How to Host a French Apéro Like a Local

If you’re looking to make friends in France, get friendly with your neighbours, and integrate more into French culture, an informal ‘apéro’ is the ideal opportunity. Essentially, it’s inviting friends over for drinks and nibbles.

Inviting your guests

An informal verbal invitation is all that is needed but do remember to state a time. Apéros normally take place between 5pm and 7pm in order to allow time for the preparation of the evening meal afterwards – most of our French friends would not dream of eating before 9pm, and an aperitif is intended to stimulate the appetite (and probably tide you over a little!)

Apéros usually last roughly an hour and seldom more than two hours for this reason. However, apéros amongst close friends can often turn into an ‘aperitif dinatoire’, which can last until the early hours and ends up more like an impromptu buffet with lots of sharing dishes. But that’s a whole other subject!

Giving a precise time, do not worry if your guests are a little late – here in the Charente we have “le quart d’heure Charentais” and in France, as a whole, there is “le quart d’heure de politesse” which is a 15-minute window in which it is acceptable to be late, and all adds to the ‘no rush’ slower pace of life here.

Table settings

Do not worry about this at all. From a naked table to a simple, everyday tablecloth, anything goes. It is informal with friends and entirely up to you. A few napkins might come in handy.

Depending on numbers, either everyone sits around the table to drink, nibble and chat or set up one table or area (kitchen worktop, for example) for food so that guests can mill about chatting if you have a large number of guests.

Drinks – what to serve?

Traditionally, an apéritif is usually (but not always) something dry to stimulate the appetite.

Here in the Charente, Pineau des Charentes is commonplace, and in the summer, there’s nothing more popular than an icy-cold Pineau blanc. In wintertime, it’s Pineau rouge. Or, equally common here is a VSOP (young) Cognac mixed with tonic or agrumes (think of the ‘totally tropical taste’ fizzy drink) over ice. This is the cocktail that completely switched my tastebuds onto Cognac!

Equally, a gin and tonic is fabulous, and the French make some fabulous gins.

A dry white wine is a good choice, and with no less than 26 varieties of grape grown in the Charente, as with many regions in France, we are spoilt for choice. A local sauvignon blanc is just perfect.

If, like my husband, you prefer a beer, it’s no problem. Remember, this is a relaxed affair.

Do remember to cater for any children who may be coming. A range of fruit-flavoured ‘sirops,’ water, local fruit juice and/or fizzy drinks should do the trick.

Likewise, a couple of non-alcoholic ‘adult’ drinks is thoughtful. For example, a ginger beer with pomegranate juice cocktail over ice in the summer or a bottle of fizzy raisin juice etc.

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