Special Occasion Licenses are also commonly referred to as a Special Event License, both are generally the same thing and you will need to complete a couple of steps prior to getting one to hold your event. You generally decide to get a special occasion license if you are going to be holding an event that is serving alcohol. Weddings, Tournament Awards Dinners, Fundraising Events all fall under this heading it is any event that you have invited guests to attend or you have presale or given tickets to. The general public is not invited as this will change the licensing and you can get yourself in a whole lot of trouble for not following proper licensing restrictions.  Things that you should know are how to obtain the licensing and what are the expectations around holding the licensing. Listed below are some steps that you may need to take depending on your Provincial regulations for your province or state.

1. The Host must apply for the license, could be a business representative, organization president or anyone that is in a lead position. Caterers, Event Planners and Managers of venues are not allowed to apply or hold the licensing for the event.
2. The host must be 19 years old and a permanent resident.
3. You as the license holder have what is called the “Duty of Care” this means that you are responsible to make sure that your guests do not drive intoxicated and that you follow the “Serving It Right” responsibilities. http://www.servingitright.com
4. You will need to have your “Serving It Right” certification in order to apply for the license and you will not be granted a license if you can not produce this certification.
5. You will be required to fill out the date of the event, hours of the event, number of people attending the event, the location and the amount of alcohol that will be required and or sold during this time.
6. Then you will return your application with all necessary documents to your Government Liquor store with your $25.00 fee for processing.
7. You must adhere to hours of operation and this will vary from event type and location- generally speaking an indoor event is held between the hours of 9:00AM-2:00AM (although check with the venue for their hours of operation) or outside events held from the hours of 9:00AM-10:00PM.
8. You can obtain 2 special occasion licenses in one month maximum.
9. You will need to follow the alcohol price guidelines as set out prior to the event and you will be expected to pay a 10% tax in advance on any estimated liquor sales.
10. Police do have the right to alter your license should they feel that there may be any potential problems. Liquor inspectors are allowed to enter at anytime and if they feel that alcohol is not being responsibly served or over served to the guests then they have the right to shut down your event.
11. You can have minors attend a special occasion event but minors are not allowed to purchase, sell tickets or consume alcohol.
12. Bartenders should be reminded to check 2 pieces of Government issued ID if the person purchasing the alcohol looks to be under age, or acting in a suspicious manner.
13. For all other special occasion guidelines please visit http://www.hsd.gov.bc.ca/lclb/apply/special/index.htm