Alcohol at a kid’s birthday party?

Where I live in Brooklyn I would say a majority of parties that start after noon will have some alcohol.   Sometimes it is limited to 1 or 2 six packs to be shared between 20 adults (hunger games style), while other times it might as well be an open bar at a frat party.  Either way if you are going to have alcohol at a party, then you need to commit 100% and prepare accordingly. 

When I used to travel to China for work we use to drink our fair share of booze but they ALWAYS had some food on the table to go with the booze.  I am not talking about a couple peanuts and a bag of chips for food it was usually a full meal no matter the time.  Drinking on an empty stomach was never done.  Taking that advice is very important, if you have committed to serving alcohol you have also committed to serving a good amount of food for the adults to eat while drinking.  You can get the chips and guacamole but add some crackers, cheese, meats, etc... to the mix.  This will give people something more substantial to snack on while drinking, helping everyone stay under control.  Make sure you have enough to last the whole party because running out is never a good thing for the goal of keeping everyone under control.

After food your next choice is what alcohol to serve. The goal here is to make people happy but at the same time make sure they don’t get a little too happy.  I usually try to stay away from higher ABV beers and hard liquor which have a way of sneaking up on people.   Of all the kids parties I have been to the best mix usually follows the same basic formula: 

            A box of wine in whatever color people seem to be drinking that week. 

           Majority of beer being a light beer – Miller Lite
    A 6 pack or two of a more “interesting” and/or heavier – Stout, IPA, etc

        I usually try to get 2-3 beers per person because I would rather not run out.  Even if you over do it the box wine should last a month and the beers can last a lot longer so they will get drank eventually.

Last but not least is keep the location of the party in mind when deciding to serve alcohol or not.  If you are expecting a parent to be within arms length of their child at all times to keep them safe at a kiddie gym or similar location I would leave out the alcohol for the parents.

My personal feeling is that serving alcohol to the adults is perfectly fine.  As parents we sometimes have multiple parties every weekend with people we may not know very well.  Once people get that first glass of wine or beer down everyone becomes old friends and the party becomes almost as enjoyable for the adults as for the kids.