Cocktail party

A cocktail party is a party at which cocktails are served. It is sometimes called a cocktail reception. A cocktail party organized for purposes of social or business networking is called a mixer.

A cocktail hour is sometimes used by managers of hotels and restaurants as a means of attracting patrons between 4 pm and 6 pm.

Some events, such as wedding receptions, are preceded by a cocktail hour. During the cocktail hour, guests socialize while drinking and eating appetizers. Organizers of these events use the cocktail hour to occupy guests between related events and to reduce the number of guests who arrive late.

Although it has been said that the inventor of the cocktail party was Alec Waugh of London, an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in May 1917 credited its invention to a certain Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Walsh invited 50 guests to her house on a Sunday at high noon for a one-hour affair. "The party scored an instant hit," the newspaper declared, and stated that within weeks cocktail parties had become "a St. Louis institution". It is however unlikely this individual could be the progenitor of the cocktail party.

Alec Waugh noted that the first cocktail party in England was hosted in 1924 by war artist Christopher Nevinson.

Women who attend a cocktail party may wear a cocktail dress. A cocktail hat is sometimes worn as a fashion statement.

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