Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston
Private Party Bar Service
Birthdays, anniversaries, showers, graduations and parties at home — with someone else behind the bar and cleaning up.
4.43★on Google, from 14 reviews14 of 14reviews answered$15–$35per guest, publishedDFW + Houstonboth metros served
Is there a minimum size for a private party?
Staffing sets the practical floor rather than a stated minimum: one bartender is the smallest booking, and the supplies package is a flat $275, so very small parties pay a higher effective per-head cost than a wedding does. For a party of 30, BYOB with one bartender is usually the sensible shape.
What works well at a party at home?
A batched signature cocktail, because it serves 75 without a queue in a kitchen, and the mimosa bar or smoked old fashioned station for a daytime event. Both are $600 and both include a bartender, which makes them close to self-contained.
What it costs
Private parties can run on a per-guest bar package from $15 to $35, or BYOB with bartenders at $50 an hour plus the $275 supplies package.
Bar packages
- Non-Alcoholic Bar — $15/guest
- Beer & Wine Bar — $20/guest
- Specialty Bar — $23/guest
- Premium Call Bar — $27/guest
- Platinum Call Bar — $35/guest
Private Party Bar Service: common questions
What does Shaker require for a BYOB event?
Bartenders and the supplies package are required for every BYOB event. Bartenders are $50 an hour, one per 75 guests; the supplies package is $275. Everything else — mixers, ice, glassware, garnishes — is optional but usually worth taking.
The requirement is practical rather than commercial. A bar with no pour spouts, ice bucket, water dispenser or tip jar and nobody staffing it produces a queue, a mess and a liability, and it is the version of BYOB that couples regret.
How much alcohol should we buy for our wedding?
Shaker publishes a BYOB shopping list sized by guest count, so the quantities come from the company that will actually be pouring. It is the most useful document in a BYOB build and the reason most BYOB mistakes are avoidable.
The most common BYOB error is not overspending on alcohol. It is buying three kinds of vodka and no mixers, no ice and no garnishes — then discovering on the day that a bar needs cranberry juice, limes and 200 lb of ice as much as it needs tequila.
What is in the supplies package?
Coolers, plastic cups, an ice serving bucket, tongs, cocktail napkins, straws, pitchers, a serving tray, a tip jar, a water dispenser, garnish bowls and plates, bar towels and pour spouts. $275, and required for BYOB events.
What is the liquor mixers package, and do we need it?
$7 per guest for Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, sweet and sour, cranberry, orange, pineapple and grapefruit juice, plus ice, cooler rental and disposables. Most BYOB couples take it, because sourcing and chilling that list yourself is a day of work.
On a 150-guest wedding it is $1,050. Buying the equivalent at retail is cheaper on paper; the cost you are actually paying to avoid is transport, chilling and having the right nine mixers on hand rather than eight.
Other services
Wedding Bartending
The full bar for your wedding day: package, staff, supplies, signature cocktails and clean-up.
BYOB Bartending
You bring the booze, Shaker brings everything else — including the list of what to buy.
Bartenders & Bar Staffing
Bartenders, barbacks, servers and bussers, hired by the hour.
Specialty & Signature Cocktails
Signature drinks, batched or made to order, with a tasting first.
Last updated .
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