The recipe
A Party Punch with a Documented Family Trail
Fruit Punch for Party is a big-batch community-cookbook punch built from Kool-Aid, frozen orange juice and lemonade concentrates, pineapple juice, ginger ale, sugar and water.
Its strongest story is printed right above the ingredients: contributor Kim Gilworth Murray identifies it as her grandmother Marjorie Morrison’s recipe and says Morrison was a member of HEA from the 1950s through the 1970s.
The source is unusually practical about scale. Along with the full party batch, it prints one-third and one-quarter versions, and it tells the cook to taste the punch before serving and adjust with more sugar or water as needed.
Why it matters
Why This One Is Worth Bringing Back
Fruit Punch for Party is exactly the kind of recipe this archive is meant to keep connected to its source. Kim Gilworth Murray does not simply submit a punch formula; she identifies it as her grandmother Marjorie Morrison’s recipe and records that Morrison was a member of HEA from the 1950s through the 1970s.
That brief note gives the recipe a documented family trail and places it inside the same organization that eventually published 75 Years of Caring and Sharing. It is enough to preserve the connection without adding a family story the cookbook does not give us.
The method also has the loose, experienced-cook language that makes community cookbooks feel personal: after mixing, the cook is told to “doctor to your taste” with more sugar or water. The source also warns that ice will thin the punch, so that dilution should be anticipated rather than treated as a mistake.
For more recipes from the same source, visit the 75 Years of Caring and Sharing source record.
Modern kitchen notes
If You're Making It Today
These are modern editorial suggestions, not changes to the archived recipe. When a variation comes directly from the original source, we will say so.
Choose the batch size first
The full source recipe is genuinely large: it begins with 12 quarts of water before the juice concentrates, pineapple juice, ginger ale and ice are added. The cookbook helpfully prints one-third and one-quarter versions on the same page, so smaller gatherings do not require us to invent a new scaling formula.
Keep the source’s tasting step
The original instruction says to mix thoroughly, sample, and adjust with more sugar or water. That flexibility is part of the source, not a modern rewrite.
Add the ginger ale at the end
The source says the ginger ale goes in just before serving. That helps preserve its carbonation.
Account for the ice
The cookbook explicitly warns that ice will thin the punch. Start with the punch tasting a little more concentrated than you ultimately want if you know it will sit over plenty of ice.
One detail stays unresolved
The full recipe calls for three bottles of ginger ale but does not give the bottle size. This archive leaves that measurement as printed rather than converting it to an invented ounce or liter amount.
Recipe card
The Preserved Recipe
Fruit Punch for Party
Ingredients
- 8 pkg. Kool-Aid flavor equals color
- 12 qt. water
- 6 c. sugar
- 5 small cans frozen orange juice
- 3 small cans frozen lemonade
- 1 (46 oz.) can pineapple juice
- 3 bottles ginger ale add just before serving; bottle size not specified in source
- Ice source notes that ice will thin the punch
Instructions
- Mix thoroughly and sample.
- Doctor to your taste with more sugar or water.
- Just before serving, add the ginger ale.
- Add ice, remembering that the source notes the ice will thin the punch.
Notes
Source Scaling
The cookbook prints two smaller versions alongside the full party batch.- 1/3 recipe: 2 pkg. Kool-Aid; 4 qt. water; 2 c. sugar; 10 oz. orange juice; 6 oz. lemonade; 15 oz. pineapple juice; ginger ale; ice.
- 1/4 recipe: 2 pkg. Kool-Aid; 3 qt. water; 1 1/3 c. sugar; 7 1/2 oz. orange juice; 4 1/2 oz. lemonade; 12 oz. pineapple juice; ginger ale; ice.
Give Something Back
Help preserve the community behind the cookbook.
This recipe traces back to a Jersey County community cookbook created in the spirit of sharing, service and local connection. If you’d like to carry that spirit forward, consider supporting the Jersey County Historical Society and its work preserving local history for future generations.
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Nostalgic Foodie is not affiliated with the Jersey County Historical Society and does not receive any portion of donations.
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