Just curious. Do other countries have retail beer keg rental to private parties like the US?
New Zealand does.
It is certainly possible in Canada, though in my experience, it is not often done. Generally, kegs must be ordered from the retailer ahead of time; the average liquor/beer store doesn’t normally stock them in case a walk-in customer wants one. But they will certainly take your order for one and have it for you a few days later. I’d guess that having to order one and returning to pick it up means that it is often easier for hosts to simply make one trip to buy a number of cases of cans or bottles that can be put in a tub full of ice.
It’s done in Brazil, particularly for barbecues.
And Australia (which is like NZ in many ways).
Never bought a keg but I’d imagine it would be a lot cheaper to do so. Paying for bottles can get sort of expensive.
True enough, but maybe not “a lot cheaper” in certain locations–speaking from experience in one of Ontario’s Beer Stores, in which chain I worked for some years, kegs are, drink-for-drink, cheaper than bottles or cans. IIRC, a 60-litre keg of run-of-the-mill beer (e.g. Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue) was the volume equivalent of approximately 7 cases of 24 bottles but cost the same as approximately 6. Maybe not great savings, but there were certainly some. Still, I’d guess that the fact that you can’t just show up and get a keg “off-the-shelf” dissuades many from getting kegs, no matter what the cost savings are.
There’s also the factor that kegs require much more advanced planning, as they need time to settle after being moved about, otherwise the beer comes out all foamy. Back in high school, we had a staff party for the Pizza Hut I worked at, where the Big Boss gave us a keg…and some idiot decided that rolling it out of the truck was a good idea.
That thing poured foam the entire night…
One of the first student parties I ever went to (back mid-80s) had a mini tanker (i.e. a tank on a trailer that you tow with a car) parked on the back lawn with a hose coming in the kitchen window. Classy. 
We do, but barely.
I’m trying to do this at the moment - it’s nowhere near as easy as it used to be. The only pub I can find that’ll rent me a keg and the magic box is 15 km away and they’re charging an arm and a leg (A$400 for the weekend).
Most pubs have stopped, and the breweries don’t have the licence to allow them to sell retail kegs.
Well, things may have changed in the last few years. I can imagine, however, that:
(1) Some customers may have abused the service;
(2) Some customers may not have been able to draw beer from a keg to deliver a decent glass of beer; and
(3) There’s not enough price difference to make it worth while, and it’s only the romance that’s driving it.
In addition, at a private party, offering beer in bottles or cans means that you can offer a wider variety to your guests, and the left-over beer at the end of the party will keep for a few months afterwords, so having a keg may be a little less attractive than it used to be.
Back in my more frequent keg-buying days, you always had to call ahead by one or more days to reserve a keg. I lived in Chicago.
Setting aside whether keg beer is cheaper, isn’t there (a widely help belief in) a taste advantage to tapped beer vs cans or bottles? Not to mention less mess at a party vs heaps of empties stacked everywhere afterwards, instead you just deal with a bunch of empty plastic cups.
BigNik: “magic box” ? 
It is possible in the netherlands, but not done often…usually people just buy bottled beer and fill up their fridge.
I’ve never seen it done here in the UK; I’m not sure if it’s even possible. Some friends of mine tried once but had no success. They went as far as going direct to the local Tennent’s (lager) brewery to no avail.
UK: never seen it.
I got a mini-keg for my New Year’s party, but it only had 7 pints in it and had to sit in the fridge the whole time.
Do the full-size kegs come with their own refrigeration unit?
Can do here in South Africa. We’ve done it for weekend-long SCA events.
You can buy a Kegerator, but they’re pretty expensive. Most people just put the keg in a large tub of ice.
…which has the added side benefit of providing ice for cocktails.
The name of the box that holds all the leads and the pump.
I’m in Texas, and I’ve done it several times. The keg is set up and delivered by a “beer depot”. It sits in something like a big garbage can, surrounded by ice. Party’s over when you “float the keg” (it’s empty). They come and pick it up the next day.