Strawberry Cotton Candy Drink

This delicious strawberry cotton candy drink is such a fun mocktail for a baby shower, party, or just to enjoy with the kids! Combine a strawberry based mocktail with a pink cotton candy bomb for a drink that sparkly, fun to make, and delicious!

I love festive drinks but often times if you don’t drink alcohol, you get left out of the signature drink club. Or you get juice or regular soda instead. I personally am always hoping for parties to have something like this strawberry mocktail or homemade fruit punch.

If you’re on TikTok, you’ve probably seen cotton candy bombs all over the place. They’re kind of like hot chocolate bombs but more colorful and sweet.

The basic idea is that you make a drink of your choice then you add powdered luster wrapped up in cotton candy. The cotton candy melts in the drink and the luster gets released, making for a super sparkly and fun looking drink.

They’re fun for both kids and adults! This is a non-alcoholic cotton candy drink since I don’t drink alcohol, so this recipe is perfect for any time you want a festive non-alcoholic mocktail!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Fun to make – cotton candy drinks are super fun to make because you get to watch the glitter explode throughout the drink.
• Sweet strawberry flavor – this recipe combines lemonade, pineapple juice, and strawberry soda for a sweet flavor that’s yummy, not sickly sweet.
• Fancy drink – adding the cotton candy bomb to this drink just adds the extra element to make it a fancier drink than your typical berry mocktail. The glitter adds a nice touch for something like a baby shower, New Year’s Eve, or Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients

This recipe uses just a few different liquids and then the most important part – the cotton candy and luster dust. I’ve included some explanations of each of these and my recommendations for them below!

• Pineapple juice – you can either fresh or store-bought pineapple juice, I typically just buy the little cans of Dole pineapple juice. Any extras get used in this pineapple monkey bread.
• Lemonade – you’ll want to use a regular lemonade, nothing flavored or colored (so no strawberry lemonade).
• Strawberry soda – I used Fanta and it worked well but you can use any sort of strawberry soda you like.
• Club soda – this gives the drink a few more bubbles and balances out the sweetness of the soda.
• Pink luster dust – this is the ingredient that really matters. We tried this out with a couple of different types of shimmery edible powders and they didn’t work. You need to go with the luster dust. I got this one from Amazon that has various colors. Whatever you get, make sure it has the words “luster dust.”
• Pink cotton candy – the pink will help keep the color of this drink a bright pink/red color. I also tried it with blue and it muddled the color and the sparkle a lot.
• Ice – I always prefer nugget ice for mocktails (we have this NewAir nugget ice maker – use code PARTYPLAN10 for 10% off) but any ice is fine.
• Fresh strawberries and pineapples – if you want to garnish the glass, strawberries and pineapple wedges add a nice touch.

Instructions

This drink is so easy to make. The hardest part by far is just wrapping the cotton candy around the luster but that’s easy as well! It’s definitely less work than this berry mocktail.

Since this drink comes together so quickly, I recommend making your cotton candy bombs first. Place the luster dust in the middle of a piece of cotton candy and wrap it around so the dust is completely hidden.

Place the cotton candy bombs on a dry plate or dry piece of parchment paper. If anything is wet or there is any moisture at all, they’ll ruin the cotton candy.

Now it’s time to make the actual drink!

Start by adding pineapple juice to to each of the glasses before moving onto the next liquids.

After your pineapple juice, add in the lemonade. Honestly these two are pretty interchangable, I just like to start with the pineapple juice first.

Next you’re going to add the strawberry soda to glasses. I like to wait for the soda until now simply because it’s so bubbly, and I like to avoid having the bubbles sit as long as possible.

Last but not least, you’re going to add the club soda. Same deal with the bubbles – add it last to avoid the drink going flat if they’re going to sit for a minute.

Okay now it’s time for the fun part! Grab those cotton candy bombs you made earlier and drop one into each of the glasses.

The cotton candy should dissolve, releasing the luster dust into the glass and giving it a nice shimmery look. If it doesn’t happen immediately, wait for a minute or two. I also like to swirl it around a bit with a swizzle stick to help distribute the shimmer throughout the glass.

To finish it off, top the glass off with ice and garnish with a strawberry and a pineapple wedge! Then it’s ready to enjoy!

Expert Tips

Make sure to use luster dust in the recipe. Pearl dust won’t give as strong of a shimmer. The luster dust also impacts the color of the drink, giving you that bright red/pink color.

Change up the ratio of the lemonade and soda if you want your drink sweeter or less sweet. More lemonade will make it sweeter while more soda will make it less sweet.

Serve with a colorful straw or swizzle stick to allow people to stir the drink and bring up the shimmer again and again.

Serve with cotton candy bombs on the side (with tongs) so people can add their own throughout the party!

Add the cotton candy bombs before the ice, the ice can make it a bit trickier to dissolve.

Recipe FAQs

More Drink Recipes

If you like special non-alcoholic drinks, you’re in luck because they’re my speciality! These are some of our favorites!

• Caramel apple drink – this delicious mocktail combines the popular caramel apple flavor in a family-friendly drink recipe!
• Halloween punch – a bubbly green punch peppered with brains, eyes, and other fun surprises!
• Tropical mocktail – this delicious tropical mocktail combines tropical juices and a blue surprise!
• Summer punch – a little sweet and a little sour, this is the ultimate punch for a hot summer day!
• Holiday punch – holiday flavors, a little sherbet, and one delicious punch you’ll enjoy throughout the holiday!