Cocktail Party

Learn to decode the language of cocktail party invites. Then, stock your bar to be the perfect host!

How to Decode a Cocktail-Party Invitation

"Come for drinks."

This is the least formal kind of party gathering. Invitations are typically extended over the telephone, with little advance notice, to a handful of guests.

• The party often precedes an event that the guests and the host(s) will be attending together, like a concert, the ballet or even dinner at a restaurant.

• The party is rarely catered, although staff may serve.

• Drinks vary from wine and Champagne to offerings from a full bar, including nonalcoholic beverages.

• Food is simple and casually presented: bowls of nibbles like nuts, olives and cheese crackers rather than passed hors d'oeuvres. On special occasions there may be something more substantial, such as caviar or smoked salmon, but nothing that constitutes a meal.

"Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres."

Invitations, always issued through the mail, carry a time limit (like 6:30pm to 8:30pm) and, more often than not, a response request.

• The cocktail party is catered and staffed.

• Drinks include wine (and/or Champagne), spirits and specialty cocktails, like martinis or Manhattans.

• The food, generally passed hors d'oeuvres, with bowls of nibbles (olives and nuts) placed casually around the party space, is not intended as dinner.

"Cocktail party supper" (or "cocktail party buffet").

Invitations, typically issued through the mail, do not necessarily set time limits but do include a response request.

• The party is often catered and staffed.

• Drinks usually encompass wine and offerings from a limited spirits bar that may include specialty cocktails.

• No-knife foods, served buffet style (often with small plates and forks), may also include several passed hors d'oeuvres and are substantial enough to be considered dinner.

Stocking the bar:

Even if you have a large liquor inventory at home and an extensive range of mixers on hand, it is perfectly acceptable -- advisable, really -- to streamline your bar offerings at a cocktail party or open house. A good rule of thumb is that the larger the gathering, the more limited the selection. (This is the reason bars at heavily attended events like art-gallery openings offer only white wine and water.) There's no need for elaborate multiliquor concoctions, whirling blenders and little paper drink umbrellas; you are hosting a cocktail party, not opening a nightclub. If you have light-colored furniture/rugs/floors and are reluctant to serve red wine and colored juices, then don't. (No excuses. No exceptions.) Most guests are perfectly happy to drink whatever is offered.

Although half-gallon bottles of spirits are economical, they're also unattractive and cumbersome, and they can slow bartenders down, an important consideration at large gatherings. Purchase spirits (and mixers) in one-liter bottles. Garnishes for drinks should be simple. Fresh lemon twists and lime wedges are all you need (plus whatever your specialty cocktails may require, like olives or Maraschino cherries).

A five-spirit bar, plus wine and mixers, works well for cocktail parties and open houses. It includes the following:

• Vodka, gin, scotch, blended whiskey and bourbon (may be supplemented with rum in warmer weather or climates)

• Dry and sweet vermouth

• Wine (red and white, or white only; and/or Champagne)

• Beer (a matter of seasonal and regional taste)

• Mixers (tonic, club soda, ginger ale, diet and regular cola, fruit juices)

• Bottled water (flat and sparkling)

There is a proper glass designed to hold every cocktail, and most rental companies stock a number of classic shapes. But it's acceptable to limit the variety of glasses used at large home gatherings. More important than the shape of the glass is its size: two ounces of scotch in a 10-ounce glass isn't going to work, no matter how much ice you add. If you need to limit, settle for one all-purpose stemware glass (for wine, water and highballs), an old-fashioned glass (for spirits on the rocks) and the specific glass required for any specialty cocktail being served (like martinis).