Tips On Serving Alcohol At Your Quinceanera

Wondering if you should serve alcohol at your quinceanera is not a simple question to answer as you ponder whether to serve free alcohol, use a cash bar, or serve none at all? This article should enable you to choose the best and safest method to accomplish this endeavor as well as highlighting how to serve alcohol responsibly.

First you should be aware that the host, that's you probably or your parents, may be monetarily liable by serving alcohol at any party, whether it's a quinceanera or not. This depends on where you live, but in the US, this is something you will need to consider. Interestingly enough there is a special Party Alcohol Liability Insurance available if that is something that concerns you or your padrino. Call an insurance broker to inquire about this, especially if the quinceanera will take place in a rented hall and such. In the US the laws are such in many states that you are held responsible for the costs of any auto accidents as well as the intoxicated driver.

So if you've decided to go ahead and serve alcohol, your next decision involves how you will provide it. Depending on the tone of your celebration, various means of serving alcohol are possible. If, for example, you are holding a very formal affair, a full open bar is one choice, though it is the most expensive, considering that the bar must be well stocked, and a fully qualified bartender must be hired to serve it.

Regardless of how you serve alcohol, as mentioned, the host liability means that special care must be provided to prevent those who imbibe too much from driving away. It is common practice to take away the car keys from a heavily intoxicated partygoer and place them in a cab at your expense.

The next choice you can make is to have a cash bar. This means that your guests will be paying for their own drinks, however this does not necessarily mean that guests must pay for all of their own drinks, as there are different ways of running a cash bar that can influence the financial result.

For instance, the host can provide two tickets to each person for free drinks, but additional drinks must be paid for in cash. This limits the amount of drinking that will take place, and therefore limits the liability that the host will have.

Or using the ticket example once more, the host can limit the types of liquor that will be paid for via the tickets. Common illustrations of this are tickets that only cover beer or wine.

Another example is an open bar that begins to be paid for by the host, but reverts to the time-honored cash bar after a certain period of time has passed. It's common for this to be mentioned on your invitation.

A possible difficulty with an open bar is that because the drinks are free, there is often a waste factor. What this means is that your partygoers will leave half-finished drinks and not return to pick them back up after they are finished dancing or some other activity. The partygoer then goes back to the open bar and receives another drink that can result in significant waste.

One ingenious technique to take care of this problem is to give souvenir engraved glasses with the name of the young lady celebrating her quinceanera as well as the date. Partygoers receive only one such glass and they must keep bringing it up to the bar for additional drinks. Granted that means that someone must wash each glass every time a guest wishes a new drink, but the cost saved on abandoned or forgotten alcohol more than makes up for a glass washer.

Regardless of the manner in which you serve alcohol, you'll also find that it is common for some hotels and reception halls to charge you more for premium rated alcohol or even mid-range alcohol brands. If given a choice you may wish to limit alcohol to the lower cost house brands. Or perhaps you wish to pay for the house brands but if an attendee wishes a high priced drink then they are obligated to pay for their own.

Even if your decision is to have an alcohol free quinceanera and serve only soft drinks, the point is to have fun as a young woman, and be responsible so you may wish to be on the lookout for smuggled alcohol.