HOW TO BUILD A CHAMPAGNE TOWER

The pouring of a champagne tower is a spectacular Great Gatsby–inspired party stunt that all your guests are sure to pull out their phones to video. Assemble the tower in advance during party setup, and pour the champagne once all the guests have arrived.

Start with a firm, solid base for your tower. A rimmed tray is a must to catch the overflow.

Always use coupe glasses (retro rounded saucer cups), not flutes. All the coupe glasses in the tower should be identical, and they are available at most party rental companies.

The tower is essentially made up of successively smaller square layers of glasses. For example, if the bottom layer is 10 glasses by 10 glasses, the layer above that would be 9 by 9, the layer above that 8 by 8, and so on.

Make sure each glass touches the surrounding glasses. When the tower is done right, you’ll see diamond-shaped gaps between glasses. When building the next layer, center the stem of each glass over the diamond openings that were created by the layer below. Repeat this assembly process until there is a single coupe glass on top.

Once the tower is fully assembled, begin slowly pouring champagne from the top glass, and it will trickle downward, filling each glass.