Rainbow Party Punch

We’ve been having this rainbow party punch since I was a little girl. My mom made it for pretty much every party we had. It’s absolutely delicious and is always a hit every time we serve it.

There are a variety of ways to make this delicious beverage too so you can adapt it to several different flavor profiles and color schemes. It’s perfect for birthday parties, baby showers,

You can find lots more beverage recipes here.

Want more recipes like this? Sign up to receive the Mixin Mamas newsletter!

First Name Email Address Submit

Rainbow Party Punch

Our original recipe for this drink came from Betty Crocker. My mom had that set with all the recipe cards in it (I still have most of them). We don’t need the recipe anymore because we have made it so many times and in so many different ways. The basics are that you have a fruity, fizzy punch with scoops of sherbet floating on top. As they melt, it adds a creamy foam that is simply delightful.

For this particular punch recipe, we’re using lemon, lime, and pineapple flavors because we were going with a yellow and green theme. I know, I know. Green and yellow doesn’t make this a rainbow but I’ve always grown up knowing this as rainbow party punch because generally we use rainbow sherbet on it. I’ve also heard it called floating island party punch because the scoops of sherbet float on top of the punch.

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Yields: About 1 Gallon

Ingredients:

•  1 Bottle Lemonade Juice (52 ounces)
• 1 Bottle 7Up (2 liters)
•  2 Pints Yellow Sherbet (lemon or pineapple)
•  2 Pints Green Sherbet
•  Lemon and Lime Slices (optional for garnish)

Variations:

• Our classic recipe is 2 liters of ginger ale, 1 liter of apple juice, 1 can of frozen orange juice concentrate, and 1 can of frozen lemonade concentrate. I don’t add any pieces of fruit to this classic recipe but you could if you wanted to.
• Choose whatever flavors of sherbet you want. We think it looks best with more than one color and we usually choose the rainbow kind or buy 4 different colors to create more of a rainbow effect.
• You can use pretty much any clear/light colored pop for this recipe – ginger ale, 7Up, Sprite, etc. I have never tried it with Mountain Dew but I bet it would be really good.

Items Needed:

• Punch Bowl
• Ladle

Directions:

Pour the lemonade into a clean punch bowl.

Add the 7Up in next.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop balls of sherbet into the punch bowl and they will stay floating at the top.

If using the lemon and lime slices, place those in empty spots on top of the liquid in the bowl.

Serve and enjoy!

Pro Tips:

• It is best to make this right before your party. The earlier you make it, the more likely the sherbet will melt and you just won’t get that pretty floating island effect.
• Simply Lemonade has a juice style lemonade that was perfect for this recipe.
• Yellow sherbet can either be pineapple or lemon. Either works just fine for this recipe.
• If you would like to keep the extra juice afterwards, remove the foam, fruit slices, and any remaining ice cream and pour the liquid into your leftover juice bottles. It will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or the freezer for up to 3 months. We have never actually had leftovers – that is how popular this punch is!