Make your cocktail party a success with a little advance planning.
A few basic things to note about cocktail parties:
* Ten to twenty guests work best for a cocktail party. Keep it to about ten or twelve guests for your first party. Increase the number up to thirty as you gain experience and become more comfortable.
* A cocktail party can be a lavish event, an after work get together, or backyard casual.
* The cocktail party is not the same as a cocktail buffet or reception, both being more formal and involving more food.
* A cocktail party is an easy way to fulfill any party obligations on your part.
* Cocktail parties are not dinner.
* Cocktail parties generally last about two hours.
* Cocktail party means adults only.
Set a date and send invitations at least two weeks ahead of time. If it's all last minute, phone calls or emails will do, but mailed invitations are just nicer. Include dress on the invitation; formal, business, or casual. If you think someone may bring children, find a tactful way to state on the invitation that it's adults only. Request an RSVP.
Plan your menu. Finger food is the traditional food for cocktails parties. Figure that guests will eat about eight or ten items per hour. That's a generous estimate, but more is better than not enough. Plan foods that can be prepared ahead of time so you can enjoy your guests, or consider buying ready to serve or oven ready foods. Tortilla roll-ups, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail, hot wings, and mini quiches are the types of food you'll want to serve. Have hot and cold foods and some dips and veggies. Sweets aren't a staple of cocktail parties, but feel free to include one or more in your menu.
Beverages are the staple of cocktail parties. Decide if you want to offer a full range of cocktails or wine only. There will always be beer drinkers, so have some on hand. The ideal is that guests will have one drink per hour. For a full bar, alcohol that you may want to have on hand would be vodka, gin, bourbon, scotch, whisky, and tequila. You'll need mixers of juices, bottled water, tonic, cola, ginger ale, Sprite or something similar, and a sour mix. You will need bitters for old fashioneds, Tabasco, Worcestershire, and salt or a special mix for bloody marys, dry vermouth for martinis, sweet vermouth for manhattans, and coarse salt for margaritas. Garnishes add to the cocktail so lemons, limes, olives, cocktail onions, and cherries are must haves. You'll need plenty of glasses. Plan that guests will not reuse a glass, so double the number of guests and have at least that many glasses on hand. Don't use plastic. Rock glasses are a good one-size-fits-all glass, except for wine. Have plenty of ice on hand. Use an ice bucket and a small scoop or tongs.
It's the day of your cocktail party and it's time to get the room ready. Do this as early in the day as possible.
* Clear away any family heirlooms that guests could brush against and break.
* Set up the food table and the bar in convenient but out-of-the-way areas. Set out plates, napkins, frilly toothpicks, glasses, and liquor ahead of time.
* Set out a clean trash can.
* Move furniture so that there is plenty of walk around room.
* Set out stacks of napkins around the room. Use good quality paper napkins.
* If there are smokers among the guests, make provisions for them. It may be a separate room or outside, but let them know where they can smoke and provide ashtrays.
A few last tips to make your cocktail party a success:
* Give yourself plenty of time to prepare the food.
* You may want to pass a tray of food yourself and let everyone know that they should help themselves to the food table.
* Keep cold foods cold by placing them on a bed of ice. Put ice and a little water in a bowl a bit bigger than the one that holds the food. Push the smaller bowl into the larger one and add more ice around it, if necessary. Do the same for juices at your bar. Fill a tub with ice water and stand the juices in it.
* Some guests may want coffee. Be prepared with cups, cream, sugar, artificial sweetener, and maybe a coffee liqueur.
* See that all your guests are included in conversations. Draw the wallflowers into a group that you think will be comfortable for him or her.
* People over-indulge. Be aware of your guests alcohol consumption and drive home those that shouldn't drive.
Most of all, relax. If this is your first cocktail party, remember that most events don't run completely smooth. Don't stress if things aren't exactly as you want them to be. If your guests are having a good time, they won't even notice those things that you think are disasters. So smile, chat with your guests, and have fun.
