Run out of drinks and the party ends early. Buy far too many and you carry crates home for a month. Most hosts guess, and most guess wrong in the same direction: too much of the strong stuff, not enough of everything else. A little arithmetic fixes that, and it only takes four numbers.
Caterers use a simple rule of thumb: plan on two drinks per guest in the first hour, then one per hour after that. It counts every kind of drink, not just alcohol: water, soda, coffee, mocktails, wine. It is a planning number for how much to have on hand, not a target for how much anyone should drink.
For a four-hour party that is five drinks a guest. For twenty guests, one hundred drinks. Where the number goes next is the interesting part, and that is what the planner below does.
| Buy | Amount |
|---|
The alcohol-free share is the number most hosts leave out. At a typical party some guests are driving, some are pregnant, some do not drink and some stop after one. If the only non-alcoholic choice is tap water or a warm can of cola, those guests notice. A jug of something with real flavour, say iced tea with citrus, a ginger and lime soda or a sparkling punch made without spirits, costs very little and is often the first thing to run out.
Thirty percent is a sensible starting point for a mixed adult crowd. Move it up for a daytime party, a work event or a gathering with a lot of drivers. Move it down only if you know your guests.
The planner uses common serving sizes. They are easy to change in your head if you pour differently.
Plan for more of the drinks everyone can have, and less of the ones only some can.
Two-then-one is an average, and real parties are not average. Hot weather pushes the cold, non-alcoholic numbers up, so add a litre or two per ten guests. A sit-down dinner uses fewer drinks than a standing party, because people are eating and talking rather than holding a glass. A daytime or work event needs mostly alcohol-free. And if you serve cocktails, remember that a cocktail takes minutes to make: with more than about twenty guests, a batch or a pitcher saves you from standing behind the bar all night.
If you are unsure, buy the drinks that keep. Unopened wine, spirits, cans and soda come back on the shelf; cut lemons and open bottles do not. And plan the ice separately: it melts, and it is a different calculation from drinks.
A good host plans the exit as well as the party. Put food out early and keep it going, keep water within reach of everyone, make the alcohol-free drinks as good as the rest, and never turn drinking into a game or a race. If someone has had enough, let them stop without comment. Nobody should drive after drinking: have a lift, a taxi number or a spare bed ready. This piece is for adults of legal drinking age.