Cocktail Etiquette
 |
 |
 |
 |
The differences between an invitation to "cocktails", "cocktail party", "cocktail buffet" and a "cocktail reception" are usually the amount of food served, dress attire and the theme of the event.
Cocktails and Cocktail Party - Guests are mostly standing and dress attire can range from business to casual.
Cocktail Buffet - Small tables and chairs are set up for guests after they fill up their plates at the buffet station. The attire is usually formal or business attire. This event can last 2-3 hours.
Cocktail Reception - The most formal event. Attire is very dressy for women and usually black tie for men. The reception can be held for a distinguished guest of honor or event, such as an opening of a new performing arts center or film premier. There is so much food that the reception can count as dinner and Champagne is always served.
Tips to maneuver your way as a guest at a cocktail party:
Do some research on the guests attending the cocktail party. 'Small talk' will be much easier for you.
Determine what your goals are. Whether you are social or business networking, keep in mind your goal(s) in attending this party.
Do extend your hand and introduce yourself to unfamiliar guests. Maintain eye contact during introductions and conversations.
Circulate (make the rounds) a little before you head to the bar or buffet table. Food and drink should not be the main goals.
Don't get drunk.
Do keep conversations away from sex, politics and religion.
Keep drinks and food in your left hand. You right hand will be free for meeting, greeting and departure handshakes.
If attending a cocktail party in a private home, treat household staff with dignity and respect. There are to be no personal or special requests from you to the staff.
Finessing cocktail food:
Anything passed on a tray is to be picked up with a napkin and popped in your mouth or put on your cocktail plate.
Caviar - If caviar is passed to you in a bowl with a serving spoon, serve a teaspoon onto your plate. When the accompaniments are served, use the serving spoon given, a few lemon slices and a couple of toast points. Assemble a canape to your taste with a knife, then use your fingers to put in your mouth.
Crudite or raw vegetables - Picked up with your fingers, it's dipped into the accompanying sauce only once. Dipping into the sauce again once you have already take a bite (double dipping) is forbidden.
Olives - Held in your fingers and eaten in several bites. Pits are discarded in your napkin or the side of your plate.
Pate de Foie Gras - Also know as liver pate, slice off a square and lift it with your knife onto the accompanying toast triangle. Then pick up the toast and eat it with your hands. It is sometimes served already cut into triangles.
Sandwiches - Small sandwiches are picked up and eaten with your fingers.
Alcohol
Beer - Drink from a glass, not from the bottle or can.
Wines - Reds are held by the bowl of the glass and whites by the stem.
Toasting
You can participate in a toast without having wine. Children, teens, young adults and others who don't drink can raise a glass of milk or water.
It's traditional that the person proposing the toast stand. The person to whom the toast is proposed remains seated. He may hold the glass but does not raise it. Then the person who was toasted rises and responds with a toast to which they may drink.
Thank-you notes
Within couple of days, after attending a cocktail reception or any other function, a thank-you note should be sent to the host.
Did you know...
American are never to bow or curtsy to royalty either in the States or abroad.
During official public appearances, Queen Elizabeth II uses her pocketbook she always carries, to communicate to her staff. One gesture with the pocketbook can mean that she is willing to stay a little longer meeting and greeting the public. Another gesture can mean she's feeling tired and weak and yet another gesture can mean she senses danger. Her royal staff is quick to respond to every gesture.
When drinking tea, milk is poured after the tea. If you put the milk in before the tea,
you can't judge the strength of the tea by it's color.
Food temperature and preparation is cuturally specific. For example Americans traditionally drink their coffee hot. In Europe, you will find coffee served warm to lukewarm.
During the sixth century B.C., Roman nobility created what we today call a "doggie bag". Guests attending a banquet were expected to wrap food from the table in clean napkins to take home. It was rude to depart empty-handed.
Breakfast means the first food eaten after waking up from a long night without eating. You are breaking your fast.
The phrase "ladies who lunch" has it's origins from the late nineteeth century. Luncheon (formal version of lunch) was a social occasion for the elite women. At this time of the day, their men would be tending to their business affairs.
At dinners during seventeeth-century Versailles, only the most important guests had their food tested for poison. It was flattering to be considered so great as to be a likely candidate for assissination and flattering to see such care being taken to prevent any harm to the person. Meanwhile, other people looked on, waited and were not given the same regard.
Emperor Hirohito of Japan updated the tasting ceremony by employing scientists to go over the food beforehand, chemically analyzing every morsel before it was served and then formally tasted
In 1989, the new emperor of Japan announced that for the first time in their history, there would be no requirement of food tastings before every royal meal.
President Gerald Ford appointed former child actress Shirley Temple as the first woman Chief of Protocol.
The earliest dinner "napkins" were the size of our present day bath towels. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans ate their multi-course meals with their fingers, therefore they needed napkins that were very large.
A male version of the traditional debutante cotillion is called a beautillion.
Protocol Training Services
Mailing Address:
Post Office Box 772
New York, NY 10185
Tel: 212.802.9098
e-mail: etiquette@zyworld.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2009 Protocol Training Services. All rights reserved.
Mailing Address:
Post Office Box 772
New York, NY 10185
Tel: 212.802.9098
e-mail: etiquette@zyworld.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2009 Protocol Training Services. All rights reserved.