How to Host a Virtual Happy Hour With a Real Bartender: 2 Options

August 6, 2020

The virtual happy hour routine usually goes like this: gather your guests, send out a video chat link, stock up on your favorite drinks, and enjoy the open bar (a.k.a. your kitchen) with your group. It’s a fun, easy way to pass the time and stay connected. 

But we get it— as fun and easy as it is to enjoy a virtual happy hour, it can start to feel a little stale. The missing piece? A real bartender! 

Hosting a virtual happy hour with a real bartender is a great way to up your happy hour game and make it feel more exciting and special. It’s not often you get a bartender all to yourself, and you certainly don’t get mixology lessons from them. Hiring a bartender to join in on your virtual happy hour almost makes it feel like you’re back in your favorite bar sipping on a cocktail. 

Of course, the next question is: how do you hire a bartender to join in on your virtual happy hour? Well, there’s an easy way and a hard way. 

The Hard Way

The hard involves a lot of steps. First, you’ve got to find a bartender. You’ve got to find someone that works in your time zone or is willing to work in your time zone and has a flexible schedule. Maybe you’re trying to impress clients, so you want to work with someone who is an expert in a certain area and has a few accolades. And above all that, you’ve got to know where to look to book someone in the first place! After you find someone you’d like to work with, then you have to negotiate rates, a process many of us aren’t familiar with. 

Once that’s decided, you’ve got to decide on a drink. This can get a little complicated as you’re trying to think of a crowd-pleasing option. Then you’ve got to send out the ingredients to your guests if you want to make sure everyone can participate, and that can get expensive. Asking everyone to buy their own is fine, but it can also mean that the experience won’t be the same for everyone. Or as luxurious.

When all of that has finally been sorted, you’ve got the final step of figuring out the video platform. What’s best for your group? What allows you to host a large group call for longer than 45 minutes? It’s another step on top of a list of steps, and you haven’t even had a drink yet. 

The Easy Way

And here’s the easy way: contact one of Avital’s culinary curators to do the work for you. We’ve turned multiple steps into one! 

With our network of highly-skilled, accomplished bartenders, we can find someone for your group easily. We’ll work with your schedule, pick out a delicious cocktail to make, and send out neatly packaged ingredient boxes that arrive before the event. One of our culinary hosts manages the video platform and helps facilitate the event, while the bartender takes over and teaches everyone how to mix a great drink. You get to sit back and enjoy your virtual happy hour, without the stress of playing host but with plenty of the credit for a fun event. 

So, it’s the easy way or the hard way— which are you going to choose?

Book You Virtual Happy Hour with A Real Bartender