Cocktail Party - Help needed

? - Please any idea's??

Thanks. x

Don't know about special and different, but we hold them between friends sometimes - not posh ones though.

A tip we learnt through experience, don't ask people what cocktails they want when they turn up, they will want something with the one ingedient you didn't get when you bought every spirit known to man. Think of some drinks, buy those ingredients and then offer them a choice of those drinks.

And you can never have too many umbrellas! My cocktail parties are very classy (obv) so I'm probably not helping ??

I would print up some cocktail menus with drinks you have the ingredients for, as then you're more likely to be able to make up batches at a time. Get your glasses and garnishes right. I love umbrellas and also seem to remember having some animal things that hung off glasses. Actually, I think I had this starter kit thing with lots of things :

http://www.drinkstuff.com/products/product.asp?ID=83&catID=114&name=Bar+Caddy+Starter+Kit

No, it;s not tasteful, but it's fun.

Remember that you need about 8 times more ice than you think you will.

L
xx

We had a cocktail party a few years ago and it was really good fun, well the evening was....the morning not so much fun ?

We bought a cocktail book and picked ones we liked, ones we hadnt tried before and some non alcohol ones and then typed them up and handed them to people. Was a success and everyone had a great time.

Long Island Tea is lovely but evil!

Exactly what they said, pick 3 cocktails.

This will sound like a silly question, but how old are you and your guests? I ask because in my 20s we had lots of cocktail parties where we picked a few drinks and assigned everyone an ingredient (remember lots of vodkas), and in my 30s we have cocktail parties where the host sorts everything out and the guests all bring a bottle of champagne, it's a question of economics I guess.

Get a bartender, in a white shirt and dicky, whoever, pay a local barman or a mate £20 for the evening, that helps so much. Make sure you have a bar area that people can go up to, behind a table etc.

All things being equal right now, with the people I would invite I would make:

Mojitos

Cosmopolitans

Champagne (cava) cocktails

marguerita (sp?)

Can give recipes if you need.

I agree with the cocktail menu idea, I did this and it was fun but also made it clear what we could do!

Having different style glasses for different cocktails would be cool and funky ice cubes either different shapes or with mint/lemon slices/berries in.

We also have nibbles such as nuts, olives and mini savoury canapes some cold, some hot.

Sorry, when I implied people in their 30's could afford to supply endless spirits, that's not what I meant, just a couple of friends who could, if we did a cocktail party now it would be like one of our 20's, but without the blue vommiting..one hopes.

Thank you all so much for the idea's/advice.

I am really looking forward to it, love the menu idea, I can get creative and make some really nice ones.

Any more idea's would be great....

x

Will you all be dressing in cocktail gear? It always made for a strangely civilised party round these parts, where when you woke up in the morning it looked like you hadn't had one as everyone behaved so well in their best clothes?