Soda Bar Drink Ideas

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The mixed soda craze seems to gain more momentum every day where I live. There are entire restaurants that only sell mixed sodas and cookies. People are having soda bars at their parties and wedding receptions. Why is it so crazy? The drinks are delicious and combine your favorite flavors with your favorite sodas.

Ronald McDonald House Charities has a special place in my heart. RMHC is a wonderful cause that helps people during some of the hardest trials, when their children are sick or injured. Often when a child becomes very sick, the best medical care is far away from home. RMHC works to keep families together by offering a place to stay to families at little or no cost to them. Every Ronald McDonald House provides private rooms, home-cooked meals and play rooms for children so families can focus on healing together.

Right now, RMHC is looking to raise money so they can help even more families in need. There are a lot of ways to raise money and I have done quite a few of them. When I was talking with a few people about what fundraising ideas we could come up with for RMHC, it finally hit me: why not have a soda bar sale?

I have done many bake sales over the years, with varying degrees of success, but these drinks are something everyone around us is buying every day anyway. Why not make it easy for them to support a great cause?

What you need for your soda bar

There are about a million different ways to mix these drinks together, and as long as you have just a few key ingredients you can make just about everyone happy with your options. The biggest things you need for a drink bar is:

Cups with lids and straws — having a lid and straw will make people more likely to buy a soda because they can drink it in the car.
Ice — people will go crazy if you get your hands on pebble ice.
Soda variety — get the most popular flavors of cola, club soda, lemon-lime sodas, and other citrus soda. Make sure to have diet varieties and caffeine-free options so you can appease most people.
Limes and lemons — some people simply want a squeeze of fresh juice in their drink.
Flavored syrups — the most popular syrups are strawberry and coconut, but passion fruit, cherry, raspberry, mango, and vanilla are also great options.
Purees — some people go crazy for the purees. I tend to just stick with raspberry puree for most of the drinks, but there are many other flavors available.
Half and half — for a fun old-fashioned feel, try adding a dash of half and half.

Once you have these ingredients assembled, it’s time to start coming up with flavor combinations. There are about a million different flavor combinations for your soda bar, but I have included five of my favorite custom soda creations below.

Soda Bar Drink Ideas

Dirty Diet Cola

Ingredients: Diet cola + coconut + lime juice

This refreshing drink with coconut and lime is one of the most popular drinks by far. Simply add 12 ounces of your favorite diet cola (or any dark soda for that matter) to a cup. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut syrup and the juice from a lime wedge and you have one of the most famous soda mix-ins of all time. For a fun old-fashioned feel, add a tablespoon of half and half too.

Italian Cream Soda

Ingredients: club soda + strawberry + half and half

This is probably the treat on here I make the most. Italian cream sodas are easy to make and customize. You can pick your favorite syrup flavor and run with it. Fill your cup halfway with ice cubs. Add about 3/4 a cup of club soda over the ice. Add 3-4 tablespoons of your favorite flavoring (I usually go with strawberry, but I want to try a vanilla one!). Mix in the syrup with your straw. Add 1½ tablespoons of half and half and let it settle in for an incredible fruity drink!

Raspberry Cream Doctor

Ingredients: Cola+ raspberry + coconut + half and half

This one ranks high for lots of people using your favorite Colakind of drink, raspberry and coconut. Fill your 12-ounce cup halfway with ice. Add 8 ounces of soda before topping over with 2 tablespoons raspberry puree, 2 tablespoons half and half, and a tablespoon of coconut flavoring. People say this one tastes like a fancy cream soda.

Tropical Dew

Ingredients: Citrus Soda + coconut + strawberry + passion fruit

Fill your cup halfway with ice, then add 8 ounces of citrus soda. Finish it off with a tablespoon of coconut, 2 tablespoons strawberry syrup, and 2 tablespoons passion fruit syrup. Mix before drinking, but take a minute to appreciate just how pretty all of those colors are in the glass.

Strawberry Limeade (and other flavors too)

Ingredients: Lemon-lime soda + lime + strawberry

One of my favorite drinks is a flavored limeade. Traditionally people go for the cherry limeade, but I have a secret: strawberry limeade is the best! For a strawberry limeade, add ice to your glass, then add lemon-lime soda, almost filling the cup. Squeeze half a lime into the cup, then add a couple teaspoons of your favorite flavoring. This is a refreshing drink I could drink every day!

Print Recipe

Soda Bar Drinks

From Dirty Diet Coke to Raspberry Cream Dr. Pepper, find some of the best Soda Bar Drink Ideas and how to pull off a soda bar of your own.

Course: Drinks

Keyword: drink, Recipe

Ingredients

Cups with lids and straws — having a lid and straw will make people more likely to buy a soda because they can drink it in the car.
Ice — people will go crazy if you get your hands on pebble ice.
Soda variety — get the most popular flavors of cola club soda, lemon-lime sodas, and other citrus soda. Make sure to have diet varieties and caffeine-free options so you can appease most people.
Limes and lemons — some people simply want a squeeze of fresh juice in their drink.
Flavored syrups — the most popular syrups are strawberry and coconut but passion fruit, cherry, raspberry, mango, and vanilla are also great options.
Purees — some people go crazy for the purees. I tend to just stick with raspberry puree for most of the drinks but there are many other flavors available.
Half and half — for a fun old-fashioned feel try adding a dash of half and half.
Once you have these ingredients assembled it's time to start coming up with flavor combinations. There are about a million different flavor combinations for your soda bar, but I have included five of my favorite custom soda creations below.