Use these delicious fresh fruit syrups and homemade lemonade to create a fun flavored lemonade bar! Perfect for summer time!
This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small commission on itms purchased directly through the links. Decor Steals also provided me with the galvanized tables in exchange for this post. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank-you for your support!
Flavored Lemonade Bar
There’s nothing better than a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. Especially if you can drink it while relaxing on the back deck with a good book! When I received this cute pair of round galvanized tables from Decor Steals, I knew they would be perfect for a little lemonade bar.
The one tricky thing with lemonade is finding that perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. I definitely prefer mine on the tart side but I know that there are a lot of sweet lemonade lovers out there too. So… I decided to come up with a little lemonade bar so people could create their own perfect blend.
This lemonade bar doesn’t take too long to put together and can be used for summer BBQs, parties, or just for a fun afternoon drink. The lemonade is flavored with simple fruit syrups that you can make up in pretty much any flavor you would like. If you haven’t made simple syrup before it’s basically just
Homemade Lemonade
If you’d like to create your own flavored lemonade bar, you’ll need to start out with some lemonade. Here’s the basic homemade lemonade recipe that I use. You can use any lemonade recipe you would like but, if you’re going to be adding the fruit syrups, you’ll want to use less sugar in the lemonade recipe so it doesn’t end up too sweet.
Basic Lemonade Recipe
- 7-8 cups cold water
- 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice {about 12-14 lemons}
- 1 1/4 cup sugar {increase this up to 2 cups + if you will not be adding the syrups}
If you’re short on time you can make lemonade with a powdered drink mix, but use a little less drink mix than usual so it’s not so sweet. Store bought lemonades can get pretty sweet if you’re adding the fruit syrups so you might want to water it down a bit or add less sugar to the fruit syrup recipe {listed below}.
To keep things cool {and pretty!}, I like to add some of these lemon ice cubes to the lemonade as well. Just add water and a lemon slice to a muffin tin and freeze! If you don’t want to water down your lemonade at all, you can fill with lemonade instead of water.
Simple Fruit Syrup Recipe
Simple fruit syrups are easy to make and add delicious flavor to your lemonade. Use a single flavor or combine multiple fruit flavors for a custom drink!
Simple Fruit Syrups
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh fruit raspberries and blueberries can be done whole, strawberries should be halved or quartered
- 3/4 cup sugar can adjust to taste depending on the sweetness of the fruit
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Method 1
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Add sugar, fruit and water to a small sauce pan and stir over medium heat until it is just starting to boil.
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Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 10-12 minutes until the fruit is soft and starting to fall apart.
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Strain out the fruit, keeping the liquid.
Method 2 (quick method)
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Add sugar and water to a small saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until sugar melts.
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Remove from heat and combine the fruit and sugar/water mixture in a food processor or strong blender until smooth. If you do not like seeds or prefer it really smooth, you can strain these out but they didn't bother me.
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If you're making up multiple fruit syrups using this method, just do one large batch of the sugar and water and then divide when mixing up the individual fruits.
For Lemonade
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If you're using these fruit syrups for lemonade, add approximately 2 tablespoons of the syrup to about 1 1/2 cups fresh lemonade. It's definitely a bit of a personal preference so add more syrup if it's too tart and add more lemonade if it's too sweet.
If you don’t want to worry about taking the lids on and off (but still keep the bugs out!), you can put upside down cupcake liners over the bottle tops.
These strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry syrups can be added to the basic lemonade recipe to create a custom flavored lemonade with just the perfect amount of sweetness! You can also keep some extra water {or sparkling water!} and a little bowl of sugar on hand as well.
If you’re wondering about the cute milk jugs and wire crate, they’re also a Decor Steal that I picked up. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re no longer available but these glass bottles or Weck jars would work well. You could always put them in a little caddy or basket if you needed to move them around too.
When the tables are not in use for a lemonade bar, they work perfectly as a cute side table! I actually even bought another set. I am constantly moving items around in my home and switching up my decor, so I love versatile pieces that I can play around with. The tables can be displayed nested together or used on their own, and they are the perfect size to display a pretty vignette!
You can find lots of pretty shots of how my friend Kristin from Ella Claire styled her tables here…
Decor Steals
If you haven’t heard of Decor Steals, you definitely need to check them out! They’ve been a long time obsession of mine and I’ve purchased so many of my favorite home decor pieces from them. From chalkboards, to decorative ladders, to cute farmhouse style signs, they always have something that I love. Each day they offer a new daily “steal” on some amazing farmhouse and vintage inspired decor items at really great prices. Shipping is ALWAYS just $5 which is a great added bonus {Just a note to my Canadian friends: they do only ship to the US but if you happen to live close to the border, you can always deliver to a shipping company like I do.} If you’re item isn’t currently in stock, you can always sign up for their email so you can be notified once it’s available again.
Lemonade Bar Printables
If you want to dress up your lemonade bar even more, check out these free lemonade bar printables.
I hope you have some time to give this flavored lemonade bar a try this summer!
More Summer Recipes
For more delicious summer recipes, just check out these posts…
Cookies ‘n Cream Frozen Dessert
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