About the Author

Hi, I'm Nick. I wrote the playbook for cocktail parties people actually remember.

Author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, founder of Museum Hack, and now the owner & editor of Mixily. I've spent years figuring out how to get strangers into a room and out the other side as friends.

pau@nickgray.net
615 +
Hosts trained
1 ×
Bestselling book
13
Years hosting in NYC
2026
Acquired Mixily
━━ The premise

Most people want to host more. They don't, because every guide they find treats it like a wedding — formal, expensive, exhausting.

A cocktail party is the opposite. Two hours, a dozen people, a few icebreakers, a hard end time. No catering. No bartending skills. Just a system that works. The good kind of gathering is a lot closer than you think.

The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Relationships with Small Gatherings

The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Relationships with Small Gatherings

A step-by-step guide to hosting cocktail parties for people who don't think of themselves as party people. Name tags, two icebreakers, a hard end time — and the new friendships that come out the other side. Named one of Kirkus Reviews' Best New Books of 2022.

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How I got here

A short timeline
2026

Acquired Mixily

Took over the free RSVP platform and turned this blog into the home for everything I've learned about bringing people together — on purpose, without the stress.

Owner / Editor
2022

Published The 2-Hour Cocktail Party

A step-by-step guide to hosting for people who don't think of themselves as party people. Name tags, two icebreakers, a hard end time — and 615+ verified first-time hosts.

Author
2014

Started hosting cocktail parties weekly

I lived in New York City for 13 years. I wasn't always good at this — I used to stand in the corner hoping someone would talk to me. Hosting fixed that. If you're the host, you have a reason to talk to everyone.

Practice
2014

Founded Museum Hack

Renegade museum tours in NYC — gossip, scandals, and the weird stories behind the art. Grew to 60+ employees, covered by the New York Times and WSJ. Sold in 2019.

Earlier life
━━ As featured in
The New York Times · Wall Street Journal · New York Magazine · Forbes · Washington Post

Get in touch

Or just keep reading

I read every email. The fastest way to get a real reply: tell me what kind of party you're planning and what's stopping you from sending the invites.

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━━ Ready to host?

Stop reading. Start hosting.

Mixily is the simplest way to send a beautiful invitation, collect RSVPs, and run an event people remember. Free to try.

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