Mocktails
Halloween Bat-Wing Rooibos Tea for Kids
This Halloween Bat-Wing Rooibos Tea gives children a decorating activity and a gently sweet, cinnamon-scented drink. Plain rooibos is naturally caffeine-free and makes an amber tea without juice, dairy, food coloring, extracts or bitters. The bat wings stay on the outside of the cups; the drink itself is completely alcohol-free.
Recipe reviewed 8 Oct 2026. How we test recipes.
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WHAT YOU NEED
Ingredients
METHOD
How to make it
- Before making the drink, let children draw bat wings on black paper. An adult cuts them out and tapes them to the outside of one cup per serving, below the rim. Keep paper, tape and any decorations completely outside the cups.
- An adult brings the measured water to a boil in a kettle. Put the rooibos tea bags and cinnamon stick in a heatproof jug with room for the water.
- An adult slowly pours the hot water into the jug. Leave the tea bags and cinnamon stick to steep for 5 minutes.
- Remove and discard the tea bags and cinnamon stick with a spoon or tongs. Add the measured sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Leave the jug on a stable counter, out of children's reach, for about 15 minutes or until the tea is lukewarm. Cooling takes longer in a thick jug or a bigger batch; check the temperature rather than relying only on the timer.
- An adult pours the lukewarm tea evenly into the decorated cups. Check each cup again before handing it to a child. Serve without tea bags, spice pieces or paper decorations in the drink.
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Make it work for your party
Choose tea bags labeled plain rooibos; some blends add black tea, green tea or strong flavorings. The recipe uses only a little sugar, so the tea's mild earthy flavor still comes through. For a less sweet batch, use 1 teaspoon sugar total, or omit it. Do not replace the sugar with an alcohol-based flavoring extract.
Make the paper wings before heating the water so children can take part away from the kettle. Use short, broad wings rather than long flaps that might pull a cup over. An adult checks that the cups are suitable for warm drinks and that the decorations sit below the drinking rim.
You can also refrigerate the finished tea in a covered jug once cooled and serve it cold later the same day. Stir before dividing it between cups. For more children, scale the ingredients with the serving selector and allow extra cooling time.
For another alcohol-free option, try the Green Monster Pear-Cucumber Cooler or the Midnight Plum-Grape Slush. Keep the adult Headless Horseman Cognac Old Fashioned on a separate serving tray.
Use plain, caffeine-free rooibos, not a blend containing black or green tea. All ingredients are alcohol-free; do not add extracts or bitters. Adults handle the kettle, cutting and pouring. Serve lukewarm; cooling time varies. Calories include the listed sugar and the estimator's small allowance for the cinnamon stick; strength is 0% ABV.
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