When I show up at someone's apartment for a cocktail party on Saturday night, this is usually how it goes:

1. Enter the apartment, greet the host, hand over your bottle of wine/six-pack of beer/box of cookies/homemade guacamole

2. Locate the bedroom and throw your coat on the bed

3. Head to the kitchen and browse through all the open bottles of liquor and mixers, digging up a plastic cup, scrounging up some ice if you're lucky, and sloshing whatever you can find into some approximation of a cocktail (or simply pouring the first open bottle of wine you can find into your cup, sans ice)

4. Find the food or start mingling or a combination of both

I went to a lovely party this past Saturday night, and this is what happened:

1. I entered the apartment, greeted the host, and was directed to the coat rack specially placed on the landing above the stairway so that I could actually hang up my coat on a real hanger.

2. I entered the apartment again, greeted the guest of honor, and found myself next to the kitchen, where I was *asked by a stranger if I wanted red wine, white wine, a beer or a margarita.* Naturally, I chose the margarita. I was then asked if I wanted salt, and the margarita was presented to me in a real glass, with a salted rim, ice and a lime garnish.

Nice. Very nice.

The secret, of course, was that the host had decided to hire a bartender and a server for the night from a company called WaitersontheRun.com (love it!). Now, I've always heard about hiring a bartender for a party in your own home, but I had never actually considered doing it. Why pay all that money when my guests were perfectly capable of mixing up their own libations? I may, however, be a convert. The service was amazing -- I'd put down my empty glass and it would be whisked away, and the server would ask if I wanted another drink. Seconds later, he'd come back bearing my fresh margarita on a little silver tray. Dirty napkins and plates disappeared; I never went thirsty; and when everyone had had maybe a little too much, they came around handing out glasses of water. Super classy.

Now I'm not saying that you should run out and splurge on a personal butler for your next party  (because let's face it, it still is a bit of a splurge). But for a special occasion -- this was a 50th birthday -- it's a nice way to make your guests feel special, and takes a lot of the serving/cleaning/stressing burden off you. Plus, I heard they even cleaned up when the party was over! Now *that's* something we could all use.