The content you are about to read was provided to us by Luna Farms of Stoney Creek. For people who like to host dinner parties in their homes, a crucial component of the event is often the cocktail hour, which provides guests with a mingling and relaxing time before dinner is served. This is a great way to help guests who have never met get to know each other before sitting down to dinner and helps them make conversation with one another. If you've never included a cocktail hour in your dinner party plans before, this article will help you prepare.

When you plan to include a cocktail hour with your dinner party, make sure to budget enough time for the event. Extending the gathering hour to earlier in the evening is preferable to pushing dinner back, as many of your guests will otherwise become very hungry. If you do have to push dinner back, it nay be a good idea to set out some platters of hors d'oeuvres around your home to help take the edge off. If you are cooking for this dinner party, the best recipes to use are ones that can warm or cook unsupervised for an hour prior to serving so you can join your guests.

In order to make your cocktail hour interesting, ask around your shop or look online for recipes for mixed drinks and have many types of liquor and mixers available. For maximum elegance, you or your partner should act as bartender and mix drinks for your guests at a bar in the sitting room. You might also hire a professional bartender or mixologist if you don't trust yourself to create properly proportioned cocktails. Serving beer or wine is not typical during cocktail hour.

Cocktail hours are a time for guests to get to know one another in a comfortable environment with alcohol to loosen their tongues. Choose your most welcoming room designed by an architect who had mingling in mind. Have plenty of comfortable seats or perhaps a game available that encourages interaction, such as cards or charades. Be careful not to drink too much or to let your guests drink too much, as you don't want to be intoxicated during dinner. Another option would be to have cocktails after dinner.

You may also want to have a few recipes on hand for virgin drinks, especially if you know one of your guests is a teetotaler. If you're better at collecting sports posters than cooking dinner and can't afford to cater your dinner party, you can skip the meal altogether and serve heavy hors d'oeuvres that will fill your guests bellies. Food is important in these sorts of events, as it will absorb the alcohol and mitigate the effects of drunkenness in your guests.