An amazingly refreshing citrus punch for the holidays
This retro punch recipe from the 1970s is perfect for any holiday or special event. As you can guess from the title of this post, the secret ingredient is Five Alive Citrus juice. I looked all over the place for Five Alive Citrus juice and finally found it in Canada via Amazon.com.
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This citrus punch is amazingly refreshing. We call it “First Communion Punch” in our family since we always served it at first communion celebrations. It is also the perfect punch for wedding showers, graduation parties, Thanksgiving Day, or holiday parties. The light, effervescent quality of this punch just lifts you up.
Five Alive punch is non-alcoholic. We have never tried to spike it, but you certainly could. You could experiment with it many different ways.
Key ingredients to Five Alive Citrus punch
The key items for this punch are Five Alive Citrus juice and a super large punch bowl with a fancy floating ice ring. This recipe makes gallons of punch. I always fill several pitchers of leftover punch for the fridge after the event.
Five Alive Citrus juice can only be purchased in Canada. I visited all of my local grocery stores to try to find Five Alive but to no avail. I was looking for the frozen concentrate.
After an online search, I figured out Five Alive is only available in Canada now. I live close to Canada, but not close enough to run over the border to the grocery store and back again.
I was relieved to find Five Alive Citrus on Amazon.com. It could be purchased in 1 liter cartons, so I put in an order for 2. That amount seemed to work just fine for this recipe.

Punch Bowl Drama
Whenever we make this punch we have to tell the story of my grandma’s punch bowl drama. This punch recipe is newer than my grandma, so she filled her punch bowl with some other type of punch for parties. We used her large heavy cut glass punch bowl for years
The punch bowl was not supposed to be hers. Many years ago she borrowed a punch bowl from a neighbor to use for a wedding shower. As she was washing the punch bowl to return it, it slipped out of her control and smashed to the floor. No more beautiful punch bowl. She was mortified.
My grandma searched and searched for a comparable punch bowl at all the department stores. Grandma finally found one that was at least somewhat similar. She quickly purchased it and brought it over in the box to the neighbor, profusely apologizing and explaining.
A new punch bowl
The neighbor acted very put-out. She said nothing could replace her beautiful punch bowl and would not accept the new one. She accepted my grandma’s apology but would not accept the punch bowl.
So, my grandma kept it and our family used that punch bowl happily through the years. We recently gave the punch bowl to another family member, so the bowl in the photos here is not Grandma’s punch bowl.

Refreshing punch ingredients

Here is the recipe for Five Alive Citrus Punch
Ingredients
ginger ale, 1 1-liter bottle (or to taste)
club soda, 2 1-liter bottles (or to taste)
2 large cans frozen Five Alive Citrus or 2 1-liter cartons Five Alive Citrus juice
frozen lemonade, 1 large can
You can double the above to fill a super large punch bowl! I usually double it for big parties.
For the ice ring:
Mint leaves
6 cups orange juice
1 cup water
Red grapes cut in half
Green grapes cut in half
Strawberries cut in half
Orange wedges
Directions
Make the ice ring the night or day ahead. You will need a 3 cup jello ring mold
Ice Ring:
Mix 6 cups orange juice with 1 cup water
Pour 2 cups of the orange juice/water mixture into the jello mold and freeze until firm
Remove from freezer and arrange the mint leaves and fruit in the mold on top of the frozen juice.
Pour 4 more cups of juice over the mint/fruit and freeze
Make the punch:
Unthaw the frozen juice concentrate and pour in punch bowl. Pour in the boxes of Five Alive Citrus.
Pour the ginger ale and club soda over the concentrates and juice and stir
Take the frozen juice ring mold out of the freezer and remove the frozen juice ring from the mold. To do this, you can fill the sink with a few inches of warm water and set the mold in the water so the bottom is in the water. This will help make the ice ring easier to remove from the mold.
Place the ice ring in the punch so it is floating and looking pretty!

Five Alive Citrus Punch

This retro punch recipe from the 1970s is perfect for any holiday or special event. The secret ingedient is Five Alive Citrus juice. Citrus flavors of orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit and tangerine mixed with fizzy gingerale and club soda make this a light and refreshing punch.
Ingredients
- ginger ale, 1 1-liter bottle (or to taste)
- club soda, 2 1-liter bottles (or to taste)
- Five Alive Citrus juice, 2 large cans frozen or 2 1-liter cartons
- frozen lemonade, 1 large can
- orange juice, 6 cups
- water, 1 cup
- mint leaves, about 6
- red grapes cut in half, about 4
- green grapes cut in half, about 4
- strawberries cut in half, about 4
- orange wedges, about 6
Instructions
Make the ice ring the night or day ahead. You will need a 3 cup jello ring mold.
Ice Ring:
- Mix 6 cups orange juice with 1 cup water
- Pour 2 cups of the orange juice/water mixture into the jello mold and freeze until firm
- Remove from freezer and arrange the mint leaves and fruit in the mold on top of the frozen juice.
- Pour 4 more cups of the juice/water mix over the mint/fruit and freeze
Punch:
- Unthaw the frozen juice concentrate and pour in punch bowl. Pour in the boxes of Five Alive Citrus.
- Pour the ginger ale and club soda over the concentrates and juice and stir
- Take the frozen juice ring mold out of the freezer and remove the frozen juice ring from the mold. To do this, you can fill the sink with a few inches of warm water and set the mold in the water so the bottom is in the water. This will help make the ice ring easier to remove from the mold.
- Place the ice ring in the punch so it is floating and looking pretty!
Notes
Adjust gingerale and club soda to taste. For fruit you will only need enough to fill the ice ring and make it look pretty or could freeze some in ice cubes.
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Five Alive Citrus 1-liter carton
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