What Are Cocktail Napkins For? Sizes and Uses Explained

A cocktail napkin is a small square of paper served with a drink. It sits under the glass to catch condensation and drips, keeps the bar top or tablecloth dry, gives a guest a dry grip on a cold glass, and doubles as the napkin for a canapé. Laid over the top of a glass, it tells staff the drink is still in use. Ours, the Extra Soft Cocktail Napkins, are 20cm x 20cm, the size in the product's own title, with a 40cm x 40cm square on the same page. Black or white, from £1.99 + VAT for 100.

What cocktail napkins are for

A cocktail napkin is the napkin that comes with a drink rather than with a meal: handed over with the glass, not laid at a place setting. It does four small jobs at once.

• Under the glass. A cold drink sweats. The napkin soaks up the condensation and any spill, so the bar, the table and the linen stay dry.
• In the hand. Wrapped round the base of a glass, it gives a guest a dry grip.
• With food. At a drinks reception the same 20cm napkin goes out with the canapés, so a guest holding a glass has something for their fingers.
• Over the glass. Laid on top, it marks the drink as still in use. More on that below.

That is bar and event work, and the Extra Soft product page is written for it. It describes the napkins as designed for professional bar service and entertaining, and lists them for cocktail bars, hotel lounges, wedding events, corporate functions, champagne service and private parties, plus event bars and mobile bars.

In service, those jobs come down to a few things a napkin either does or does not do. The Extra Soft page covers each one in its own words:

• Soaking up. "Enhanced absorbency" and "quick-wicking action".
• Staying in one piece when wet. "Maintains shape when damp".
• Leaving nothing on the glass. "Lint-free material" and "no paper lint".
• Holding a fold. "Perfect fold retention", for napkins folded before service starts.
• Coming off the stack cleanly. "Easy dispensing".

The material is 2-ply paper with an extra soft finish, as the page gives it. If the drinks also carry a garnish on a pick, our guide to bamboo and decorative cocktail picks covers that side of the tray.

Why people put a napkin over their drink

A napkin laid flat over the top of a glass says "this one is still mine". At a bar or a busy event, staff clear glasses that look finished. A covered glass tells them to leave it alone while the guest steps away to dance, talk or queue for food.

It also keeps anything from dropping into the drink while it sits on the bar or a table.

Nothing special is needed to do it. The napkin that came under the glass does the job: lift it, lay it across the rim, and the drink is marked.

What size is a cocktail napkin?

Our cocktail napkins are 20cm x 20cm. That is the size in the Extra Soft product's own title, and the Eco-Friendly napkins come in it too. The Extra Soft Cocktail Napkins also come as a 40cm x 40cm square, from £3.99 + VAT for 100, in the same black and white.

Here is every size and pack on our two napkin product pages, as the variants list them, with the cost per napkin worked out from the pack price.

The working: pack price divided by the pieces in the pack, rounded to the nearest 0.1p where it does not divide exactly. The 500-piece pack of 20cm napkins is £8.99 + VAT, and £8.99 divided by 500 is just under 1.8p a napkin. The 1000-piece pack brings it to just under 1.7p. On the 40cm square the same steps run from 3.99p down to just under 3.7p.

The choice between the two products is the paper. The Extra Soft napkins are 2-ply paper with an extra soft finish, in black or white. The Eco-Friendly Cocktail Napkins page gives the material as recycled 2-ply paper and lists "biodegradable construction", in a colour it calls natural eco-white. That page lists them for sustainable events, green weddings and eco-conscious bars. They come in 20x20cm packs of 500 and 1000, from £8.99 + VAT.

Cocktail napkin FAQs

What are cocktail napkins used for?

They sit under or around a drink to catch condensation and drips, keep the bar or table dry and give a guest a dry grip on the glass. At a drinks reception they double as the napkin for canapés. Laid over a glass, one marks the drink as still in use.

Why do people put a napkin over their drink?

To show the drink is not finished, so staff leave it on the bar or table, and to stop anything falling into it while the guest is away. Any napkin that covers the rim does the job.

What size is a cocktail napkin?

Ours are 20cm x 20cm, the size in the Extra Soft product's title, in black or white, from £1.99 + VAT for 100. The same product also comes as a 40cm x 40cm square, from £3.99 + VAT for 100. The Eco-Friendly Cocktail Napkins are 20x20cm, from £8.99 + VAT for 500.