10 Bar Cart Essentials You Need Before Your Next Gathering

If you're getting ready to throw your next party, take a look at these bar cart essentials that will make your life so much easier once the party starts!

There’s something so grown up and classy about having a constant stock load of your favorite drink materials. It makes me think about Mad Men or in Gilmore Girls how the grandparents would always already have their cart stocked with the makings of a martini or a sidecar or whatever Lorelei wanted to drink while making snide comments. It’s like a physical manifestation of saying I’ve got my shit together. What’ll it be? Pick your poison. These are not the kind of cool sentences you can say when all you’ve got at home is maybe one last beer rolling around in the bottom of your fridge. But by just buying these few bar cart essentials, you could at least offer your next guests a small selection of drinks, while impressively shaking a fancy cocktail before them.

1. The Basics

If you want to be equipped to make virtually any cocktail, you’re going to need three things: a shaker, a strainer, and a bar spoon. Now you can tell yourself, oh I don’t really need those things. I can put two cups together or I can just use my kitchen strainer, and maybe that’s kind of true, but your drinks will always come out kind of off. Life is easier if you actually gather all the necessary drink making tools, and you’ll look way better than if you’re just making a mess with what you have on hand. A shaker blends your drinks nicely and makes them super cold so they come out as intended. A strainer can make sure your guests aren’t getting any seeds or pulp in their nice drinks. A bar spoon stirs everything up if the drink isn’t meant to be shaken. (The phrase is “shaken, not stirred” for a reason.) Do keep in mind that often a strainer comes in the shaker if you buy a certain kind, but you might still need an extra one on hand for incidents where the drink needs to be strained, but not shaken. So, these are very important bar cart essentials.

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2. Second Tier Essentials

Your muddler and your jigger are the next level of essentials to buy when stocking up a bar cart able to prepare any cocktail at a moment’s notice. A lot of the fancier drinks involve crushing up fruit or herbs in the alcohol to release those refreshing flavors. Your muddler enables you to do this without having to just pull out the other side of a knife or something. The jigger is just a two-sided shot glass, typically with a whole shot on one side and a half shot on the other, so you can quickly measure out quantities of alcohol. Probably you can make a lot of drinks without having these items on hand, but they’re still necessary for fulling tricking out your bar cart and being prepared to easily make anything. These are bar cart essentials because not only do they make your life easier, they will impress your guests as well!

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3. Your Fave Classy Glasses

Once you’ve got the drink all made, you’re gonna need something to put it in. What you choose is all up to you. I can’t tell you to stock your bar cart up with every kind of glass. It takes a lifetime or just a lot of money to fill up your shelves with a nice set of wine glasses, tumblers, martini glasses, champagne flutes, etc. For now just pick one kind. Think about what drinks you like to make most often and buy a set fitting for that. Glasses are most definitely bar cart essentials. I love tumblers the most for a simple bourbon and coke, but maybe you are more of a stemless wine glass person or even a fancy martini glass kind of person. Whatever fits you, fill up a section of your bar cart with some cool glasses to have on hand.

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4. A Fancy Decanter

While it’s totally acceptable to have your various bottles of Smirnoff and Jim Beam on display atop your cart, you can really up your game by purchasing a decanter, those gorgeous glass or crystals bottles that can hold whatever wine or liquor you choose. That way even your alcohol becomes a piece of decoration. If you have a lot of different liquors available, just pick whichever you want to have in the decanter and set that in front of all the others to shine. Decanters are bar cart essentials because they add some style to your cart, and who doesn’t love looking stylish?

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5. A Decorative (and Functioning) Tray

After preparing all the drinks on your super cute bar cart, you’re going to need a cool way to deliver them to your guests. This is where having a tray really comes in handy. Just load up all the drinks and deliver them to wherever people are seated. Such a classy move. Of course, you could just hand them one by one. There’s really nothing wrong with that. But a tray can also bring some order to your bar cart display. It groups pieces together in a decorative way to avoid everything on a shelf looking cluttered.

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6. An Ice Bucket

If you’re making cocktails for a party, especially in the summer, you’re going to need ice. Even if a cocktail isn’t delivered with ice, it’s still part of the making process. You want the drinks to be nice and cold and refreshing when you hand them out. For a stirred drink or something “on the rocks,” you’ll just have ice in the glass, but when shaking up a drink, ice is put in the cocktail shaker so things can get super frosty. Buy and set up a cute ice bucket on your bar cart so you can always have some on hand in a super cool display. Ice is absolutely one of the bar cart essentials, especially for those who prefer their drinks chilled.

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7. A Wine Rack

Sure, for the most part a bar cart is all about making cocktails, but your love of wine is not to be forgotten. Sometimes you just want a glass of something, ya know? For nights like these, incorporate a wine rack into the whole fancy set up. It’s a cute fixture that can take up space to level out your bart cart decor, but it’s also useful for stylishly storing bottles of wine. Of course, if your bar cart is already full you can just set the wine bottles alongside the rest of your alcohol, but wine racks are a fun, cool option for your set up. This picture below also shows how you can have a cute bar cart, even if you aren’t so into liquor. Just tailor what you buy to your wine needs instead.

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8. Ingredient Essentials

While cocktails often call for different ingredients you’ll want to buy fresh for the occasion, there are some necessities you can keep on hand most of the time. For instance, so many cocktails call for simple syrup, and it’s not something you’re going to want to make every time. Instead you can make your simple syrup in advance and store it in an old empty alcohol bottle. Nozzles can be easily purchased, so when the time comes just pop one on to easily measure out the necessary amount. When stored properly in the fridge between uses, that syrup can last around a month, and that’s a lot of drinks! Another essential to keep on hand is bitters. There are different kinds, but angostura are most common. They’re used in a ton of drinks, but only a few drops each time. Keep a bottle on hand and you’ll rarely have to restock. These are bar cart essentials because they are key to making the perfect drink!

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9. Common Garnishes

Lemons and limes, people! Just think about how often and for how many different kinds of drinks you need lemons and limes. Even shots need them! Of course, these are hard because you don’t get to just buy some and forget about it. They do eventually go bad, but any frequently functioning bar cart is going to need to have some in stock. Buy a few at the beginning of each week and you’ll be set. You can even store them in a cute bowl on one of your bar cart shelves.

10. A Bottle Opener

Sometimes you just wanna take things easy after a long day. No figuring out cocktails. No vigorous shaking or muddling or stirring, and then having to clean up everything in the end. For times like these, the only bar cart essential you need is a bottle opener. Get yourself a nice and trustworthy wine key that can open any wine bottle or pop the cap off a beer when it’s that kind of night. No fuss and still all good. Also you’re just gonna need a bottle opener in general when your friends come over and want to drink wine and beer instead of cocktails. It’d be kind of embarrassing to not have one when the time comes.

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Whatever you like to drink, stock up your bar cart with essentials like these and the world is yours. You can make your regulars and start to finally branch out to other cool cocktails because you’ll have all the necessary equipment to give them a try, plus a super cute bar cart to make everything way more fun and festive. Bring your gathering to the next level with a set up like this.