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You are here: Home / Drinks / Sand Bucket Drinks

Sand Bucket Drinks

Posted by Jessica Pinney on June 10, 2022

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Looking for a fun cocktail to sip on at the beach or by the pool? Try sand bucket drinks! They’re loaded with liquor, seltzer, mixers, fruit, and candy.

A sand bucket is filled with a cocktail that's topped with sliced kiwis, strawberries, lifesavers, and a hard seltzer.

The New York Times recently said that the Dirty Shirley was the cocktail of the summer. While it’s a great drink, I have to respectfully disagree with them.

Why? Because Sand Bucket drinks are, without a doubt, the best thing you could be sipping on in the sun!

They’re loaded with fun – liquor, hard seltzers, soda, lemonade, juice, fresh fruit, and candy…

There’s an endless number of combinations you could make – so you can easily adjust this recipe to suit your personal tastes.

I’m sharing my four favorite variations below, but be sure to come up with new ones on your own and drop your best in the comment section!

Ingredients

  • Liquor– My favorite liquors to use in these buckets are vodka, tequila, and rum. You can build a tasty one with any alcohol you’d like. 
  • Fruit – You can add citrus slices, cubed fruit like watermelon and mango, or sliced berries. 
  • Candy – I like to use gummy candies. My favorites are watermelon sour patch, green apple rings, and Swedish fish. 
  • Mixers – Fruit juice, fruit punch, coconut water, soft drinks, and lemonade are all great choices for mixers.
  • Seltzer – Top each sand bucket with a hard seltzer like White Claw or with a beer. 

This post contains affiliate links (when you buy we make a little money at no cost to you). See our disclosure for more information.

Variations

Tropical

A red sand bucket filled with a cocktail that's topped with fresh fruit, swedish fish candy, and a hard seltzer.

  • Vodka
  • Fruit Punch
  • Chunks of fresh pineapple and mango
  • Swedish Fish
  • Seltzer

Strawberry Kiwi

A blue sand bucket filled with a cocktail that's topped with sliced strawberries, kiwis, and gummy lifesavers.

  • Vodka
  • Lemonade
  • Strawberry & Kiwi Slices
  • Gummy Lifesavers
  • Seltzer

Margarita

A red sand bucket filled with a tequila cocktail that's topped with sliced limes, green apple gummy rings, and a Mexican beer.

  • Tequila 
  • Limeade 
  • Lime Slices 
  • Green Apple Rings
  • Beer

Watermelon & Berry

A sand bucket filled with a cocktail that's topped with sliced watermelon, raspberries, watermelon candy, and White Claw.

  • Rum
  • Watermelon Juice & Coconut Water
  • Seltzer
  • Watermelon Chunks & Fresh Berries
  • Watermelon Sour Patch

More Summer Cocktails

  • Bahama Momma
  • Blackberry Margarita
  • Passion Fruit Cocktail
  • White Claw Slushie
  • Cherry Limeade Cocktail
Print

Sand Bucket Drinks

Loaded cocktails with fresh fruit and candy served in sand buckets.

  • Author: Jessica Pinney
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 1x
  • Category: Cocktails
  • Cuisine: American
A blue sand bucket filled with a cocktail that's topped with sliced strawberries, kiwis, and gummy lifesavers.
Print Recipe
★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Ingredients

Ice

1/2 Cup Fresh Fruit

1/8 Cup Candy

4 oz Alcohol

8 oz Mixer

1 12oz Hard Seltzer or Beer

Instructions

Fill a clean sand bucket with ice.

Add the fresh fruit and candy to the top.

Slowly pour in the alcohol, then the mixer.

Crack open the hard seltzer or beer and quickly flip over and put in the drink.

Add a straw and enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?

Please tag @cookingwithjanica and use #cookingwithjanica on social media. We’d love to see!

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  1. Katie says

    July 18, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    Made these buffet style with my friends at our beach house and they were a huge hit! We used like three times the amount of candy called for in every bucket lol

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Kathy says

    January 12, 2023 at 2:13 pm

    I made lime cranberry versions of this at my family’s condo for Christmas on the beach week. Everyone was a fan! I let people top it with their own choice of candy at a little buffet station I set up.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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