HELP! I am Hosting a Cocktail Party Tonight

Pigs in a blanket, Twister, and disco classics.

R1 how 1970's

OP.... don't forget the cocktails...or it's just a 'wine bar'

Prunes.

Lots of prunes.

No cocktails at a cocktail party? You need some booze for martinis.

What you are hosting is not a cocktail party. It’s a wine and cheese. You better have a variety of wine and some damn nice cheeses. Otherwise, you’ll never live it down..

Fresh soaps and hand towels in the bathroom.

OP, sorry but this sounds painfully boring.

Have some diversity and get those old fogies to play LOTTERIA , which is basically bingo, but Spanish is learned!

OP, if you're having a cocktail party, plan and prepare in advance. Plan and purchase according to your budget. Know your guests!

In the weeks beforehand, start to purchase bottles of good quality booze: Get a big bottle of gin (Beefeaters), scotch (Dewars), and vodka (Tito's). Buy a bottle of good red and white wine each (say $15 each). If there's a beer drinker in the crowd a six pack or two of good domestic or imported.. Also for those who don't imbibe...a case of Coke and a few bottles of mineral water.

Mixers: Tonic water, club soda

Lemons and limes.

Get Planters' salted mixed nuts and put them in dishes around your living room

Kalamata olives and Wasabi peas are also choices.

Cheeses: Brie, Cheddar, Manchego, Goat and/or Blue cheese

An assortment of crackers for the cheeses

If you want one hot dish to serve...look up on-line a crabmeat/cream cheese baked dish

Cocktail napkins, toothpicks, and above all....You can NEVER have enough ice.

Set up the bar on a table in the corner. Enlist a friend to help prepare first drink and then let them serve themselves.

Set a good music selection in the background.

Be sure to set the beginning and END of the party (6-8). Some people never know when to leave. Or if it's a small group plan to go out to dinner afterwards.

And have a good time! It's your party.

OP did you invite six people to a cocktail party or to sit Shiva with you ? I honestly can't tell by what you're preparing.

R10–apparently the word “tonight” eluded you.

Play ‘Who am I?’ but only with DL fave celebrities. That’ll show you which of your friends are quality and which are trash to punch and delete.

R12...apparently ROTFLMAO

OP, A couple bottles of red and the number of a good pizzeria that delivers.

Ask Bea Benederet...her New Year's soirees are always legendary.

R9: a funny story about those ....

We played it at a gathering where the bilingual host translated "pan dulce" as "sweetbreads." I later told him that meant something else in English, maybe Mexican bread would have been better in English?

Have some fair-to-middling bottled water chilled because someone is always pregnant or on an antibiotic. The foolproof music would be Ella's Irving Berlin Songbook, Fleetwood Mac "Rumors," and the Trainspotting soundtrack.

OP, you need at least one pitcher if Alabama Slammas. Your guests will love this potent mixed drink! Southern Comfort, Amaretto, Slo Gin and topped iff with orange juice with full glass of ice!

And remember! Orgy at midnight!

R17, I’m not sure that someone is always pregnant at an eldergay cocktail party.

Okay, it is more of a wine and cheese thing I think.

Who am I sounds like a fun game!

OP, I dont think your story is true.

[Quote] offer a few hummuses

I believe the plural is Hummi.

Scattegories: is that where you share details about your recent poop?

Don’t embarrass yourself by serving wheat thins.

R24: Grocery Outlet has a spicey version of Wheat Thins on sale @ 99cents/box!

Trader Joe’s, darling. Load up on crackers, fancy nuts, a few dips, and those frozen apps you just throw in the oven. No one needs to know your “signature hors d’oeuvre” came out of a Trader Joe’s box.

No offense, sweetheart, but how old are you? You’re a DL’er - we expect you to have this stuff down since the late Bronze age cocktail era.

Wheat Thins??? Is Sandy Duncan the guest of honor?

OP, are men only attending?

Remember to dip the apple slices in lemon juice so they don't turn brown!

The minister's cat is a cunt.

OP, what you are serving tonight just sounds like what someone would snack on while waiting for their Tortino's pizza rolls to microwave. Turn in your gay card.

^ Or like what soccer moms pack when it's their turn to bring the snacks.

[Quote] Load up on crackers, fancy nuts, a few dips, and those frozen apps you just throw in the oven.

Ok I just put my phone in the oven but there’s a funny smell. Is that natural?

[Quote]Or like what soccer moms pack when it's their turn to bring the snacks.

(wine included)

What color caftan are you wearing?

No one really likes humus.

R10 is John Cheever.

Will the back room have the sling up?

A second for Twister. Candyland, Operation, and Battleship can be fun for those who don't want to partake in Twister.

Why not Spin the Bottle? 7 Minutes in Heaven?

Invite ICE and play a game of ‘Who’s an illegal here?’

I like hummus.

BAKED POTATO BAR!

Was it a triumph?

Rumaki of course. And only one game fits the bill: hump the hostess.

R47: "bump the hostess": is that a synonym for "F* the hostess:?

R47. WHAT. A. DUMP!!!!

[italic]Peel the label!

[quote]I am Hosting a Cocktail Party Tonight

For two?

High Point decaf coffee towards the end of the evening. For the flava.

r45 wins.

Charcuterie board + caviar over ice with naan & a selection of spreadable cheeses; for something hot: escargot baked in butter and cheese - I like to use Boursin. Focaccia with cold-pressed olive oil. Have good red and white wine, also top-shelf vodka and gin with mixers on hand. Water, beer, soda as well. For the latter part of the evening, brew some coffee; serve with individual cups of panna cotta , gelato or cinnamon Bundt cake.

Duude, put on some Mitch Miller tunes and pass out the sing-a-long cards!

OP, have you survived your drinking marathon?

Life is just a cocktail party.

OP was stricken with insecurity after reading this thread.

That was compounded by none of his "friends" showing up.

OP is now "resting" because of "exhaustion."

A cocktail party s an hour or two before dinner so no need to put out huge spread. It’s also not long enough to play games, which would be more appropriate after a dinner party.

In four decades of going to NYC gay cocktail parties I have never been to one where they played games. Is that a midwestern thing? Of course trying to snag someone's lover for a quick shag in the bathroom could be called a game, but I don't think it's the sort of game you mean, OP.

Hummuses? Plural? Apple slices? Wheat thins?

This sounds like naptime at a daycare center.

Prepare a proper charcuterie and cheese spread with soda crackers, crostini, etc., a chip and dip thing, olives, crudite, and some actual hors d'oeuvres, ditch the games (my god), offer actual cocktails and not just wine, and play light, fun, unobtrusive background music. Light some candles and wear a nice smock. Use real stem and glassware and real plates, nothing disposable. This isn't difficult if you have even a small amount of taste, class and common sense, but I think that's where you're struggling.

I was going to call OP a hit and run OP, but who could blame him?

Tough crowd.

A bit over-the-top for entertaining only six, but R10 is comprehensive for entertaining. And if having guests in for "cocktails," best have 'em. Presented in proper stemware. Just do four or six drinks .... martini, sidecar, margarita, manhattan, bloody mary, gimlet. While Wheat Thins are a delight when eating a box of 'em while watching Matlock, do not serve 'em at a cocktail party. No snack-crackers please, just simple Carr's if you have a simple California dip. People like it. No matter any retentions of queens at a party, at heart they like meat loaf at home. So don't go overboard with various dips. One or two. Have a simple ring of frozen shrimp. You are not serving dinner, it's just people coming in. Really, for drinks. A drinks party. But make it cocktails by having the proper stemware.

Good picks OP, you generally have good taste but can I offer one substitute? For the music definitely do NWA’s debut album. Have fun. Tell us how it goes.

Do a circle-jerk at the end of the night. Let the guys have SOME fun before they leave.

R65: I think you mean, "CUM fun before they leave."

hummi!

Last night as a success. My little apartment fit 7 people. Everyone bought a bottle of wine.

I baked egg rolls and dumplings

I made a board with cold meats, cheeses, apples, red peppers, wheat thins, pita crackers, hummus, and carrots

There was plenty of food and great conversation. The last guests left at 3 AM.

I approve of the Wheat Thins --the light little cracker with the big wheat taste!

[quote]Everyone bought a bottle of wine.

From you? Like at a Tupperware party?

Please note, though: A cocktail party does not last until 3 AM, it includes almost everyone remaining standing, and it doesn't include food that is messy, unless it is well-stored inside a crust or pre-spread on toasts on a serving tray. Hummus is not suitable for a "cocktail party" serving wine. In fact, unless one is serving cocktails, it is not a cocktail party, obviously. (And margaritas from a blender are not cocktails.)

Stop being pretentious. You had a small gathering - a simple party - at your lovely, modest home, and your guests enjoyed themselves, from what you shared with us. We'll assume it was true. Why wouldn't that be enough for you.

Tip for the future: Plan ahead. A simple impromptu or unprepared-for party inevitably leaves gaps for inexperienced hosts who are unlikely to notice where the gaps are.

I picture R70 as Patricia Clarkson from Far from Heaven.

It's not the kind of cocktail party Alexis Carrington Colby would've thrown. Or even Krystle Carrington ! It sound more like something Valene Ewing would've hosted.

No, we are all just late 20's/early 30's and let our hair down

We’re going to need to see some proof of age. I refuse to believe you’re not an eldergay!

r74 why?

Tequila shooters and Japanese finger foods!

Did you end up playing The Minister’s Cat?

Did they cum come?

I too definitely assumed you were a pensioner, OP. I mean...wheat thins? Scattegories?

When I was in my 20s a "cocktail party" was vodka lemonades, bathroom coke, and eating ass atop a mountain of coats.

R71, of course I was riffing.

More like Hyacinth Bucket being helpfully condescending.

Although, strictly speaking, correct.

[quote]No, we are all just late 20's/early 30's and let our hair down

The OP did the best parody of a clueless cluck here in a month, and then tops herself in her responses.

Brilliant. seamlessly brutal.

r79, But Debbie, Pastels??

R81 how so

OP: maybe you should have called it a "cock-in-tail" party...

If you make it an 80s theme, it can be a Rocktail Party! 🎸

80s theme? Rock started in the 50s, Jayden.

I have always wanted to play 'The Minister's Cat' at a party.

Did you serve dessert? Do you have to have something sweet at a cocktail party?

This wasn't a "cocktail party." What a ridiculous pretension. It was a basic friend get together and did not require a Datalounge thread.

Who are these people who invite friends over to hang out and call it "a cocktail party?" You were planning a game night with board games fer crissakes.

OP, it would have been fine to post "I'm having some friends over for game night, what do think of this menu and these activities I planned?" The thread would've gone a lot better.

Whatever made you think you were hosting a cocktail party? Everyone "bought" wine? Sounds more like a byob, or a liquor store with your poor vocabulary.

And still no mention of actual cocktails.

Final point: cocktail parties do not end at 3 AM. How ridiculous.

Sounds like this wasn't thought through very well, OP. You need to add a lot more stuff. As for games? Nuh-uh. What about just conversation and catching up? This isn't a grade-schooler's birthday party. You're not responsible for 'entertaining' them with games. Personally, I find that kind of stuff tedious and restrictive when I just want to mingle and talk to the people there.

It was some people in for drinks. Make no cocktail party nonsense.