The food is ready, the basket is packed, the blanket is folded up, you’re ready to go. But wait! What about the drinks? The picnic is ruined!

Just kidding. The picnic is just fine, because summer cocktails are super easy to make in batches and bottle ahead of time, and perfect for sharing with friends outdoors. All of these recipes can scale up if you’re bringing a pitcher, or scale down if you just want a single drink. Do a little math to make sure your proportions are correct, measure out your ingredients, grab a funnel, and get bottling.  Just don’t forget the ice. – Andrew

Watermelon Margarita

8 oz Reposado Tequila
4 oz Lime Juice
3 oz Triple Sec
1 oz Agave Syrup
6 oz Watermelon Juice

Freeze the watermelon juice into ice cubes. Combine all the other ingredients, then add the watermelon ice and shake really well. Pour everything, bits of ice and all, into a bottle with a funnel and enjoy. Makes four servings.

All recipe illustrations by Hooray Today for Oh So Beautiful Paper

This might be one of my favorite recipes of all time: delicious, refreshing, and gorgeously red in that bottle. It’s also one of the easiest – just a classic Margarita with a touch of agave syrup for sweetness – and then that watermelon juice, pure heaven. In this recipe, the watermelon juice replaces the water you would normally add through shaking with ice. To streamline the process, you could skip freezing the watermelon juice and just add it directly to the bottle, but then you’ll need to stick the bottle in the freezer a an hour or so before you leave for your picnic to make sure it’s ice cold. If the bottle sits for a while, the watermelon pulp will tend to settle out, so just give the bottle a good shake before serving.

Peach-Cantaloupe White Wine Sangria

1/2 Bottle (375 ml) Dry White Wine
1/4 Cup Triple Sec
1/4 Cup Peach Liqueur
1/4 Cantaloupe
1/4 Pound Peaches

Dice the fruit, then combine with all the liquid ingredients. Let the sangria sit overnight, refrigerated, to combine the flavors. Pour over ice to serve. Makes four servings.

 

Sangria is particularly useful on a summer day. With an alcohol content lower than a cocktail, sangria can hit the spot without leaving you and your company woozy in the heat. We incorporated fresh summer fruit – in this case cantaloupes and peaches – for a fun seasonal twist on a white wine sangria.

Lavender Lemonade

4 oz Lavender-Lemon Simple Syrup
3 Cups Lemonade

You can find the cocktail version of this lemonade here!

Make some lemonade. Or buy some, we won’t tell. Combine all of the ingredients in a bottle or pitcher. Pour over ice to serve and enjoy. Makes four servings.

For friends who don’t drink – or to rehydrate after you’ve polished off the other two bottles – we’ve included a non-alcoholic lemonade. But we can’t leave well enough alone over here and couldn’t just bring a bottle of lemonade. Instead, we added some lavender simple syrup, which you can make pretty easily at home or pick up from the folks at Royal Rose.

All recipe illustrations by Hooray Today for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper