Thanks. You are right about the beer. The beer will be here along with some bottles of wine with bubbles.
The punch has to be without alcohol because there will be a few guests who do not drink alcohol.
I am not going to use a punch bowl. I have a clear glass pitcher from Crate and Barrel, and if I get really ambitious, I will use an oversized ice cube tray to make some pretty ice cubes with cranberries and maybe rosemary sprigs inside. (I better remember to buy some distilled water though to make sure the cubes are clear.)
I could not figure out what non-alcohol thing I could put in with the cranberry juice (the 100% juice kind — not the cocktail and not the straight up pure cranberry juice either — one too sweet, one too tart.) But I just got a suggestion of not using orange juice, but using orange Pellegrino instead. (I did not know what Pellegrino is but now I do. I will find some and experiment.) Maybe I will put Pellegrino in with the cranberry juice and have individual servings on the side, along with the beer and bubbly wines. Choices.
The punch’s main job probably will be to sit there and look pretty on the appetizer table so I will not make a 55-gallon drum of it. I will just have the ingredients ready in backup in case it goes.
(And I better go find my spray bottle of Wine Away to make sure it is on standby. I have used that stuff to take red wine stains out and it was miraculous. I am assuming if there are any cranberry-based spills, it can work on those — I hope.)
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