Homemade Sparkling Cider

We had a church get together tonight and I was in charge of a couple of things.  One of them was sparkling cider.  When we were initially talking about it, we were trying to decide how to make our own since we didn't have a budget that would include buying the fancy bottles for our party.  I started thinking about how we could do that.  It has to just be juice and carbonated water, right?  Right.  I went to the store and bought all the ingredients with the intention of trying it before the party to make sure it was good.  Today rolled around and I hadn't tried it yet.  I really did think it would work though.  And for once, I was right.
 It was great and I got more than a few compliments and requests for the recipe.  I tried to hurry and snap a picture at the party without anyone noticing so I could share it with everyone.  If you are having a fancy dinner or a holiday party, this is really easy, cheaper than the bottles, and worth the effort for sure.  I juiced some cranberries and added the juice for some color and flavor.  I also garnished with some cranberries because I thought it would be pretty (don't tell Gordon Ramsay I garnished with in-edible things).

Sparkling Cider

1 can frozen juice concentrate  (I used 100 percent apple juice, but I think any apple mixture would be great as well as grape)

1-33 oz bottle sparkling water (a couple of the bottles I used were pomegranate flavored.)

Thaw the juice and chill the sparkling water.  Combine and stir. Serve cold. Could it be any easier?

I added about 3/4 cup cranberry juice but that was for about 7 cans of concentrate and 7 bottles of sparkling water.  If I could have found a good apple cranberry 100 percent juice mixture, I would have just used that instead of adding cranberry juice.

So each can of apple juice was $1.25
The sparkling water was 69 cents
So instead of the 25 oz bottle for 3 dollars on sale, it was less than 2 dollars for 45 ounces.  Yay!  I just love a good deal. :)