When an event planner...
When an event planner...
makes drinks for a crowd
Select a good variety
Here's a good rule of thumb for what to have
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Two types of beer- a light and a heavier imported.
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Two types of wine- a white and a red. I also usually include champagne as well because, well you know.
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Mixed drinks- I like to make a large batch of a signature cocktail. Instead of having all the different liquor options and mixer options. Signature cocktails can be themed in flavor, ingredients or color to go with the party. Apple Cider Sangria for Thanksgiving dinner. Mimosa bar for a new years party or a brunch event. Or a blue drink for a baby shower. A red drink for a wedding shower. You get the idea.
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Don't forget some sort of non-alcoholic option for anyone who does not drink, or just something to have between drinks. Something like peach infused water is great. wink wink
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Make enough- Ok here's a good formula. Plan that each guest will have one drink per hour. Then add one. So if your party is going to be from noon to 4pm. That's 4 hours, so you'll plan 5 drinks per person. This is a good average, some will have just 2 drinks, but some will have more. Just my husband's friends? No?
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So you have 20 guests coming, for a 4 hour party. You're looking at 100 drinks. Now obviously you can adjust the numbers based on who is coming to your party and the time of day, but again, here's a good estimate
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4- 12 packs- 2 flavors- 48 beers
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6 bottles of wine- again 2 flavors- 24 glasses
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2.5 gallons of your mixed drink- which comes out to about 30, 10 oz portions. This would be 3 batches of the above large batch recipe. So you'll need 3 bottles of juice, 3 bottles of sparkling water and 1 1/2 bottles of vodka. Whatever could you do with the extra vodka?
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That's 102 portions.
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Then make extra
Ok see what we did above? Great now add one or two of everything. 1 more 12 pack. 1 more of each bottle of wine. And one more pitcher of your mixed drink. Whenever I'm doing a mixed drink I make a pretty huge portion, then I make an extra pitcher and keep it stashed in the fridge. The worst thing is running out of drinks. Extra is always better.
Keep it cold
I'm talking about your mixed drink here. Beer and wine you can use the tried and true on ice method. One of the trickiest things is keeping a large batch of a cocktail cold for an extended period of time, oh say the length of a pool party? While said drinks are sitting out in the sun? So you're probably thinking, ice. Right? And of course, ice works, but as it sits it melts. So you add more. And it melts again. And so on. So your drink is getting increasingly watered down, which is no fun! Tricky indeed. But here's the thing, it's actually not hard, just takes about 3 seconds of pre-planning. Fill a ziploc bag carefully with some of your juice and let freeze, preferably over night. When ready to serve your drink, peel ziploc bag away from frozen block of juice and drop in your container.
Serve it
A great large serving container like this one is perfect so you don't have to refill constantly, guests can help themselves, and it looks nice! Plus with the double one, you can offer a few drinks.
If you'd like a recipe for the Pool Party Punch pictured above
