Party Food & Drink Calculator

The planning rule is about one drink per guest per hour. For 30 guests over 4 hours with 75% drinking, that's roughly 90 alcoholic servings. Split the usual way — 50% beer, 30% wine, 20% spirits — that's about 45 beers, 27 glasses of wine (six 750ml bottles), and 18 cocktails (a couple of liquor bottles plus mixers). The first hour always runs heavier, so chill extra for the opening rush and hold reserves back rather than putting everything out at once.

Because appetite is bounded and thirst is continuous. A person eats about the same amount of food at a party regardless of whether it lasts two hours or five — so food tracks headcount. But people keep drinking at a roughly steady pace the whole time, so a longer party means more drinks even with the same guest list. Buying food by time (or drinks by headcount alone) is exactly how hosts end up with mountains of leftover chips and a bar that ran dry.

If a full meal follows, plan about 4 appetizer pieces per guest — they're a prelude, not the meal. If appetizers are the meal (a cocktail party with no sit-down course), plan 8–12 pieces per guest and offer more variety. This calculator uses 4 with a meal and 8 without. Spread them across several types; a good mix is a couple of hot options, a couple of cold, and at least one vegetarian choice.

Plan about 1.5 pounds of ice per guest — more than people expect, because ice both fills drinks and chills bottles and cans in tubs. In hot weather or for a heavy-drinking crowd, bump it to 2 pounds. For water, plan about 2 servings per guest across the event, and more in summer heat; easy hydration also slows alcohol consumption, which keeps a party pleasant.

Lower the 'percent drinking alcohol' input. At 60%, more of the per-hour drink budget shifts to non-alcoholic servings — soda, sparkling water, mocktails — and less to beer, wine, and spirits. Always over-provision the non-alcoholic side a little: designated drivers, pregnant guests, kids, and people pacing themselves all lean on it, and it's cheap insurance against a guest having nothing appealing to drink.

Round up, and treat these as minimums for a comfortable party rather than precise ceilings. Whole packs and bottles rarely match the exact count, unopened beer and wine keep for the next gathering, and the social cost of running out mid-event is far higher than the cost of a little surplus. The one place not to skimp is ice, which is cheap, always underestimated, and impossible to improvise once guests arrive.