The Best Cocktail Party of all Times!

I hate to boast but when my housemates and I host a party, we do a damn good job. We don’t have many of them and usually reserve them for special occasions, and this one was no exception. We moved into this unit a couple of months ago after spending too much time in the unit from hell where we had thrown some excellent parties (such as “Superheroes on a Budget” and “Doomed Romance” as some of our themed ones) so we knew we could throw a killer housewarming in a unit where it was more spacious and far more classy. To suit our stylish new place, we decided not to choose a theme as such except a general sort of New York style (as the unit is very new York-ish) and encouraged everyone to dress up in the best cocktail wear and bring a bottle of alcohol of our choosing. We got a friend who is a professional cocktail mixologist to make cocktails for us for the first four hours of the night in order to avoid the nasty mess that inevitably comes when everyone at a party decides to mix their own drinks, particularly as the night wears on and people have consumed too many of their own crappy cocktails. We also had a magic show on during the night, incorporating a beatboxer. That’s right, a beatboxer. Our friends Pete and Jonny have an act called The Majik Box where Peter performs his amazing street magic and Jonny beatboxes like you wouldn’t even believe. On top of that a few of our party guests were some of the best DJs in Brisbane who all spun a few tunes for us all to enjoy as the night went on.

I can honestly say this is the best cocktail party  have ever experienced and am proud that I was one of the people involved in making it happen! It took a decent amount of money and planning to get it to work, but the effort was truly worth it when we had all of the guests tell us how great a night they had for days afterwards. In an effort to spread the love, I thought I’d share a few tips so that you can throw an amazing cocktail party which you too will be able to gloat about or years to come!

• Tell people what alcohol to bring. If you do not do this, people will just bring the standard range of drinks like vodka and rum, which are very important, but it’d be a very dull cocktail party if all you could make were vodka lime sodas. Make sure to get a few people to bring the basic ones like vodka though, because they will be used the most and  if they run out then you will have a tough time coming up with drinks that utilise lychee liqueur and blue Curaçao. On that note though, give the more obscure liqueurs to good, reliable friend who you’re sure will turn up and have a reserve list of drinks for the people who decide to come last minute.
• Get someone to make drinks for you! Unless you’re a bartender who knows how to make a mean cocktail and don’t mind being behind the “bar” making drinks for all your friends (and let’s face it, who would want that) then get someone to make the drinks for you. If it’s a friend, pay them for their time as opposed to promising them free drinks all night long, because they’re bound to get drunk and no one likes a drunk bar tender (though a few drinks wouldn’t hurt, of course).
• Get some good cocktail glasses! We got some stylish ones from Target (most of them were even on sale!) and also borrowed some others from friends. You’d be amazed how much better a cocktail looks (and tastes) when served in a beautiful glass. Accept the fact some of them will get broken, so don’t lash out on some Royal Doulton crystal glassware when that $60 champagne flute glass may wind up in sixty pieces on the floor.
• Provide some food. This is pretty basic but people seem to overlook it so often. Don’t just go for some chips either, get some nice cheeses and dips and make sure you present them nicely. If you have the time/energy/money do something a little bit fancy or, as we did, something to suit the theme/event, such as our mini hot dogs which complimented with the New York theme. The bonus of having decent food at your cocktail party is that it will help slow down how quickly people get drunk. While we all know the sole intention of everyone there is to get wasted, helping slow that down so people can enjoy their night for longer is appreciated by all.
• Nominate a host. This sounds totally boring but will help ensure the success of the party. In this case, I was that person (sort of self nominated actually) which meant I was always keeping an eye out for spillages, collecting empty glasses and washing them so that the bar tender could concentrate on making drinks, serving food, taking photos, letting people into the building etc. It’s not glamorous but at the same time it’s so necessary. That’s not to say I didn’t have a lot to drink, dance a lot nor enjoy myself profusely. It just meant someone was always keeping an eye on things and making sure nothing got out of control. It’s also sometimes better to be that person instead of accidentally letting the clumsy person or the busy-body take charge. At least you know how you want things run and won’t have to try and sort out their mess later.
• Make your place party-safe! Hide anything breakable, move furniture near walls to allow lingering/dancing space and designate a specific wet-area for the making of drinks. Also make sure you have a designated smoking area. People will want to smoke so you might as well make it convenient or them to do so, no matter how much you might hate it. Otherwise you might find people smoking in the bathrooms or just anywhere they damn well please.
• Lastly, once your bartender is done for the night, don’t let it become a mad free-for-all to the booze where everyone makes whatever they want and generally makes a huge mess and wastes all the leftover alcohol. Get a couple of trusted people (this is where you, as the host, will probably be the best person for the job) behind the “bar” making drinks. They don’t have to know what they’re doing or even be any good at it, you just need to restore some order. My sister and I did most of the mixing after our bartender left, and while we weren’t that good at making drinks and definitely not very fast, we had control and managed to ensure the alcohol lasted for a lot longer than it might have otherwise.

If you do have a cocktail party and use any of my tips, let me know how it went! I’d love to think someone else could have a party as fantastic as ours was (though having a beatboxing magic show might be a hard act to beat *wink*).

Check out the other photos I took on the night (on my Holga camera, hence the changing qualities of each photo) on my flickr.