Throwing a successful cocktail party isn’t difficult if you follow a few simple tenets: Do most of the work in advance, serve heavy snacks and don’t let people walk around with empty glasses. If you keep these three things in mind, everything else will pretty much fall into place.

At any proper party where libations are served, food is a given. You don’t want your guests to get sloppy or feel hungover the next day because they drank on empty stomachs. And though you’d be correct that adults should be able to feed themselves and not show up to your party with only a few scraps left over from lunch to tide them over, it’s also your responsibility as party host to provide nourishment. As someone who almost always eats with great fervor, I have no problem hitting the snack table, but some folks are shy. This means your spread must be more enticing than a lonely bowl of chips or watery out-of-season crudités.

Just as plates should be filled, so should glasses. I like to have a variety of drinks for people to enjoy and often include a punch, Martini service, a small liquor bar with mixers and wine. Which brings me back to the very first point — if you batch a lot of these things in advance, you’re going to have a much easier go of it in the hours leading up to guest arrival. And in addition to brewing black tea for Fish House Punch or infusing vodka with dill the day before I party, I’ve also started batching cocktail shots in advance.

I live in a duplex, so I often set up a “speakeasy” in one of the rooms downstairs. Basically, I pull out some special bottles that aren’t too fancy for shots and, well, invite people to come take a shot. With so many other libations around, this can get a little intense, which is where the cocktail shots come in. Because they’re made with ingredients other than liquor, they’re a little lower ABV and also easier to take than straight whiskey or tequila.

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Cocktail shots are nothing new. If you’ve ever taken a lemon drop or green tea shot, you’ve had one. But I’ve been seeing them more and more while dining out in NYC, and bartenders are getting creative with the tiny drinks. At Chiangmai Diner, I always start a meal with a round of Mao-Hugs, made with Eleven Tigers Herbal, Amaro Montenegro, Martini Fiero and tamarind. Trick Dog in San Francisco has a great list of them on their always-creative menus. And at French-Indonesian Wayan, cocktail shots are meant to complement a food menu of very shareable plates.

“We have a shot program called Satu-Lagi, which means ‘another,’” says Wayan beverage manager Andrea Scott. “Our shots are sold in pairs, designed to create a lively, communal experience. Shots are a fun way to celebrate an occasion or bookend a great meal, but traditional liquor-based shots don’t always fit the mood of a relaxed dinner. By introducing cocktail shots, we bring the same fun and celebratory energy — without the high alcohol content of classic shots.”

To do this at home, you could totally make a big batch of your favorite cocktail and simply serve it in shot glasses. Or you could take a note from the pros and try one of the below recipes. Either way, once you start serving cocktail shots at your soirees, you too will be charmed by their batchability and crowd-pleasing tendencies.

Wayan's Mini Kopi

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1 oz. cinnamon-infused reposado tequila
.75 oz. espresso
.5 oz. coconut milk
Grated cinnamon, for garnish

Directions

1. Add all liquid ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into shot glasses and garnish with grated cinnamon.

The lineup of circus-themed shots at Trick Dog

Trick Dog

Trick Dog’s latest menu, Cirque Du Trick Dog, is inspired by the circus with cocktails like The Contortionist and The Snake Charmer. Their shot menu is as inventive as ever — think creations that taste like a Candy Apple or Buttered Popcorn, the latter of which you can make at home.

Buttered Popcorn

Servings: 1

Ingredients

250 grams butter
1 750ml-bottle Mellow Corn Kentucky Straight Whiskey
.75 oz. butter-infused Mellow Corn
.5 oz. Nixta Licor de Elote
.25 oz. simple syrup
.25 oz. filtered water

Directions

To fat wash the whiskey:
1. Melt the butter and pour into the Mellow Corn. Stir, and let sit at room temperature for two hours. Freeze overnight and strain through coffee filters. Label and store.
To make the shot:
1. Add all liquid ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a shot glass and serve.

Mexican candy has a sweet, sour and sometimes spicy flavor profile that is irresistible. At Nickel City in Austin, Texas, they reinvented the childhood treat into a delicious libation. “While it does take some extra effort compared to store-bought Melon Pucker, our house-made watermelon shrub really elevates the drink (and it can be used in so many other drinks),” says general manager Amanda Jones.

Mexican Candy Shooter

Servings: 1

Ingredients

1 oz. blanco tequila
.25 oz. Aperol
.75 oz. watermelon shrub*

Directions

*To make the watermelon shrub:
1. Steep equal parts watermelon juice by volume and sugar by volume for 24 hours. Strain. Add apple cider vinegar to the syrup at 1/10 the total volume and a little salt to taste (.03 grams of salt per each 2-ounce cocktail shot).
To make the shot:
1. Add the tequila, Aperol and watermelon shrub to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a shot glass and serve.