Just in time for Mother’s Day, I’m sharing easy ideas for how to make pretty ice cubes! These decorative ice cubes are also great for a baby or bridal shower, a holiday brunch, a romantic Valentine’s Day meal, or anytime you want to make your drinking experience a little more fabulous or flavorful. These are all fancy ice cubes for drinks, so all the ingredients used are safe for consumption, but they’d also be decorative in ice buckets to chill bottles or hors d’oeuvres. I’ve got all the ideas below, including floral ice cubes, fruit ice cubes (berry ice cubes and grapefruit ice cubes), herb ice cubes (including mint ice cubes and rosemary ice cubes), juice ice cubes for mimosas, and prosecco ice cubes (strawberry ice cubes shaped like a heart and made with prosecco instead of water). You can also watch a replay of me making several of these live in my Pinterest TV episode on Creative Ice Cube Garnishes for a more in-depth how-to.
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Floral Ice Cubes
Floral ice cubes are always a lovely choice! I made these decorative ice cubes using water, edible or food-safe flowers, and silicone ice cube trays. The key with floral ice cubes (if using these fancy ice cubes for drinks) is to make sure you’re using food-safe flowers, such as culinary lavender or flowers meant for tea. If not, they may have to be strictly decorative to use in ice buckets to chill drinks or hors d’oeuvres platters. I love how the color of the flowers pops in these ribbed glasses.
Fruit ICe Cubes
Berry ice cubes and fruit ice cubes are not only pretty ice cubes, they’re also functional! As the ice melts, the berries are added to the drink for a sweet and refreshing treat. I made these in silicone ice cube trays with blueberries and raspberries added to the water and froze them as normal. These fancy ice cubes could hardly be any easier to make!
Herb Ice Cubes for Drinks
For these herb ice cubes, I’m not talking about the herb butter ice cubes you can use for cooking (see how to make those in my article on 6 Kitchen Hacks with Ice Cube Trays). These are herb ice cubes for drinks. Not just decorative ice cubes, these mint ice cubes and rosemary ice cubes add a wonderful garnish and flavor to your cocktails, mocktails (especially these sparkling mocktails with fresh herbs), and lemonades. Simply add water with herbs to silicone ice cube trays and freeze as normal.
Grapefruit and Rosemary Ice Cubes
Speaking of rosemary ice cubes, I first saw this lovely combo of grapefruit wedges with a sprig of rosemary on Pinterest, and knew the combo would be fabulous (especially in a grapefruit and rosemary mocktail). Just like the other fruit ice cubes and herb ice cubes for drinks that I’ve shared so far, these are made with water in silicone ice cube trays with a piece of fruit and rosemary added. I think they’re lovely in these Champagne coupe glasses.
Juice Ice Cubes for Mimosas
I found this idea for juice ice cubes for mimosas from Krazy Kitchen Mom on Pinterest that layers orange and cranberry juice for colorful (and flavorful) fancy ice cubes. To make these juice ice cubes you’ll need to use a deeper ice cube tray (like this 1.5-inch cube tray) to have room for the layers, and you’ll need to freeze them one layer at a time so the juices don’t mix together. Serve these pretty ice cubes with Champagne, prosecco, or your other favorite sparkling wine or non-alcoholic cider for a chilled mimosa (or mockmosa) with just the right amount of juice. You can also experiment with juice flavors by trying grapefruit or pineapple juice in place of one of the other juices.
Prosecco Ice Cubes (Strawberry Ice Cubes made with sparkling wine)
Another great decorative ice cubes idea I found on Pinterest is this idea from Laylita’s Recipes for prosecco ice cubes shaped like hearts that are perfect for Valentine’s Day or an anniversary. These fancy ice cubes are made by chopping strawberries and adding them to a silicone heart mold, then topping with prosecco. Since these strawberry ice cubes are made with sparkling wine instead of water, they don’t water your wine down, and instead just add some delicious strawberry goodness to your beverage. When ready to serve them, place a heart or two in Champagne coupe glasses, then top with sparkling wine.
Now that you know how to make pretty ice cubes, I hope you feel inspired to try some of these fancy ice cubes for drinks for yourself or your next get together!
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