This Year, Make It a No-Holds-Barred Party

Planning to entertain at home this holiday season? Don’t keep parched guests waiting for a refill while you try to juggle every other aspect of the party.

Hosts too often worry more about the salty nosh or where the coats will go than providing a station for quenching.

But there’s more than one way to easily keep everyone in spirits.

The snap solution is a bartender-for-hire. Ask your favorite mixologist if he or she freelances for a flat or hourly rate (usually starting at $30 per hour).

Another option is to enlist a professional outfit that specializes in this, such as About Town Bartending. The Huntington Beach bar-catering service shows up at Southland corporate and private events, even those afloat, with everything necessary, down to the cherries and trash bags. Bar setups can toast a theme, from a surfboard-topped bar to service by tuxedoed bartenders.

“We bring the party to them,” says Travis Crivaro, who co-owns the full-service company with fellow bartending veteran Guy Scharff ([714] 969-4769; https://www.bartend2000.com; starting at $9 per person for a four-hour minimum).

“The host [has] more time to be with guests instead of worrying about the ice,” Crivaro says. “That’s what a party is about.”

If hiring a pro isn’t in the budget--or you can’t find a warm body (most bar services, including About Town Bartending, are nearly booked for the next two weeks, with several events stacked up on Dec. 31), then go for Plan B.

That’s B as in bar. As in setting up a self-service spot where everyone can meet their needs, and maybe even live out some Tom Cruise-in-”Cocktail” fantasy.

This is, after all, the era of DIY: do it yourself. All it takes is a little planning.

The mass embrace of lounge culture--you know, from martinis to musician Martin Denny--has resulted in an enthusiastic reissuing of cocktail shakers, novelty napkins (even some imprinted with tasteless jokes), funky stemware and swingin’ recipe books loaded with glossy pictures. Stores from Target to Crate & Barrel and Neiman Marcus offer everything but the liquid assets.

After deciding what the alcoholic and nonalcoholic menu will be, consider the glasses. Don’t skimp this season by using plastic cups. Even Martinelli’s sparkling apple juice looks more effervescent in a cocktail glass--a.k.a. a martini glass.

Luckily, you can’t take two steps in a mall, discount store or vintage shop without seeing one cocktail style or another (starting at a few dollars each).

The key: Don’t obsess over matching everything. A mix of styles, sizes, vintage and new can make for a beautifully eclectic setting. The best part is that if one gets chipped, it won’t compromise a set--or a friendship.

Building a Bar

Nothing great--even a beverage--can be built without the right tools. Many of the items needed might be in your kitchen drawer. Fill in the blanks or get a kit, such as the Metropolitan Bar Tool Set from Crate & Barrel ($39.95; MainPlace/Santa Ana, (714) 547-1300; South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, [714] 957-1800). The gift-ready package includes a stainless steel cocktail strainer, corkscrew, mixing spoon, double jigger, bar knife, ice tongs and bottle/can opener.

The chain also has a cool selection of ice buckets in leather, glass, wood, stainless steel or acrylic, starting at $8.95.

An ice bucket can serve as the centerpiece of a bar. A particularly festive one is part of the Confetti Collection by Emilia Castillo ($1,200), available at Neiman Marcus in Newport Beach ([949] 759-1900). The sterling-silver bucket is covered in colorful square-cut lapis, opalite, jasper and turquoise.

Round out the tools with a shaker (great for Shirley Temples and virgin daiquiris). The kitsch-filled Limbo Lounge stores have a selection of shakers, including single-serving ones ($12) that are perfect for holding cocktail umbrellas or stirrers. The store in Irvine ([949] 450-0624) also sells a number of hip and hilarious recipe books. “Kitschy Cocktail” by Babs Harrison (Smithmark Publishing, 1999, $10) comes with palm tree stirrers and other surprises.

Just Add Frank and Dino

All this great stuff and no place to display it? Free-standing bars are sometimes found at vintage furniture stores such as Out of Vogue in Fullerton ([714] 879-6647) and Front End in Laguna Beach ([949] 642-4720).

It’s easier to land one at Krypton in Placentia ([714] 577-0219; https://www.krypton1.com), where designers Joe Tatar and Kevin Sledge translate wild ideas into reality: bars with bamboo facades, giant martini glasses with floating bubbles cut from sparkling, shiny vinyl and tuck ‘n’ roll diamond patterns that cry out for Frank and Dean.

“The sky’s the limit,” Tatar says, laughing, about his custom bars, which come with two matching stools and start at $550. Custom orders take five to seven working days, so it’s not too late for the millennium parties. A few bars are available for immediate take-out.

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Self-Serve Essentials

Tools

* bar spoon

* blender

* shaker

* bottle opener/corkscrew

* champagne stopper (to keep it bubbly)

* ice bucket and tongs

* jigger (for measuring)

* paring knife

* strainer

* pitcher

Tip: Opt for crushed ice over cubes

Condiments

* coarse salt

* grenadine

* ground black pepper

* horseradish

* Rose’s lime juice

* superfine sugar

* Angostura bitters

* Tabasco

* Worcestershire sauce

Garnishes

* cocktail olives

* cocktail onions

* lemons

* limes

* fresh mint leaves

* maraschino cherries, preferably stemmed

Source: “The Bartender’s Bible” by Gary Regan

Be Responsible

Before you stock up your home bar, remember this: Anyone providing alcohol should act responsibly and encourage guests to do so.

Basics include:

* Enforce a drinkers-don’t-drive policy. See that designated drivers--adults who have not consumed any alcoholic beverages--take home those who have. The Automobile Club of Southern California and other groups offer free programs in which people are driven home. Or open up the guest bedroom.

* Have plenty of water and nonalcoholic beverages available. Food can sometimes slow the absorption of alcohol. Coffee will not sober up someone.

* Make decisions before drinking. It’s not appropriate to ask a guest if he or she is capable of driving since impaired people do not have good judgment, says Reidel Post, director of the Orange County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

* MADD offers a responsible host brochure. For more information, contact MADD at (714) 838-6199; https://www.madd.org).