lantern Snack Board
• Halloween Charcuterie
• Pumpkin Dip
• Spicy Halloween Bloody Mary
• Pumpkin Margarita
• Monster Rice Krispies Treats