Sodas & Songs: How To Host A Dirty Soda And Classic Rock Music Party
We recently hosted a dirty soda party with live music and it was phenomenal! We had a great turn out too!
I was in a lively mood as I wore my beloved Led Zeppelin t-shirt and my bold red lipstick. At one point my friend said, "We need to get you a mic!" because I kept dancing around and singing along while making delicious sodas for my friends. I was having the time of my life!
I never did come up with a good name for the party. Sodas and Songs, I guess? Anyway, we made a menu of over thirty dirty sodas inspired by classic rock.
How did I come up with this theme, you ask?
I live in Utah where dirty sodas shops are all over the place. It's a fun treat but they tend to use artificial syrups so I started making my own at home with fruit purees.
The idea for a soda and music party came to me one evening when I had made a few of my own dirty soda recipes. I decided each one should be named after a rock song and asked my husband to help me come up with the names.
We listened to music together as we brainstormed various flavors and just kept going. We were having so much fun I said we should share our menu with friends.
That idea turned into a party idea to listen to music while enjoying sodas together. Then I announced happily that we were going to ask some friends to play live music while I made dirty sodas for all the guests!
The party itself was amazing! My friends' performances were perfect. I mixed drinks (with my husband helping) nonstop for a full two hours while loud music played. There were so many people it was standing room only and I had the best time!
We got tons of compliments on our sodas which I guess means most everyone enjoyed the party too.
Now, I would like to share the fun with anyone who would like to have their own dirty soda and music party!
I'll divulge everything we did, and feel free to change it up however you like for your own shindig!
About The Menu
Before I share the actual menu, I would like to explain how we came up with the names and flavors.
Each drink is intended to capture the feel of the song it is named after. For example, Money is simply vanilla bean paste and cream. It's delicious but just the sort of thing someone with a lot of money would view as luxurious when it's really basic.
She's A Rainbow is one of my favorites. I tend to prefer the simpler recipes like peaches and cream or raspberry and cream but all flavors in this particular drink tastes just like this vibrant Rolling Stones tune.
I thought about including the artist with each drink name but felt that would feel visually messy. Besides, some sodas are named after artists and in one case a movie.
Some songs are well known, while others are not and it was fun to see who knew their rock & roll.
MENU
Choose Your Soda
Coke, Diet Coke, Dr Pepper, Dr Pepper Zero, Sprite, Sparkling Water
Choose Your Song
Magic Carpet Ride
habanero infused mango puree, lime juice
Harry Nilsson
lime juice, coconut, cream
Stairway To Heaven
peach puree, cream
Killer Queen
raspberry puree, cream
Strawberry Fields
strawberry puree, cream
Whole Wide World
mango puree, coconut, cream
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
passionfruit juice, coconut, pomegranate, lime juice, orange zest
Cheap Sunglasses
pineapple puree, coconut, cream
She's A Rainbow
passionfruit juice, raspberry and mango puree, coconut
Dirty World
mango and peach puree, coconut, cream
Purple Haze
blackberry puree, cream
Dreams
coconut, cream
Spirit in the Sky
passionfruit and strawberry
Free Fallin'
vanilla extract, cherry puree
California Girls
pineapple and strawberry puree, coconut extract
Burning Love
habanero infused raspberry puree
She's So Cold
mint, fresh lime juice
The Joker
peach puree, ginger paste
Good Times Roll
Fruit popsicle in ginger beer
Sir Duke
cherry puree, lime juice, cream
Ballroom Blitz
pineapple puree, lime juice, cream
Money
vanilla bean, cream
Rocky Mountain Way
blackberry puree, liquid smoke
Long, Cool Woman
strawberry and blackberry puree, pomegranate
House of the Rising Sun
peach and mango puree, passionfruit juice
Graceland
pear and blackberry puree, lavender
Dream On
pear and raspberry puree
I Hear You Knocking
raspberry and peach puree, cream
Rebel Rebel
raspberry puree, peanut butter powder
Spinal Tap
hibiscus, passionfruit juice
Chuck Berry
strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry purees
Paint It, Black
strawberry puree, hibiscus
The Singer
coconut cream popsicle, orange cream soda
That last item was added after the party. I made that drink especially for my friend who said orange soda is a favorite of his.
Since he liked his drink so much and he was one of the performers, I decided to name it after him. His surname is Singer which which he certainly lives up to.
By the way, he played Have You Ever Seen The Rain and House Of The Rising Sun for us!
Keep reading for the full instructions!
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| This purple drink is Dream On made with Sprite, and a little cream to make it pretty. Can you believe raspberries blended with pears creates this vibrant shade purple?! |
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Among the expected supplies, you will need plenty of mix-in ingredients for your own dirty soda party. I've made a list below of everything we used.
Obviously, you will need sodas. Of course, you can use whatever you want but we only had a handful of different kinds (listed above) since the menu is so complex.
Even with thirty or more guests, you won't need very much of each puree. Twelve ounces will be more than enough.
Sodas
Cups
Straws
Drinks stirs
Ice
Cooler
Jars/containers for purees
Cutting board, knife, and juicer (for limes)
Mix-in Ingredients
Pick and choose what you like. You could totally keep it simple, though some of the more unique sodas were quite popular.
I didn't expect to get so many requests for Graceland which features lavender extract. Rebel Rebel was asked for a lot too.
• Hibiscus powder
• Habanero powder (100% test proportions with this one!)
• This vanilla bean paste is amazing!
• Passionfruit puree or Passionfruit juice
• Grenadine: This one is made without corn syrup!
• Heavy cream
• Coconut creamer (I used Chobani)
• Lavender extract
• Limes
• Oranges
• Fresh mint leaves or mint extract (We used fresh mint, but I think extract would have been simpler especially with so many people waiting for their sodas to be mixed)
• Liquid smoke (Use a dropper for this one because you literally need just the tiniest drop. Also, test it out before mixing it for guests)
• Peanut butter powder
• Ginger beer
• Coconut extract
• Ginger paste
• Outshine fruit popsicles: a choice strawberry, watermelon, and peach for the ginger beer. And coconut if you want to make The Singer (these are made with real fruit and just taste better)
Fruit for purees:
• raspberries
• strawberries
• blackberries
• mango
• pineapple
• pears (we used canned)
• peaches
• cherries
PREPARATIONS
Besides picking up ice and buying all the stuff, the only prep was making the purees.
They have to be made ahead of time and some may require straining depending on the quality of your blender.
We used mostly frozen fruit and let it defrost in the fridge overnight so it was soft enough to blend in our food processor and blender.
We ended up making our purees at the last minute which was a little stressful. They can be made the day before and chilled overnight.
I bought frozen cherries so I wouldn't have to remove the pits. This is one puree I wish I had strained or even made into a syrup, but the rest were just fine.
Be aware that fresh blackberries are easier to find than frozen.
Canned pears worked perfectly and although I used frozen peaches, maybe canned would taste okay.
I ended up getting way more fruit than we needed. 16 oz of each kind is plenty! Once they were blended I put the purees in clean jam jars.
MIXING THE DRINKS
At first I wondered if 12 oz cups would be too small, but it turned out perfect. I will say it is easier to mix dirty sodas in larger cups, so if you want the convenience try 18 oz or even 24 oz cups.
However, our guests liked the 12 oz size since it was small enough that they could enjoy more than one dirty soda. Some people even wished their drinks were even smaller because it was hard to choose just one or two from our menu.
Either way, you will want to practice mixing beverages before the party. I didn't measure anything because I had some experience from making my own dirty sodas once or twice a week for several months. I just made an educated guess on how much of each mix-in to add.
You could come up with your own measuring system so that you will get consistently balanced flavors. I figured since we were hosting this party at no cost to our guests it wasn't a big deal if I made each drink perfectly.
Many people have their own preferences anyway. Nearly everyone loved their soda, and only one person asked for less cream when they came back for more drinks.
I bought two 7lbs bags of ice which was way more than enough. I recommend one. I kept a cooler next to the sink so we could easily scoop ice for each beverage.
For each drink I would add mix-ins first, then a little soda and mixed it. Then I added some ice and topped it off with more soda.
DON'T FORGET THE MUSIC
I made a playlist that includes all the songs on this menu and more. Feel free to use mine, or of course, you can make one of your own.
Same with our menu. Copy and paste or make it whatever you want it to be! If you want a soda and hip hop party, change all the names to your favorite songs. Remove some flavors, add your own.
In addition to the playlist, I sent the menu to my musician friends and had them choose what they wanted to play. Their cover songs were the highlight of the party!
If you aren't blessed with friends as cool as mine, you could do rock themed karaoke!
Encourage your guests to choose what to sing before the big day so they won't feel too intimidated to participate.
If you do host your own dirty soda party, please come back and tell me all about it!
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you found this post helpful.
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