The Do’s and Don’ts of Drink Tickets

Be it a corporate, social or nonprofit event, drink tickets can play a pivotal role. Drink tickets might have a handful of pros and cons, but at the end of the day they can provide an easy assist with creating a smooth and successful party.

What to think about—

• Will you be offering hosted drink tickets to your guests?
• If so, how many will drink tickets will each guest receive?
• How will they get their drink tickets?
• Do you plan on offering the option of a cash bar following the use of tickets?
• Keeping your caterer in the loop. We can help.

The perks –

One of the biggest perks is the financial commitment. Instead of offering an open bar all night by paying a set fee per person regardless of their consumption, you can help your costs by only offering a specific amount of drink tickets per person and being committed to a lesser amount. Additionally, drink tickets help limit alcohol consumption. Depending on the type of event you are hosting, this might be an important factor to you.

This helps:

• Guests, employees, friends, colleagues and family wake up the next day without the feeling of embarrassment, as do you.
• Avoid driving under the influence. Although, any event where alcohol is served, you as the host, should provide adequate alternative transportation services, like cabs, public transit, or car services (Uber, Lyft).
• If you provide guests with hosted drink tickets it will control your costs, instead of hosting a full bar where guests can line up and order crazy pricy and complicated drinks with no limit.

What to avoid –

• Tasting the rainbow. We understand the appeal of wanting to offer a drink ticket for liquor and one for beer/wine to have a little more control over your guests’ consumption. Allow your caterer to help track consumption by using only one ticket color and relying on the experienced bar staff to mark tickets appropriately. This is also important if you are also hosting a raffle. Keep the color separate!
• Offering certain guests more drink tickets than others. The last thing you want to do is upset somebody at a celebratory event because you provided favoritism. That being said, you may have a very good reason for giving your CEO or owner an extra ticket since they are paying for the whole event.

How to distribute –

The best way to distribute drink tickets is at the start of the event itself. It is helpful to have a registration table of some form where guests can check-in to get their tickets, name tag, or other important information being distributed.  Avoid giving your drink tickets out in advance of your event. There is an increased chance that someone will loose them.