Whether you like them shaken, stirred or blended, nothing says vacation like lounging around with an icy, fancy cocktail. Fancy drinks don’t have to be limited to adults.
Mocktails are kid-friendly, non-alcoholic drinks that go beyond simple smoothies and lemonade. They are also a great substitute if pool rules say no alcohol allowed.
Looking to up your mocktail game? Here are tips for making non-alcoholic drinks everyone will love, plus three Amira-themed drinks you can try at home. (We also tell you how to make the mocktail a cocktail for an adult drink).
Ditch the Mixes
As tempting as it maybe to just pull out the mixers, leave them on the shelf. Mixers like margarita bases usually have a lot of sugar and preservatives. They can feel heavy and sweet rather than light and refreshing. Stock ginger beers, club sodas, real fruit and herbs instead.
Buy Bar Equipment
If you think you’ll be making a lot of mocktails, invest in simple bar equipment. Using a shaker will impress the kids and make you feel like a true mixologist. A muddler is used to — you guessed it — muddle fruits and herbs into your liquid ingredients to intensify the flavor.
Balance is Everything
Approach creating mocktails the way bartenders approach making cocktails. Balance sweet, sour and bitter flavors. If you don’t, your mocktail will probably taste too sweet and too much like a kid drink. Try adding sour juices like cranberry or grapefruit to balance out sweet sodas. Shrubs and switchels (sour non-alcoholic sodas) are also fantastic adds.
Go Seasonal
If you like hitting farmers markets, stock up on seasonal fruits and herbs. These add color and vibrancy to your mocktails rivaling any tropical resort cocktail. Muddled herbs are particularly refreshing and add an adult flavor you’ll love. We suggest mint and basil for the summer months.
Get Out the Fancy Glasses
Part of what makes cocktails fun are the glasses. If you are serving mocktails at home, get out your favorite highballs, coupes and martini glasses. If you are taking them to the pool, hit the dollar store where you will discover any number of fancy plastic glasses.
Garnish, Garnish, Garnish
Garnishes make your mocktails special. Dip your glass in colored sugar, add a slice of lime or orange, make a bouquet of herbs. For kids, add colorful straws and parasols — anything that makes you think of a resort-style drink.
Amira Drinks You’ll Love
Now that you know how to make them, try these mocktail recipes created by former New York bartender and mixologist Erin Chong. Our residents enjoy mixing up the non-alcoholic versions for a day at The Resort at Amira.
Recipes
Peach Derby Slush
4 cups frozen peaches
3 cups coconut water
1/2 cup simple syrup
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup fresh mint
Pour ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth. Add more liquid if necessary. Pour into glasses and garnish with a mint sprig. To make this drink a cocktail, add 2 ounces of light rum per glass. Serves 4.
Stirrup Trouble Punch
4 cups limeade
1 1/2 cups grapefruit juice
1/2 cup simple syrup
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (optional)
Club soda
Pour juices, simple syrup, and thyme into mixing glass, add ice, stir, serve in glasses over ice. Top with club soda, garnish with a lime wedge, or thyme sprig. To make this drink a cocktail, add 1 1/2 ounces of blanco or reposado tequila per glass. Serves 4.
Spur of The Moment
2 ounces pineapple coconut juice
2 ounces coconut water
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
Ginger ale (optional)
Pour juices and simple syrup in a shaker, add ice, shake, and strain into a glass with ice. Top with ginger ale. Garnish with a lime wedge. To make this drink a cocktail, add 2 ounces of vodka. Serves 1.
Planning a full day of poolside fun? Make sure you have everything you need so you don’t have to cut the day short. Packing for the pool requires thinking ahead and a very large tote bag. Here’s a list of essentials you don’t want to leave at home.
The Basics
In a nutshell, you will need things to keep from getting sunburn, hungry, bored or thirsty. Here’s a quick checklist you can keep in your bag to ensure everything is packed.
Hungry Tummies Need Poolside Yummies.
Take snacks with you but choose wisely — you don’t want anything that can melt or that will be ruined if it gets wet (no soggy crackers!). Fresh fruit is always a good choice — keeping it chilled will make it all the more refreshing. Other quick eats include nuts, granola bars and dried fruit. Pack the cooler with water, string cheese, single-serve yogurt and sliced celery or bell pepper with a small container of dip or hummus. Stay away from salty foods — that will only make you thirsty. Bring water but also fresh fruit juice. (For extra fun whip up some mocktails). Super Healthy Kids offers some great ideas, and you can never go wrong with recipes from The Kitchen. Get packing — your day at the pool awaits. For Amira residents, it’s a day at the resort — The Resort at Amira!
Entertaining Pool Games
Kids are pretty good at entertaining themselves when it comes to the pool but occasionally even their imaginations flag. Bring along diving rings, beach balls, floating basketball games and other toys. If you don’t want to spend a lot of dough, plastic ping pong balls are fun to chase after and pennies are fun to dive for. PureWow put together a list of 25 amazing pool games you might want to check out. Don’t want to carry a bunch of toys? Plan to play these Red Tricycle prop-free games. Here is how to play one of our favorite pool games – F.I.S.H. According to Red Tricycle, “Similar to P.I.G. in basketball, the first player in F.I.S.H. is the leader, and the other players must follow exactly what the leader does. Jump from the side, do a certain dive, perform a choreographed pool number—whatever the task, the players must follow it or be given a letter from F.I.S.H. The first player to spell F.I.S.H loses the game.”
Going to a public pool? Be sure to check what you are allowed to bring.
Summer is here, which means vacations are near. And what goes better with sunshine and lounging by the pool than a good book? If you already have a massive “to be read” pile, your summer reading list is probably already covered. If not, here are some tips for building a great summer reading list. We’ve also included a few books at the top of Amira residents’ poolside reads.
Check the Lists
Most newspapers publish an annual summer book list that includes critics’ favorites, fun reads and books sure to be talked about over margaritas. Oprah puts out a great reading list. Good Reads can help you find your new favorite book. Another good place to look is The New York Times Best Sellers list.
Ask at the Bookstore
Your local bookshop is staffed by people who love to read and do so voraciously. They also talk to customers who love to read. Just let them know what kind of books you like, and they will point you in the right direction.
Ask a Friend or Family Member
If you know a bookworm — and everyone does — ask them what they are reading. You are sure to get a lot of recommendations. If your friend is dying to read a book they’ve heard about, suggest reading it together. That way you can talk about it while catching some rays.
Look for New Releases
Got a favorite author? There’s a good chance they have a new book out this summer. If not, they may have published one last winter that you didn’t have time for.
Revisit Old Favorites
Nothing says you have to read something new. Curling up with a favorite book is like spending time with an old friend. In fact, putting one or two favorites on your list can be a good thing if you are a busy parent who has a hard time putting books down.
Our Favorite Summer Reads
It Had to Be You by Georgia Clark
Liv and Eliot Goldenhorn run a wedding planning service in New York but when Eliot dies and leaves his half of the business to his younger girlfriend, Liv has to figure out how to work with someone with a very different personality.
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
Hannah Hall’s husband has disappeared leaving her and her stepdaughter to solve the mystery of who Owen Michaels really is and where he has gotten into.
A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin
A witty book about an exclusive club for women and the journalist determined to join their ranks.
The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin
A re-telling of the Cinderella story that asks what happens after the shoe fits.
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
If you’re on vacation, why not read a love story about two people trying to repair their relationship?
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
An engaging yet honest autobiography about one of our favorite Texans. If you love audiobooks, you want to get this one as McConaughey himself narrates.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The author of The Martian is back with the tale of a man who awakens in a stasis pod with two dead astronauts and no memory.
Questland By Carrie Vaughn
If you loved Westworld you will love this tale of a literature professor tasked with getting a fantasy theme park back under control.
Later by Stephen King
An unusual child grows into an unusual adult who must help the police find a killer reaching out from beyond the grave.
Stumped for birthday party ideas? Why not throw open the doors and celebrate your child’s birthday outdoors? Outdoor parties are convenient, less expensive than renting a venue and allow kids to burn off the sugar rush while parents sit in the shade. Here are some tips for planning the ultimate outdoor celebration.
Where to Celebrate
Outdoor celebrations can take place anywhere. Our residents celebrate at our resort-style pool, in the park, on the playground and in their beautiful backyards. You may need to plan differently depending on the location, such as reserving picnic tables for a party in the park, providing extra towels for a pool party or putting a fence around your prized hydrangeas.
Outdoor Considerations
Summer parties can get hot, especially in Texas. There’s also the matter of bugs. To keep your guests comfortable, consider providing umbrellas, making sunscreen and bug spray available, installing misters for backyard parties, using food tents to keep bugs out of the party food and offering snow cones.
Age-Appropriate
Whether you are celebrating indoors or outdoors your party should be age-appropriate. For toddlers, that could be as simple as letting the kids play with your child’s play equipment, setting up a kiddie pool or sandbox or just letting them eat cake. Older children will love themed parties while teens will probably want to handle things themselves.
Party Themes
Some kids just want a to incorporate their favorite Disney Princess or superhero into the decorations, and that’s okay. Others might love an outdoor theme. An obvious choice would be a camping theme complete with sleeping bag races and s’mores. You could also set up arts and craft stations, bring in a local astronomy buff for a stargazing party or set up an obstacle course for a Ninja birthday party. Check out these other great ideas.
Party Games
Parties need games. How many you have depends on the age of your child but three to five of them is usually sufficient. Tug-of-war, sack races, Frisbee tosses and scavenger hunts are all fun. Try to match the party theme to the games. For a pirate party, you can host a treasure hunt and for a science party, teach the kids how to make their own bubbles or slime. Here are some other ideas.
Party Food
When it comes to outdoor parties and food, you can go a number of ways. Grilling hot dogs and burgers will make everyone happy and go well with a camping theme. Bags of popcorn would be great for a movie-under-the-stars theme. Finger food is a great go-to because it requires less preparation and you don’t have to worry about the wind blowing the plates off the table. Put out platters of fruit, bowls of crackers, mini burgers, pizza and cookies. Have a cooler handy full of cold drinks.
There are a lot of important happenings in May — birthdays, moments in history — heck, even The Rock celebrates another year around the sun this month.
But the biggest May to-do has to be our very own birthday — Amira is 2!
We’re excited as can be to celebrate another year and watch as more and more people find their home in our friendly community. We’re also happy to share our birthday month with these fine folks — you may have even heard of a few:
Directors
Wes Anderson
George Lucas
Sofia Coppola
Frank Capra
Actors
Dwayne Johnson
Christine Baranski
George Clooney
Kenan Thompson
Robert Pattinson
Pierce Brosnan
Tina Fey
Mr. T
Mike Myers
Ian McKellen
Octavia Spencer
Helena Bonham Carter
Carey Mulligan
Clint Eastwood
Brooke Shields
Colin Farrell
Singers
Adele
Enrique Iglesias
Billy Joel
Bono
Stevie Wonder
Janet Jackson
George Strait
Pete Townshend
Cher
Bob Dylan
Stevie Nicks
Lenny Kravitz
Idina Menzel
Wynonna Judd
Composers
Johannes Brahms
Irving Berlin
Richard Wagner
Other Famous Names
Sigmund Freud
Florence Nightingale
Pope John Paul II
Arthur Conan Doyle
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Walt Whitman
But May’s accomplishments don’t end with who was born this month. There are some interesting moments in history and fun facts that happened during May:
Don’t forget to take a picture in the Amira frame and tag us on Instagram and Facebook using #PictureYourselfinAmira !