Cocktail party

A cocktail party organized for purposes of social or business networking is called a mixer.

Although it has been said that the inventor of the cocktail party was Alec Waugh of London,[1] an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in May 1917 credited its invention to Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri.

Mrs. Walsh invited 50 guests to her house on a Sunday at high noon for a one-hour affair.

[2] Alec Waugh noted that the first cocktail party in England was hosted in 1924 by war artist Christopher Nevinson.

[3] German author Walter Leonhardt advised readers to observe "three fundamental rules" of cocktail parties, in a 1962 book on culture and customs of England:

A cocktail party at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo , Japan, March 13, 1961.
A typical cocktail, served in a cocktail glass .