Social Events: Cocktail Parties

A cocktail party is a party for which you usually dress formally and at which there is no dancing. Alcoholic drinks are served, and there is usually something light to eat suh as quiche (a rich unsweetened custard pie, often containing ingredients such as vegetables, cheese, or seafood) and canapés (an appetizer consisting of a thin slice or piece of bread toasted or fried in butter or oil, on which anchovies, mushrooms, caviar, cheese, or other savory foods, are served). Cocktail parties are thought of as an upper class activity for fashionable people, or they may be held at a formal public occasion, for example before a press conference or at the launch of a new book.