by Viviana Victoriano

Created on: July 17, 2008

An uncomplicated and extremely pleasant way to entertain guests. That would be the best definition for a cocktail party. And, honestly speaking, it is also a painless way to entertain business acquaintances or take care of social obligations with people with whom you don't care much about spending a long evening or sharing a complete meal with.

Let's go straight to the main course of a cocktail: the drinks.

If you have a large number of guests and no professional bartender to help out with the mixology duties, then the best idea is to let the guests help themselves out and set up strategically placed "self service" tables with the necessary items.

You will need to provide your thirsty friends with at least five basic liquors: scotch, bourbon, gin, vodka and rum. You can also include interesting additions such as Peruvian Pisco and Mexican Tequila. Accompany them with an assortment of mixes, orange and cranberry juice, buckets of ice, wedges of lemons, glasses in several sizes and long-handled bar spoons. For the "light drinkers" you can include wine and beers. Don't forget your non-alcoholic friends. Besides the juices, provide them with sparkling mineral water.

If you want to keep things simpler, and have your friends just relax and be served, you can choose one or two types of cocktails, made up in batches. For example, pitchers of Martinis and Margaritas, of Tom Collins and Cosmos, any combination that you think might be a good mix for your crowd.

In general, a cocktail party shouldn't be longer than two hours. Those two hours should fall anywhere between 5 8 pm. It is not a good idea to go beyond that time, because a cocktail party is usually the prelude for another event: going out for dinner, the theatre, another party, etc. So, try to keep it within the two hour frame and, if there is going to be dinner afterwards, keep the appetizers light and simple.

Talking about appetizers, we can go to the second most important element of your cocktail party: the food. Imagine how your party would end up with all those drinks and no food. Stay on the simple side. An assortment of well-chosen cheese and crackers, pates and small quiches bought at a specialty store are enough for an informal party. If you want to get more sophisticated and impress your guests you can have specially made hors d'oeuvres such as smoked salmon, stuffed mushroom caps, ready to eat shrimp, artichoke dip with veggies, etc.

The last but not least element of a successful cocktail party is the ambiance. Make sure that you have different cozy sitting areas throughout the party so that people can sit down, relax and chit chat. Tall round tables are great for this type of parties, because people can eat, drink and talk, but they don't get stuck in one sitting area. It gives them more room to move around and mingle. To set the mood, work up the lights to create a smooth atmosphere, cool music in the backgrounds, fresh flowers and candles.

My best advice: don't overdo it. The two most important ingredients of successful entertaining are simplicity and creativity. However you choose to organize your cocktail party, you should always be within your comfort zone and be able to manage it. In this way, you will not feel overwhelmed and when your guests arrive you will be relaxed and able to greet them with your best smile.

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