Cocktail party can mean:

• Primarily, a party where cocktails are served and women may choose to wear a cocktail dress. The inventor of the cocktail party is said to be Alec Waugh, who found a need for this pleasant interlude before a dinner party.
• In cognition studies of information processing, another term for the source separation problem.
• The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is the common name for the yearly American football game between the University of Florida and the University of Georgia held at a neutral field in Jacksonville.
• a play by T.S. Elliot, The Cocktail Party 1949