Boozy Gummy Bears Are The Cocktail Garnish You Desperately Need

Growing up is hard. You have to leave so much of your childhood self behind as you become an adult, that's why it feels so impactful to embrace your inner child whenever you can. There's hardly a better way to do that than by combining one enjoyable privilege of adulthood — sipping cocktails — with the nostalgia of eating delicious gummy bears.

There are several ways to use gummy bears in alcoholic drinks. The easiest is to slot them on the rim of a glass or poke a toothpick through some and rest them above the drink as a garnish. This doesn't get them boozy, though, so a better way is to plop some in the bottom of a cocktail and serve it straight up. By the time you get to the bears, they should be slightly boozy so you can munch them at your pleasure. Plus, they look cute swirling around.

However, the best way to use gummy bears as a cocktail garnish is to infuse them with alcohol. This way, you can enjoy the treat at any point in your cocktail and you'll get a big boozy burst when you bite in. If you plan ahead, you can also use liquor-soaked gummy bears to add one kind of alcohol (and the flavor of the bears) to a different alcohol to create a quick and dirty gummy bear cocktail.

If you're making boozy gummy bears, the best to use are history's first gummy bears from Haribo. They're consistently delicious, and the five flavors a pack includes (pineapple, lemon, raspberry, orange, and strawberry) give you a broad range of pairing options. You can use any brand, though, or make homemade gummy bears if you want specific flavors.

Next comes alcohol. If making multiple bear flavors, use minimally flavored alcohols such as vodka, white or clear rums, and silver tequilas. Then there's no risk of bad combinations and the bears' flavors can shine. If using only one bear flavor, you can get creative. Limoncello, for example, turns lemon bears into flavor explosions while chardonnay transforms strawberry bears into a luxurious treat.

With ingredients selected, all that's left is to soak them together. Put your gummy bears in a sealable container, then add enough alcohol to barely cover them. Stir, seal the container, and stash them in the fridge. Take them out once a day for the next three days to stir them again. On day three, they're ready to enjoy.

Some quick warnings. They're slightly slimy and sticky once they're ready, so handle them with toothpicks or tweezers. They're also strong, so eat responsibly and keep them away from kids by hiding them in the back of the fridge — a warning label can help. Lastly, once they're soaked, they won't last longer than a few days. To avoid waste, only make what you'll use.

The best cocktails to use boozy gummy bear garnishes with are drinks that already have some fruitiness to them, or the fruitiness of the bear could throw everything off. A tequila sunrise recipe can take advantage of a tequila-soaked cherry gummy bear garnish, for example, while orange bears soaked in whiskey can infuse some childlike wonder into an otherwise standard old fashioned.

You can also use certain flavor combinations to mimic more complex drinks, and garnish plain shots with them. Pineapple bears soaked in coconut rum sitting on the lip of a Baileys shot is a fanciful take on an original piña colada. Make a faux mojito recipe with a mint-schnapps-soaked lime bear over white rum. Make sure you always put the bear on the lip of a shot instead of inside it to avoid any choking risks.

Finally, they're perfect additions to the centers of Jell-O shots, making them the cutest little liquor bombs. A vodka-soaked lime-flavored bear makes an excellent centerpiece to a watermelon Jello-O shot. Or, play a devilish Jell-O shot game by putting Everclear-soaked bears into a handful of shots instead of vodka-soaked ones — just be sure to warn your friends so they can opt out!