Don't Kill the Party! - How To: Stock your bar.
If you’ve ever thrown a party or even attended one you know that food and booze are two major elements of the day. Running out of either is a major no-no, to put it delicately.To put it less delicately, event planners shut down the bars as a means for getting people to leave. That should give you a clue at how important not running out of alcohol is.* Discalimer, you do not need alcohol for a good time but this blog post is about those who want to have a bar at their party!*
You know you need alcohol but it may not be easy to figure out just how much
As a general rule you want to follow this equation :
1.5 drinks x Number of people x duration of party (in hours)
Example : If you are having a 3 hour party for 20 people you would need about 90 drinks
1.5 x 20 x 3 = 90
The second question after "how many" is "of what".There are a few factors that contribute to what type of alcohol you buy such as; what type of party, is it during the day or at night, summer or winter…etc. Ultimately you know your guests best, trust your gut!
For this purpose lets just say its a night time open bar scenario, pretty standard. Here are some important facts for you to know right off the bat :
1 bottle of wine = 5 drinks
1 bottle of champagne = 8 drinks
1 bottle of hard liquor = 18 mixed drinks
*Keep in mind, if this is your wine glass, above does not apply!*
On average you can break down your party needs to:
45% beer,
30% wine
25% hard alcohol.
As we said, you know your guests this is not an exact science so if you know you are having a party full of wine drinkers by all means tweak the percentages.
One final thing that is too easy to forget but too important to leave out…ICE! First fill your ice bucket or cooler. Then account for 10lbs of ice for every 4 people. So for our fictional 20 person party that means you’re going to want about 50lbs of ice. Sounds like a lot right? Don’t forget, people put ice in everything, soda, water, mixed drinks and even wine! Plus you know someone is going to ask you to pull out the blender
I hope this has helped shed some light on the topic and make your next party a little easier. You could, of course, make your next party even easier by contacting Look Sharp Events!
