I'm hosting a small birthday thing Saturday, maybe 12 people in a one-bedroom. Fridge is laughably small and already stuffed with ingredients. I don’t have a car, backyard, or a roof. My current ideas are the bathtub filled with ice, the fire escape with a bag of cans, or the mop bucket. I saw someone at a house party once use a clean trash can? Is that actually safe for drinks? Also how do you keep the water from becoming a gross slurpee of labels? Don’t want to poison anyone with lingering bucket chemicals. What’s the move?

Bro just use the tub. Clean it first, line it with a fresh contractor bag if you’re worried, toss in a few bags of ice, drinks go in first so they don't float all over. Don't bother with the fire escape — a 12-person crew hanging out a window or out on a rusty platform is how you meet the super or an inspector. Trash can is fine if it’s new, but don’t use one that’s been holding garbage even if you washed it. Trust me.

I’m with Jay on the tub. It’s the only place in a rental that’s made to hold water. If you line it, use a clear bag so nobody thinks you’re soaking a body later. One tip: put cans/bottles in first, then dump the ice around them. If you dump ice first, everything just rides on top and warms up. Also keep the bathroom door cracked and the fan on if you can, because that room turns into a swamp.

Safest and least expensive move is the bathtub, but treat it as a cold-water bath rather than a traditional cooler. For a dozen people, two or three bags of ice are usually enough if the drinks start cold. Place heavier cans and glass bottles at the bottom, then fill with cold water to just above the contents, then add ice on top. Water transfers cold much better than air, which is why a mop bucket or trash can of floating ice under-chills the top and leaves the bottom bottles warm.

Avoid the fire escape. It’s not just a house-rule thing; many older buildings have posted prohibitions, and a loaded cooler or even a few bags of cans can exceed what those railings are meant to hold after years of weather. If a bottle falls, you’re liable and the party ends badly.

For a cleaner setup, buy a new 17-gallon rope-handle utility tub or use a clean kitchen sink basin wrapped in a clean garbage bag. But don’t store raw food in the same water as drinks if you’re also using it for chilling — keep a separate bowl of ice for anything that needs to stay food-safe. And freeze a few takeout containers full of water in advance; big blocks last longer than cubes and don’t melt into a soupy mess as fast.

Fair, astoria_arch coming through with the dinner party lecture. But the note about big blocks is right — I froze water in two deli quart containers once and it kept the tub cold through a whole Jets game. For 12 people though, just tell everyone to BYO a six and put their name in sharpie on the case, otherwise you'll end up with six flat seltzers and one dude drinking all the cold Modelo. Are you asking people to bring stuff or are you providing?

Thanks y'all. I did a test run tonight with just a 12-pack of seltzer. The tub seems like it'll work but the drain was slow from a little piece of cardboard label. Do I need to pre-drain it before guests arrive or just leave it until the end? Also providing most drinks but a few friends are bringing theirs, so sharpie idea is good. astoria_arch, do you just wash the new utility tub in the tub? I'm trying not to leave the apartment smelling like a bodega freezer.

Just leave it until later. If you drain it early, you're stuck with wet cans and a weird puddle on the floor that someone will slip in. Put a cheap mesh strainer over the drain if you don't want labels clogging it, but even a paper towel under the bottles catches some of it. For the utility tub, dish soap and hot water, then a quick wipe with a little white vinegar if it smells like plastic. Don't overthink it. The real move is not putting anything in the tub you'd need between 9 and midnight, because nobody wants to pee next to the beer.

Good question: wash whatever tub or bucket you use in the kitchen sink, not the bathtub, if you can. You don't want soap residue interacting with the ice water, but more importantly you need the tub itself clean before it becomes the cooler. A tiny bit of unscented bleach in a rinse is okay, but rinse thoroughly. Vinegar also works.

On slow drains: old prewar drains often struggle with pulp from labels. The mesh strainer is wise. If your tub drains poorly all the time, don't wait until the day of — run hot water now and see if it's a real problem. You don't want a guest using the bathroom at hour two only to find standing gray water with bobbing lime peels. And put a bath mat outside; that room will be humid.

Last time I did this in Astoria, I didn’t pre-drain and the bathroom floor got covered with wet footprints. Guest with white sneakers was not happy. Better move is keep a stack of cheap hand towels or a mop right outside. Also maybe do cans only, no glass in the tub. Labels come off bottles faster and you’ll be fishing out foil from a wine top at 1am. The bathtub ice trick is undefeated though.

Update: party was last night. The bathtub held up great. Used a clean utility tub from the hardware store, froze yogurt containers of water, and put cans in first exactly like astoria_arch said. It lasted from 7 to after 1. Only casualty was one ginger ale exploded because someone threw it in already shaken. The mesh strainer saved the drain. I’m officially converted — no fire escape involved. Next time I’ll skip glass bottles.

Told you. Cans, tub, yogurt-container ice, and a towel. That’s the NYC way until you have a place with a real kitchen or too much money for a cooler you’ll never store. If you do it in winter, keep an eye on the radiator in the bathroom; last time mine was on and it blasted the edge of the tub into a steam bath. That's how you get hot beer on one side. Glad it worked.