Planning your very first catered holiday party is likely to require tons of food planning as well as alcoholic beverage planning. If you're just serving beer or wine, many of your choices are easy. However, since it's the holiday season, you'll likely want special cocktails as well as harder liquor. Your caterer from your favorite restaurant can help you decide what to serve. But as you're creating your list, this guide explains what you can expect your caterer to bring to your home to properly serve alcoholic beverages at your holiday party.

The Basic Liquors

Expect the caterer to bring in various types of liquor. You and the caterer will determine whether you want the basic brands or those that are more top shelf. Of course, this will depend on your budget, but here are some of the types of liquors that you need:

• vodka
• gin
• rum
• tequila
• whiskey

In addition to the alcohol, several mixers are needed to create drinks that your guests want as well. Some of these include:

• orange juice
• tomato juice
• soft drinks
• pineapple juice

Keep in mind that the amount of drinks you want to serve at your holiday party determines whether you want any special liquor such as Irish crème or peppermint schnapps.

Garnishes for Drinks

In your catering contract for the bar drinks, expect to see charges for garnishes, depending on what you and the caterer decide to serve. For basic cocktail garnishing, you'll need cherries, pineapple slices, celery and many others.

Most of these garnishes are cut and created at the restaurant, so the bartender can easily plop them on top of the drinks when they're made. Keep in mind that you can likely save some money on your catering bill if you create the garnishes yourself and have them handy for the bartender to use.

Specific Glassware

If you're like many people, you don't have all the necessary glassware to serve mixed drinks in for a party. Sure, you may have a few, but your caterer is likely to bring in most of what's needed.

Depending on the amount of people you're planning to have at your party, ask the caterer if plastic is an option. You may pay more upfront because these are not reusable by the caterer, but you could save money in the event that some of the glasses break during your festivities. Stemware, tumblers and rocks glasses can all be obtained in the plastic versions.

For more information about event catering, contact Barbagallo's or a similar company.