Keg parties. They are the ultimate stereotype to college and most college kids live up to the stereotype. Keg parties make sense because no one has to bring their own alcohol, beer drunk is way more fun and once the keg is empty, you can tell people to get the hell out. But with everything that comes with fun, drunk keg parties, there is always the downfalls.

Hopefully, these few tips can help you out in some sort of way. I am not the expert at keg parties and I don’t think anyone will ever be, but maybe having some tricks can help us all beer lovers out.

I would like to point out that I am not at all okay with underage drinking and if you are underage, this article is really not for you. For the people that are of age and plan on having a keg party sometime soon, please make sure all your guests are of age. Have friends there to take care of each other, in case something goes wrong.

1. Have a plan of what type of beer you are getting in your keg.  This is key. You need to have this planned out first because you have to decide what you will be charging people for a cup. You don’t want to overcharge people because no matter how drunk they get, they will catch on that they are being charged way too much. You don’t want drunk Matt walking over, asking why he got charged $10 for piss water Keystone Light. A keg usually holds around five 30 packs of beer. This is very helpful to know because you can decide how many people you want at your keg party, how much per cup and what kind of beer you want. You really don’t want to undercharge people either because that’s obviously leaving you with no money in your pocket. Don’t be nice to your best friend, if everyone wants to drink they must pay up. If you are getting the lower quality of beer, they usually cost between $65-$85 and if you are getting higher quality, they cost between $100-$125. If you are going towards the lower quality I would charge $5-$7 per cup. Higher quality I would charge $10-$12 per cup. Also keep in mind that you do need to have a tap. Liquor stores usually charge $40 for renting a tap and once you return it, you get your money back but it’s more cost efficient asking around for a tap. Most of the time someone will have one.
2. Keg placement. Finding the perfect spot for your keg can be tricky. You don’t want people hovering over it all night, and they will do keg stands, so you don’t want someone breaking your shelf or T.V. You want it in a corner where there isn’t anything around, and people will feel the need to grab their beer and walk away. If you have a basement, this is a great spot to put it. For some reason people usually like to stay upstairs during parties. I don’t know if it’s because they like to see who comes in and out or if the upstairs just give people a better vibe. But having it in the basement is nice because they will grab their beer and come right back upstairs to take their hit of weed and dance to some dirty rap song. Plus if they do a keg stand, it really isn’t going to mess up anything in your basement. Outside or your garage is also a good place to put it. Make sure your keg is in a bucket with ice and provide cups!
3. The clean up. Cleaning up after parties are the WORST. Cups in every corner of your house, sticky floors and probably some half eaten Domino’s pizza in your couches. There’s no way around cleaning up and it’s always going to suck. From my personal experience, having trash bags hung up all around your house really saves you time for the next day clean up. Even when people are drunk if they see a trash bag hung up, it’s easy for them to just throw it away. Have like five to six trash bags hung up throughout the house. Paper towels around the house also help out a ton. The next day all you have to do is pick them up and take them to the dumpster. As for the beer stains everywhere, I am sorry, there’s not really a way to save yourself from that. You are having a keg party, just come to terms that you will be cleaning up beer spills and stains.

I hope this helps you out in some sort of way for your next keg party. They will always be sort of chaotic, but even the little things you do can save you time, money and more time for fun. Have fun, be safe and cheers!