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Make some summer mocktails

Get inventive in the kitchen and try some refreshing drinks with our favourite mocktails

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You’ll need

  • Ingredients for mocktails
  • Glasses X 6
  • Spoons
  • Blender
  • Sieve

Before you begin 

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.  
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely. 
  • Make sure you have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 
  • Remember to check for allergies, eating problems or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you've checked everyone's dietary requirements and allergies then adapted the recipe as appropriate. This may include ensuring no cross-contamination during food preparation, too.
  • Check if there are any items of food (or packaging) that people can’t touch or be near , or if there are items that people might not be comfortable using in the activity.
  • Some people may not like certain food textures or tastes and that’s OK. Try to find an alternative for them. No one has to use all the ingredients or be made to try foods if they’re not happy, comfortable or don’t want to. 
  • Remember to have a hand washing station and take extra hygiene precautions when handling food. Take a look at our guidance on food preparation.
  • Make sure you have all the ingredients ready. 
  • You may want to run a kitchen safety talk and show people how to use the equipment safely, such as for cooking or chopping ingredients. You could run our kitchen safety and hygiene activities, such as Kitchen risk bingo and Home kitchen hygiene prior to running this session.
  • Depending on your meeting place, you may wish for groups to make or prepare the mocktails in a wider, more spacious area, then invite each group into the kitchen to cook one at a time. Remember the groups not using the kitchen or cooking will still need to be supervised, always following the Yellow Card. 

 

Planning and setting up the activity 

  • Remember to give a safety briefing for the cooking equipment and methods you’re using. You may wish to demonstrate the methods or activity before you all start cooking. 

Top tips for mocktail making 

  •  You don’t need any special equipment. You can use a large jam jar in place of a cocktail shaker, the end of a wooden spoon makes an excellent drink stirrer, and fruit can be pushed through a sieve or mashed with a fork instead of being blended.
  • Think about what you’re going to serve your mocktails in. A mug will do in a pinch, but mocktails can taste (and look) better when served in a glass. You could use jam jars for this too. Use recyclable straws or ask everyone to bring their own.
  • You need lots of ice for mocktails, so remember to think about how you’ll make or store it in advance. You can buy ice cubes and crushed ice from most supermarkets.
  • If you need crushed ice, but only have cubes, wrap some ice cubes in a tea towel and gently hit them with a rolling pin to break them, being mindful of what’s around you and your hands and fingers.
  • Keep the herb stalks or fruit trimmings. You could use them to decorate or garnish your mocktails, or you could reuse them in cooking. 

Planning and setting up this activity  

  • Make sure to chill the ingredients before starting, such as storing them in a fridge. 
  • You could have different stations for each mocktail with the ingredients set up at that station. 
  • Remember to give a safety briefing for the cooking equipment and methods you’re using. You may wish to demonstrate the methods or activity before you all start cooking. 
  • Make sure there’s a responsible adult to manage the cooking sources, such as the oven and hob. This should be separate to people who are supervising young people or leading other activities. You can restrict access to the kitchen or cooking source to one group at a time, while everyone else prepares their ingredients in another supervised area. Always follow the Yellow Card.  

Run the activity 

  • Gather everyone together and tell them you’re going to be making mocktails. 
  • Ask everyone to wash their hands, then get into pairs or small groups. 
  • Each group should collect the ingredients and equipment, then find a space. You may want to provide printed copies of the recipe.  

Here are our favourite mocktails 

Ingredients  

  • 4 strawberries
  • Mint leaves
  • 1 lime
  • Soda water
  • 1 tsp sugar 

Method 

  1. Mash three or four strawberries with the back of a fork and drop them into a glass. Frozen strawberries can be used for this recipe. They taste just as good and can be cheaper.
  2. Carefully chop a lime into quarters, then squeeze a quarter of a lime into the glass and drop the lime in too.
  3. Take five or six mint leaves and tear them into the glass. 
  4. Add a teaspoon of sugar, then stir or mix all the ingredients together.
  5. Fill the glass with soda and add ice to taste. You could also use lemonade.
  6. Stir the ingredients again, then add a straw and enjoy! 

Ingredients  

  • 50ml passionfruit juice
  • 25ml lemon juice
  • 2 tsp elderflower cordial
  • 150ml sparkling water
  • 1 tsp passionfruit seeds (optional - to serve) 

Method 

  1. Add the passionfruit juice, lemon juice and elderflower cordial to a glass, then mix gently.
  2. Pour in the fizzy water carefully, making sure not to add too much.
  3. Mix the ingredients together carefully with a spoon, then add some passionfruit seeds to serve. 

Ingredients  

  • 1 punnet raspberries
  • 150ml lemon juice
  • 1l water
  • 50g sugar
  • Vanilla extract (optional)
  • Ice 

Method 

  1. Frozen raspberries can be used for this recipe. They taste just as good and can be cheaper. 
  2. Add the raspberries, sugar and water to a blender, then blend well until it becomes a puree. This may be noisy, so you may want to blend these before the session if anyone is sensitive to loud noises. 
  3. Pass the raspberry puree through a sieve, then pour it into a large jug or pitcher. Use the back of a spoon to press any pulp against the strainer to extract all the juice.
  4. Add the remaining lemon juice and water to your jug, then mix it well and add ice to taste.
  5. You could add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to add a creamy texture to the drink. 

Ingredients  

  • 6 teabags
  • 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp runny honey, plus extra to serve
  • 2 lemons (1 juiced and 1 sliced)
  • 1 orange (sliced)
  • Mint leaves
  • Ice cubes 

Method 

  1. Put the teabags, sugar, honey and 1.5l of water into a large jug. 
  2. Leave it to infuse for 10 mins, then remove and discard the tea bags. 
  3. Chill the mixture until you’re ready to serve it.
  4. When serving, add in lemon juice, lemon slices, orange slices and mint leaves, then stir them in well. Fill the jug with plenty of ice and stir again.
  5. Fill glasses with ice cubes and pour the iced tea over them, then serve with extra honey to taste. 

Ingredients 

  • Handful of green grapes
  • Handful of blueberries 
  • 4 tbsp grenadine
  • 400ml orange juice 
  • Sparkling water or lemonade (to top up) 

 Method

  1. Thread the grapes and blueberries onto bamboo skewers to make stirrers.
  2. Pour the grenadine into the glasses. 
  3. Gently tip the glasses and pour the orange juice down the inside of the glasses, so it sits on top of the grenadine. 
  4. Top up with sparking water or lemonade, then add the stirrers to serve. 

Reflection

This activity was all about having fun with existing friends and making new ones. What was your favourite mocktail? Which was easiest to make? What would you include if you made your own mocktail? 

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Food

Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.

Sharp objects

Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

  • To make this activity easier, you could have all the ingredients prepared, such as pre-cut or pre-blended items, in advance.
  • To make this activity harder, ask your young people to create their own mocktails using a range of ingredients. 

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Explorers Chef Activity Badge

If you enjoyed this activity, you could try some more mocktail recipes using BBC Good Food.