fauk  tail /fok-teyl/ noun 1. a faux-mock-cocktail party;
2. a festive event where non-alcoholic beverages and appetizers are served to adult friends as they mix-&-mingle in their christmas best; 3. involves dressing up in your favorite faux-mock-cocktail clothing for general hob-nobbing and chit chat; 4. a cocktail that does not require taxi service at the end of the night.

And yes, I threw my made-up-name party this last weekend. Good friends, sugary drinks, and lots of food…it makes a girl happy! We tried to invite folks that we have been friends with in different walks of life—friends from Minnesota who had also relocated to Utah, roommates from our undergraduate days at BYU, and people we work with. It was a wonderful group and it made me pretty happy to see friends that I haven’t seen for over 5 years!

It was a great way to kick off the holidays and I find myself wanting to throw another one!

If you want to throw a non-alcoholic but adult-like event, here are my biased rules for getting it done—1. Don’t have your cabinets laquered a day before the party (your house will be very cold from airing it out); 2. Buy all your food and flowers from Costco (It’s one trip and all the appetizers are easy to make); 3. Spend most of your time shopping for cute glasses (the part I enjoyed the most!); 4. Designate someone to take pictures (what you are seeing here is about all I got!); and 5. Once the first couple walks in, let it all go (as in I hadn’t finished cleaning my daughters’ bedroom and I knew people were going to walk through it. I got over it.).

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Want to throw your own fauktail party? Here are my recipes…but be warned, I made these up and the quantities are simply estimates of how I made them. They are all super (may I add dooper?) delicious. Feel free to add or subtract from these faux-mock-cocktails. Most make about 3/4ths of a pitcher (about 4-6 glasses depending on the size of the glass).

TROPICAL FIZZ (inspired by Planter’s Punch)

2 1/2 cups orange juice

2 1/2 cups sprite (or ginger ale)

1 1/2 cups pineapple juice

2 cups of orange sherbet (you can also substitute pineapple sherbet)

1/2 cup of sweetened lime juice

garnish with 2-3 cubes of fresh pineapple on a skewer

Blend all the ingredients together and garnish with the pineapple skewer.

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TOMMY COLLINS SLUSHIE (inspired by Tom Collins)

1 package of slightly melted Edy’s Lemonade Fruit Bars (Use all 6 Popsicles in the box)

4 cups of Minute Maid Lemonade

2 1/2 cups of Ginger Ale

1/2 cup of Wildberry Martini Mixer

Raspberries (dropped at the bottom of the glass)

Blend all the ingredients together. Drop a few raspberries at the bottom of a glass. Pour in the blended drinks.

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3 cups of Martinelli

3 cups of Ginger Ale

1/4 to 1/2 cup of Sweetened Lime Juice

Granny Apple wedge

Stir together the ingredients and garnish with a Granny Apple wedge on a martini glass.

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CARINA’S SHIRLY TEMPLE (obviously, my take on this recipe..because I didn’t feel like mixing sprite and gingerale:)

4 to 5 cups of sprite

1/2 cup of Maraschino cherry syrup

2 Maraschino cherries on a pick or 1 Maraschino cherry with it’s stem dropped in the bottom.

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My fifth drink was just a number of different bubblies from Costco and the supermarket that was garnished simply with a strawberry on the rim of a wine glass. That gave guests another option and freed me up to make more of the other drinks.

At the end of the day, “fancying up” a fauktail is all about the garnish or some salt/sugar to the rim of a party glass. Messing around with recipes just made it alot more fun for this hostess.

Hope you get to make a fauxtail for yourself soon!

Cheers! Carina