Cocktail parties are a fun, low maintenance way to entertain friends, but you could also host a cocktail party at home to celebrate a wedding, instead of having your reception at a wedding venue or to reward your staff, if you’re a business owner.
Cocktail hour is considered to be between six and seven in the evening. Generally, cocktail parties wind up after a couple of hours, but if your guests are in the mood, why not take the party into the night? If you’d rather make it a daytime thing, you could also think about hosting a lazy lunchtime cocktail do, at around one-thirty in the afternoon.
While guests should have access to plenty of nibbles to graze on while they mingle, there’s no need to provide a full course meal. A traditional cocktail menu boasts simple foods – hors d’oevres, canapés, appetizers and finger foods.
Remember, cocktail parties are all about the cocktails! A cocktail is an alcoholic mixer of more or less anything you like…with one proviso, a cocktail must contain a spirit. Ensure your cocktail cabinet is stocked with:
- A cocktail shaker
- A Hawthorne strainer
- A Muddler
- Bar spoons
- Martini glasses
- Hi-Ball glasses
- White wine glasses
- Champagne flutes
- Ice crusher
Common cocktail ingredients include:
- Vodka
- White rum
- Gin
- Tequila
- Whisky
- Champagne
- Grenadine
- Blue curaçao
- Orange juice
- Cranberry juice
- Lemon slices
- Lime wedges
- Salt
- Cocktail sugar
- Ice cubes
If creating and managing your own cocktail bar seems to much like hard work, you could always call in a mobile bar service.
What to wear to a cocktail party? Cocktail dresses are de rigeur for swanky cocktail parties – you could even go so far as to get your guests to don cocktail hats.
The finishing touch – cocktail party décor. Wind the clock back to the 1920s. Turn the lights down low and set out some tea lights for a sophisticated effect. Throw plain white table cloths over your tables and accentuate with black and white accessories – black vases with white flowers, black and silver party confetti and black napkins. A room festooned with black and white balloons, adorned with black and white ribbon, is always festive. Lastly, play a little background jazz music. Then, kick back and sip a Pimms.
