The beverage station. It sometimes feels like the never ending debate of how much, what kind, what packaging, etc. etc. Then it becomes how do I fit this all and not make it look like total malarky? Admittedly, designing the bar is one of my favorite parts of any party that we host. I love getting everything to look just right and adding little touches that help create the vibe or theme of the party. Here are my tips for creating an amazing bar for any party!
What Kind of Booze? This is always our biggest question when planning a get party. Do we just have beer and wine? Do we have liquor? Do we have a signature cocktail? Do we have liquor at all? Depending on the event you are hosting, any one of those options may be the best option. Normally we either go with only beer and wine or beer and wine with a signature cocktail. To me, it feels the most responsible while still allowing people to have fun. If you are hosting a brunch after a baptism, you may choose to only have non-alcoholic drinks. If you are hosting a bridal shower, you may choose to have a signature cocktail. If you are hosting a more formal dinner party, you may choose to have a full bar. There is really no right or wrong answer to this question. Instead think through the following questions:
- What kind of event am I hosting? There may be certain events you don’t feel comfortable having any alcohol at, like a baptism. There may be events that you just don’t want hard alcohol at, like a wedding or bridal party. There may also be events where okay with any type of alcohol being there.
- What time of day is the event being held? The time of day can totally affect things as well. I tend to feel like the earlier in the day an event is being held, the less likely I am to want to have hard alcohol at the event. I just don’t love the idea of setting people up to be drinking all day. For example, you may normally be okay with a full bar at a wedding, but have a different opinion if it is a morning wedding. This may not affect your decision making but is good to note!
- Where am I holding this event? This is a big question! If you are holding the event at your house, this may not affect anything. But if you are holding the event at a venue, they will likely have rules regarding alcohol. Some venues may only allow beer and wine, some may not allow anything, some may allow everything.
- Who is going to be at this event? You will also want to think about the kinds of people that will be at the event. If you are hosting a lot of people that don’t drink, you may not need to provide alcohol or very minimal beer and wine. If you are hosting people that do drink, but really only drink wine then you could just provide beer and wine. And so on. You will know your guests and can cater to the people that will actually be there.
Final Decisions. Once you have asked yourself all of the above questions and have an idea for the direction you want to go, you will need to make some final decisions on what you are going to provide. There are three categories of beverages you will need to decide on specifics for: non-alcoholic, beer & wine, hard alcohol. Within each category you will have to decide what specific items you want to serve. Any combination may be correct for your party. In my last post on creating a menu, I gave examples of parties and their menus. I am going to expand upon those tho show what I would serve at the bar!
- Cookout:
- Menu: spinach dip and chips and salsa as appetizers, hamburgers, sausage, grilled corn on the cob, green salad and chips as the main meal, and pie as dessert
- Bar Options:
- Non-Alcoholic Drinks: Infused water, mini water bottles, La Croix, Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite
- Beer & Wine: Pinot Grigio, Rose, Pale Ale and IPA
- Hard Alcohol: None
- Bridal Shower:
- Menu: stuffed mushrooms and prosciutto wrapped melon as appetizers, honey roasted salmon, green spring salad, grilled veggies and light pasta salad as the main meal, and a beautiful fruit tart for dessert
- Bar Options:
- Non-Alcoholic Drinks: Infused Water, La Croix, Dry Soda
- Beer & Wine: Pinot Grigio, Prosecco, a light Rose, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pale Ale and an IPA
- Hard Alcohol: Signature Cocktail – Blood Orange Lemon Drop
- Summer Dinner Party:
- Menu: a simple charcuterie board as an appetizer, butternut squash and lemon ricotta raviolis in a brown butter sauce, a Cesar salad, grilled broccolini and asparagus and focaccia as the main meal, and tiramisu for dessert
- Bar Options:
- Non-Alcoholic Drinks: Infused Water, La Croix, Dry Soda
- Beer & Wine: Pinot Grigio, Prosecco, a light Rose, Petit Syrah, Zinfandel, Pale Ale and an IPA
- Hard Alcohol: Bourbon/Whiskey, Vodka, Gin, and Tequila with ginger beer, Coke, sprite, tonic water, lemon juice, lime juice, and simple syrup as mixers (mixers will be mini cans or small containers to reduce waste)
Quantities. Figuring out how much of each item to buy and put out is always such a pain and never seems to work out exactly how we expect! This will be a time when knowing who is coming to your get together is key. I know if my family is coming over, we need to go heavy on the wine. They will drink a case of champagne and red wine, but won’t drink any hard alcohol and barely any beer. When our friends come over, it is a lot of rose and beer. You will likely know who is coming and where to put the most of your efforts. If you are not sure or are having a larger party here is what I would go by:
- Infused Water: 1 gallon per 10 people
- Mini Water Bottles: 1.5ish per person (I normally just keep these in a cooler below the drink table and will add more if it is hot outside)
- Sparkling Water: 2 per person
- Soft Drinks: 1.5 per person (I do this collectively, so if I am having 3 types of soft drinks I make sure the total number of the three equals 1ish per person)
- Beer: 3 per person
- Wine: .75 bottles per person
- Signature Cocktail: 3 servings per person
Distribution. This was never something I really considered until recently. Before I never really questioned having communal bottles of wine or a jug of flavored water. Now, having communal items just out in the open worries me. Some things, like beer or soft drinks are great because they are already in their own containers. For things like infused water or signature cocktails, you can divide them into glass bottles prior to the event starting. You can find really cute reusable, glass bottles on Amazon to do this. Wine or make your own cocktails are a bit more difficult. For wine, you can either ask that only the hosts serve the wine or you could get single serve decanters and portion out the wine ahead of time. For cocktails, you could portion out pre-made cocktails, like Moscow mules, or gin and tonics, unless you want to hire a bar tender.
Set-Up. For me, set-up is the most fun part of this whole process! You are past the point of worrying about what to get and how much to get and now you just get to have fun setting things up. Obviously how I used to set-up a bar is a bit different from how I may do this in the future, but I am going to talk through my normal method. So here we go:
- Beverage Buckets. We have three nice beverage buckets that we use the we got for our wedding. There are so many affordable options and this can also be a way to show the personality of your party. The beverage buckets tend to be the largest item on the table, which is why I put them out first. Normally, I put two of the buckets on the two back corners of the table. Now, I would probably actually use three beverage buckets on the table to account for more single serve containers. We also have a rolling stand beverage bucket (this isn’t the exact one we have, but similar) that I will put to the side of the table.
- Drink Dispenser(s). This may not be relevant for a while, but is what I normally put out next because they are the next biggest item. Normally, I will put these in the middle back of the table.
- Glasses. Glasses are the next most bulky item and therefore the next thing on the table. For our wedding welcome party we ordered the customized frosted plastic cups and ended up with a billion of them afterward. They ended up being a god send because we use them at all of our parties and they can be run through the dishwasher afterward. Highly recommend.
- Misc. Items. Lastly is all of the other little items like lime slices, straws, cocktail napkins, bottle opener, etc. In the space that is open on the table, I will start placing these items and try to make things not look too cluttered.
- Decorations. After everything is on the table that needs to be on the table, I will put out any decorations that I have. I do try to keep these fairly minimal with may a flower arrangement or two and a sign that details what is available. Every once in a while I will get fancy with some garland on the table or some balloons behind.
- Beverages. Ironically, the last thing I put out are the actual beverages because I don’t want anything to get to warm!
Hopefully this helps you with when setting up your bar for your next party! I actually really enjoy setting the bar up because it is a great place to add a few cute decorations that add to any theme. Until next time, friends… CML
