31 Spiked Lemonades You Need To Make This Summer

When you’re a kid, there’s nothing more fun than setting up a lemonade stand in your front yard as soon as summer hits. We took the whole task very seriously when we were kids: mixing in just the right amount of sugar to the tart lemons, displaying our hand-drawn sign just so, and trying to keep the sampling of our wares to a minimum. Now that we’re adults with real jobs, we long for the simplicity of those days. This summer, take note from your younger self and make some fresh lemonade, but with an adult twist—add booze, and turn them into a cocktail! Check out our 32 spiked lemonade recipes for ideas–we bet they’ll make you feel like a kid again.

Though truly, you could just add some vodka to a pitcher of lemonade and call it a day, it’s way more fun to go above and beyond with your spiked lemonade. One of our favorite ways to jazz up simple cocktails is to infuse some aspect of them with unexpected flavor. Instead of using basic sugar to sweeten your drink, try an infused simple syrup. Our blueberry lemonade margaritas and lemosas (lemonade + mimosa, get it?) both use a blueberry simple to incredible effect—trust us, you’re going to want to make extra to put in all your drinks from now on. You could even add flavor to the alcohol itself, like in our boozy sour watermelon slushies (made with Sour Patch watermelons) or our spiked sparkling basil lemonade (bonus: the basil turns the drink a lovely shade of light green). Another option is to get creative with your ice cubes. Our shark infested waters cocktail uses gummy sharks frozen in ice cube trays to keep it cold, and our pink cloud punch or boozy sherbet punch use fruity ice cream that’ll make them as much dessert as they are cocktail.

Want more summer drink inspiration? Check out our best summer cocktails, our favorite frozen drink recipes, and our top non-alcoholic party drinks (trust us, you DO need virgin options) too.