I found this strange too. The few parties I go to are generally for birthdays and are held at parks or at inexpensive restaurants (kid's birthdays), or at someone's house with cheap snacks (chips, cake, wings, burgers, etc.) if they want to have alcohol.

The notion of guests turning up their noses at your generic beer and non-gourmet appetizers suggests to me that the author needs to hang out with a better class of folks.