Things to Use As Punch Bowls

A sparkling punch brings fizzy flavor to your celebration. If you don't have a traditional punch bowl, look around your home for punch bowl ideas. Using an unexpected object as a nontraditional container for your beverage adds a decorative element as well as a conversation piece to your buffet table.

Use the thick shell from a pumpkin or watermelon for a biodegradable punch bowl. This is best if you are serving a punch made from the fruit's flesh, or at least a punch in the same color. For instance, serve watermelon, strawberry or red party punch inside a punch bowl made from the watermelon shell or spiced cider, pumpkin or pineapple-orange punch inside a pumpkin shell.

Cut a small sliver from the bottom of the fruit to create a stable base for the punch bowl. Cut the top one-third of the way down the fruit and remove the flesh until only the shell remains. Fill the shell with the punch and serve. Discard the punch bowl and any remaining punch in the garbage or your compost bin after the party.

Turn a Bundt pan or fluted tube pan that you would normally for baking a cake into a punch bowl. Freeze the pan before adding the punch to keep the punch cold longer, since the metal of the pan will transfer the cold to the punch. Place the serving ladle inside the hole in the middle of the pan. This will keep the ladle near the punch without leaving it in the Bundt pan or placing it on the tabletop where it could pick up germs.

Large, deep soup pots with a soup-serving ladle can stand in for any type of party punch bowl. Tureens with handles have the benefit of being easier to carry than punch bowls without handles. Soup tureens will maintain the temperature of the punch longer than bowls since the tureens are constructed of thicker, heavier materials than plastic or glass punch bowls.

For serving punch in a pinch, opt for a several decorative pitchers. Each one will not hold the same amount of punch as a single punch bowl, but it will be easier to serve from the pitchers. You can even serve different punch flavors to accommodate the picky people at the party. Different types of pitchers also separates the non-alcoholic punch from the sangria and/or margaritas at the self-serve bar.

You will not need a ladle if you serve your punch in pitchers, and the leftovers fit into the refrigerator. Prepare the punch in the pitcher and chill it overnight. The flavors will meld and the punch will be the proper temperature for serving.

Use a plastic pail used by children for making sand castles for serving punch at a beach-themed party. Use a brand-new bucket and scrub it out thoroughly before filling it with punch. Use the plastic shovel as an ice scoop for a bowl of ice next to the plastic pail punch bowl.

Halloween parties often feature frightening punch concoctions. To serve these scary sips, use a plastic cauldron sold in costume stores and on the Internet around Halloween. Check the cauldron for cracks or holes and wash thoroughly. Fill the cauldron with punch and set it on the table.

Instead of ice cubes inside the punch bowl, fill a rubber glove with punch, tightly tie the wrist closed and freeze the glove. Remove the glove once it is solid and drop the hand-shaped ice into the punch-filled cauldron. A plastic jack o' lantern-shaped trick-or-treat bucket could replace the cauldron if you cannot find one at the local discount store.