An army of coolers for a July 4th party
If you’re having an outdoor party this summer, and you’re serving drinks, there has got to be ice.
Ice is a necessity for so many reasons. First and foremost, no one wants to drink anything room temperature except red wine and maybe a shot of tequila. Everything else should be nice and chilled. In fact, a cocktail isn’t, by definition, a cocktail unless it’s cold, as specified since the late 19th century. The Century Dictionary in 1889 defined it as “an American drink, strong, stimulating and cold,” and Webster’s today: “a usually iced drink of wine or distilled liquor mixed with flavoring ingredients” (I’ll save for another blog how cocktails were originally taken at room temperature, more as medicine than as a thing of pleasure. I mean, you wouldn’t ice down your Alka-Seltzer or Robitussin, would you?)
There are also pragmatic reasons to have ice on hand. It’s there for safety, preventing citrus juices from spoiling in the sun and leafy garnishes from wilting. In addition, on a hot day, it can help guests stay cool so that they too don’t wilt.
Specific applications for those bags of ice you’ll need include shaking and stirring cocktails (not only for chilling but also for diluting them); filling glasses of drinks; cooling down bottles and cans of beer and wine; and keeping cocktail ingredients and garnishes fresh.
With all these uses, this means that at your party there’s going to be ice in coolers and buckets and lots and lots of it.
Procuring ice is essential but it’s also tricky. Unlike most everything else that’s needed for a party, ice can’t be picked up ahead of time, unless you’ve got a deep and empty freezer somewhere and/or an army of coolers at the ready. So what to do?
Here are some tips. First, figure out how many pounds of ice you’ll need. Paul and I calculate a pound of ice per drink. That’s about what’s needed for shaking or stirring a drink and then serving it on ice. The math we use for estimating the number of drinks for an event is: a third of the guests will drink cocktails, a third beer, and a third wine. Multiply that number by the number of drinks a guest will likely consume during the party. To figure out that number, assume that during the 1st hour of the party, folks we enjoy typically consume 2 drinks; the 2nd hour; 1.5 drinks; the 3rd hour 1 drink; and in the 4th and final hour half a drink (hopefully they’ll properly dispose of the other half!). Putting that math into action, for a 4-hour party with 50 guests, 15 guests will opt for cocktails and consume a total of 75 cocktails (15 people x 5 drinks in 4 hours). That translates into 75 pounds of ice. And that’s just for the cocktail drinkers! Do similar calculations for the wine and beer drinkers, though most of that ice will be used to chill down the wine and beer, as well as soft drinks by those opting not to drink. In all, we’re looking at 225 pounds of ice.
The next thing to figure out is how you are going to get it. See if you can have the bags of ice delivered. Supermarkets delivery services are a great option, but note that you’ll need to secure a delivery date many days ahead, especially during the hopping summer party season. In addition, you’ll need to determine where to store it. If you don’t have enough coolers, ask friends to loan them, or rent them from a caterer or party supply company. Adding dry ice to the coolers might be necessary if it’s going to be a particularly hot day. Another option is to pick up that day as much as ice as can fit in the coolers that you have on hand and then designate friends to go out and pick up ice during the party and to keep an eye on supply. You, as host, can’t be doing everything.
Handling the issue of ice presents logistical complications and isn’t tons of fun, but you need it. Give it some thought before the party, get it sorted, and then relax and enjoy a nice, icy cocktail with your guests. That’s why you’re having the party, after all!