Drink Your Shirley Temple Frozen For The Ultimate Slushie

If you haven't had a Shirley Temple since you were about eight years old, it might be time to revisit the grenadine and maraschino cherry-infused favorite. This saccharine beverage is delicious in its standard iteration, but when you're craving something frozen, a Shirley Temple slushie will just hit different. Plus, since the classic drink doesn't contain any alcohol (making it the grandmother of all mocktails), it's the perfect treat to whip up if you have kids around.

All you need is a blender. Combine your ingredients (lemon-lime soda, ginger ale, and grenadine) in your device with ice, and pulverize until you get a thick, icy consistency. Sprite and 7-Up are classic choices, although you could also try some of our other favorite lemon-lime sodas, including Starry and Green River. If you have the time, you could try omitting the ice and freezing your soda ahead of time instead, which will concentrate the flavor and make for a less watery slushie. Either way, don't forget the iconic garnish of maraschino cherries.

Since our tastebuds have likely matured a little since our childhood days, another major benefit of turning your Shirley Temple into a slushie is that there are endless ways to customize it. If you're not planning on having kids over, feel free to spike it, known as turning it into a Dirty Shirley. Swap out the ginger ale for ginger beer and pour a little vodka, rum, gin, tequila, whiskey, sparkling wine, or rosé into your blender — the mix of flavors (ginger, lemon, lime, cherry, pomegranate) in the classic drink means that all kinds of boozy ingredients will work here.

But if you want to give your slushie an adult-level flavor upgrade that doesn't involve alcohol, we've also rounded up 16 of our favorite ways to do so. Incorporate fresh fruit juice like grapefruit or cranberry, toss in herbs like mint or sage, or use homemade lemonade or limeade instead of Sprite. If you want to get a little fancy, make the frozen version of our grown-up Shirley Temple mocktail, which features fresh-squeezed orange juice and Amarena cherries. Or, pay homage to the vibrant red hue of the drink and use pomegranate juice (for a tarter version), syrup, or molasses (for a sweeter one) instead of grenadine. The former is one of the main ingredients in grenadine anyway, so you're really skipping straight to the good stuff here.