Creating an atmosphere of elegance is part of the fun of hosting a cocktail party. Flowers should set the tone. Limit your palette to a few colors. Float flowers in water glasses, arrange on a tray, then accent with a single orchid stem. Here we used a red pink dahlia, an agapanthus, green hellebores, and a James Story orchid. The 1960s-style cocktail party is making a comeback, as are all manner of cocktail accoutrements. Though it's the platters that make the buffet table, glasses are center stage at the cocktail party. Specialized stemware includes cordial, highball, champagne, martini, and vodka/schnapps glasses nestled in their own ice-filled cooler.
You can pull together an elegant affair with a minimal amount of stress. First, "pick a late Sunday afternoon, early evening," says entertaining expert Colin Cowie. "You're likely to have a better party and a better group of people than if you choose a Friday or Saturday night. And instead of having a huge onslaught in a short period of time, have an open house from, say, four to nine. It takes away a lot of the pressure." Invite guests about three weeks ahead of time by mail or phone (or fax or e-mail them). Don't worry if you don't have enough matching platters, plates, or cocktail glasses, Borrow, rent, or buy inexpensive pieces to fill in.
Menu
Forget passing fancy hors d'oeuvres on trays if you have limits on time, budget, and helpers, says Cowie. He suggests setting up two or three easy, low-maintenance food stations. "You can do a station with stone crabs. They're only in season from October to March, so they're popular during the holidays." (You can order them over the phone from Joe's Stone Crab in Miami,
www.joesstonecrab.com; Joe's will ship them complete with a mallet and a mustard sauce.) Serve the crab with a steely Muscadet (good bets: Chereau-Carre and Louis Metaireau) or icy shots of vodka. At another station you might serve a smoked or roast turkey and a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (good bets: Selaks, Sinclair, and Babich) or Pinot Noir from California or Oregon (good bets: Estancia Monterey Pinnacles and Erath Willamette Valley).
Buy everything but the bread about three days ahead of time. The morning of the party, buy fresh bread or rolls from your local bakery.
Drinks
"Rather than having one large bar with a full bar setup, pick a cocktail of the evening. It could be sparkling wine with a drop of Chambord raspberry liqueur, a splash of cranberry juice, and a raspberry in it," says Cowie. (Good bets: Roederer Estate Non-Vintage Brut Anderson Valley and Mumm Cuvee Napa Non-Vintage Brut Blanc de Blancs Napa Valley.) Or you might prefer classic martinis. "You can make a big pitcher of them and serve them as people come in the door," says Cowie.
Buy the wine and liquor as soon as you have a rough idea of how many guests will be attending. To determine quantities, figure each guest will stay an hour and a half and consume an average of three drinks. A standard wine bottle pours about six glasses. If you're expecting 20 people, you'll need 60 glasses of wine, or 10 bottles. Add a few extra bottles for safety. A 750-milliliter bottle of vodka yields 13 two-ounce martinis.
Music
Think nightclub. Peggy Lee,
The Best of Miss Peggy Lee; Frank Sinatra and Count Basie,
Sinatra-Basie; Chet Baker,
The Best of Chet Baker Sings. Words of Wisdom
"Turn the volume on the music a little high so you've got a bit of energy going, light tons of candles, and you've got yourself a party," says Cowie.
