Cocktail Parties

Some of the most fun and most successful parties I have thrown have been cocktail parties. There are no hard and fast rules to the art of a cocktail party, but they are certainly more memorable if the right elements are involved. The first rule is to make everyone get dressed up. The reason for this is many-fold. Everyone likes the opportunity to put on a little black dress, especially people that I am friends with, who never get a chance to look nice. Also, when people are dressed up they tend to be in their best behavior, and are less likely to make a mess of your home!!
Keep the guest list sort of small, because I don't allow beer at a cocktail party and buying that much booze is expensive, especially if all of your friends are borderline alcoholics. To make things easier for you, you can designate a few people to bar tend, thus ensuring that at least a few trustworthy people have control over the liquor, or come up with 2 or 3 "signature" drinks that you want to serve and pre- make them in pitchers. Easy things to make in bulk include mojitos, cosmos, lemon drops, sangria etc...
Another reason to keep a cocktail party small is because I only have 10 martini glasses, and invariably one or 2 are going to break. Do yourself a favor and go to cost plus and buy a lot of cheap martini glasses and store them somewhere. If you don't drink out of them you can use them to put olives or nuts in, or serve sorbet or ceviche in them at a different party.
Get an ipod and a good stereo dock. This will ensure that, if you have a long playlist, that you will never run out of music. You can also make mix cd's or tapes (if you still make mix tapes I love you love you love you). If you are super cool put on records. I am not, like a lot of magazines, going to tell you what kind of music to put on. You should know your friends. For example, I know that my friends would riot if I put on that Brazilian cd that has been touted lately when we would rather listen to sleater-kinney.
You need to have food at a cocktail party because people will be drinking, its a fact of life, and wouldn't you rather have your guests eat sophisticated canapes then order a pizza or go through your cupboards? Make fun, cute food. Listen to music while you do it, it will get you in a party mood. I will add my favorite hors d'ourve recipes soon. most are easy. Even easier are frozen quiches etc... from Trader Joes.
Make sure you have an end time so people do not hang around all night. I get tired of people after a few hours of them, so my parties are generally like 7pm- 10pm. If you keep it short you also can make sure that people are sober enough so they actually CAN leave and not have to crash on your couch. Designated drivers are also good. Make sure you have a fun virgin drink option.