Ask ten bartenders which shaker they reach for and nine will point at the same two tins. Ask a gift buyer the same question and they'll almost always pick the three-piece one with the little cap. That gap — between what professionals use and what customers buy — is exactly where wholesale decisions go wrong.
There are three shaker families you'll meet when stocking a bar or building a gift set: the Boston (two-piece), the cobbler (three-piece) and the Parisian (two-piece with a built-in strainer). Each has a real reason to exist. Here's how they actually differ on the floor, what they cost, and which one your buyers will reorder.
The three families, side by side
If you remember nothing else, remember this: the differences come down to how many pieces there are and whether the strainer is built in.
| Boston | Cobbler | Parisian | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pieces | 2 (tin + tin, or tin + glass) | 3 (tin + lid + cap) | 2 (tin + lid) |
| Built-in strainer | No — use a Hawthorne | Yes | Yes |
| Speed to open | Fast — twist and pull | Slow — lid can seize when cold | Fast |
| Ease of use | Needs a little practice | Easiest, self-contained | Simple |
| Parts to lose | None | 2 small parts | 1 |
| Cleaning | Fast | Slower — strainer holes trap pulp | Moderate |
| Best for | High-volume bars, pros | Gifts, retail, home bars | Mid-size bars, hotels |
| Wholesale price | US$1.50–3.50 | US$1.50–4.00 | US$1.50–3.00 |
Boston shakers: what real bars run
At volume, speed decides everything, and the Boston shaker is the fastest tool there is. It's just two pieces — traditionally a metal tin and a mixing glass, and increasingly a weighted tin and a slightly smaller tin that nests inside. There's no cap to unscrew and no built-in strainer to clog; you pour the drink through a Hawthorne strainer, which is a separate tool every bar already owns.
Two-piece Boston shaker tins, 18 oz & 28 oz — the standard workhorse of professional bars.
Two details separate a good Boston shaker from a cheap one. First, weighted tins: a good 28 oz tin has a weighted base so it sits steady on the bar and gives a satisfying, balanced shake. Second, the fit — the two halves should seal with a light press and release with a firm twist, not a fight. If a bartender has to bang the shaker against the bar to open it, they'll curse you on a Saturday night.
For buyers, the Boston is the safe reorder: it's what professional staff expect, it lasts years, and it has almost no parts to lose. This two-tin set — 18 oz & 28 oz stainless steel Boston shaker — is the kind of item our bar accounts reorder quarterly.
Cobbler shakers: the gift that needs no extras
The cobbler is the three-piece shaker most people picture when they think of cocktails: a tin, a lid with a built-in strainer, and a small cap on top. Everything is self-contained, which is precisely why it wins in gifting and retail. A customer can open the box and make a drink without knowing what a Hawthorne strainer is.
Three-piece cobbler shaker — built-in strainer and cap, the easiest style for a gift box.
The trade-offs are real, and any bar owner who has run them at volume will tell you about them: when the tin gets cold, the metal lid seizes and becomes hard to unscrew; the two small parts walk away; and the fine strainer holes clog with pulp and mint. That's why pros rarely use them — but that's also why they're perfect for the home bar and for branded corporate gifts, where ease beats speed.
For a gift-set anchor, a glass cobbler reads as more premium than plain steel. This 13 oz glass cobbler shaker with a silicone seal and built-in strainer photographs beautifully in a box and lets the customer see the drink being made.
Parisian shakers: fewer parts, bigger drinks
The Parisian (sometimes called a French shaker) is the middle child, and it's quietly the smartest option for a lot of venues. It's two pieces — both metal — but the top half has a built-in strainer, so you get the clean two-piece design of a Boston without needing a separate strainer. There's no small cap to lose, and the capacity is typically larger (500–750 ml), which suits highball and shared serves.
Conical 550 ml stainless steel shaker — Parisian style, two pieces with a built-in strainer.
It's less common in North America than the Boston and less familiar to gift buyers than the cobbler, but we've watched orders grow in Australia and Europe, where its cleaner silhouette and one-tool workflow appeal to hotels and mid-size bars. If you want one shaker that can do almost everything without any accessories, this is it.
Seal quality is where cheap shakers fail
Every shaker family lives or dies on one thing: the seal between the two halves. A good shaker seals with a light press, holds through a hard shake, and opens with a firm twist. A cheap one either leaks a thin stream down the bartender's wrist, or seals so hard that it freezes shut when cold. Both failures come from sloppy tooling and thin, uneven walls.
When you're comparing quotes, ask three questions: What steel is it? (food-grade 304, not 201 — get the grade confirmed in writing before you commit), What's the wall thickness? (0.4–0.5 mm is standard for a shaker that keeps its shape), and Are the rims rolled? (rolled rims seal better and don't cut hands). These three details — not the price tag — are what determine whether a shaker gets reordered.
Custom logo: where each shaker takes a brand
All three families take a logo, but they don't all take it equally well. The Boston shaker is the engraver's favourite: the two tins are large, clean, curved cylinders with no seams or caps in the way, so a laser or rotary engraving sits exactly where the customer's eye lands. A brushed or copper-plated finish makes the contrast even stronger.
Copper-plated Boston shaker — a clean, uninterrupted surface for a custom logo.
The cobbler gives you more total surface area but a more complicated job: the cap and lid are curved, small and removable, so a logo there can end up upside-down or lost in a drawer. Most buyers engrave the tin and leave the cap plain. See our customization page for what we need from your artwork, and our laser engraving vs. printing comparison to pick the method that survives a dishwasher.
This copper-plated Boston shaker with an engraving option is the one our corporate-gift accounts keep coming back to — it looks twice its price.
MOQ and real wholesale pricing
Custom shakers start at an MOQ of 50 pieces on most of our stock styles. Here's what you can expect per piece, FOB Ningbo, at typical quantities (logo method extra — engraving costs more than a one-color print, and neither is free at 50 pieces):
| Quantity | Boston (2pc) | Cobbler (3pc) | Parisian (2pc) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 pcs | ~US$2.20–3.50 | ~US$2.50–4.00 | ~US$2.00–3.00 |
| 500 pcs | ~US$1.60–2.40 | ~US$1.80–2.80 | ~US$1.50–2.20 |
| 2,000 pcs | ~US$1.30–1.90 | ~US$1.50–2.20 | ~US$1.20–1.80 |
These are realistic ranges from a factory, not promises. Your exact price depends on finish, capacity and current steel prices. If a quote is dramatically under these numbers, ask what steel is inside — that's usually where the savings came from.
Shop these products on Alibaba
Four shakers from our range, each mapped to the family above. Click through for real-time pricing and full specs, or message us for a quote with your logo and quantity.
| Product | Price | MOQ |
|---|---|---|
| 18 oz & 28 oz Stainless Steel Boston Cocktail Shaker | US$2.35 | 50 pcs |
| Copper-Plated Stainless Steel Boston Shaker (Engravable) | US$1.95 | 50 pcs |
| Glass Cobbler Cocktail Shaker, 13 oz, Built-in Strainer | US$1.75 | 50 pcs |
| Brushed Stainless Conical Cocktail Shaker, 550 ml | US$1.90 | 50 pcs |
Ready to stock the right shaker?
Tell us which family you're stocking — Boston for the bar, cobbler for the gift box, Parisian for the hotel — and we'll send a quote with your logo and quantity within 24 hours. MOQ from 50 pcs, samples in 7 days, any finish from mirror to matte.