How Much Alcohol Do You Need for a Party?

The baseline formula

Plan on one drink per guest for the first hour and one per hour after that, tapering in the last hour. Twelve guests over four hours works out to roughly 48 drinks — which sounds high until you remember a bottle of wine is five glasses and a 750 ml bottle of spirits is about sixteen cocktails.

Split it by preference: for a mixed crowd, roughly half beer and coolers, a third wine, and the rest spirits. Shift toward spirits for a cocktail night and toward beer and coolers for a patio afternoon.

Worked examples

Ten people, three hours, casual: two cases of beer such as Corona Extra or Molson Canadian, three bottles of wine, and one 750 ml bottle of Absolut Vodka or 1800 Blanco plus mixer.

Twenty people, five hours, party: four to five cases of beer, six to eight bottles of wine such as Gato Negro Cabernet Sauvignon and Gato Negro Sauvignon Blanc, three bottles of spirits, and coolers for anyone who wants something easy.

Six people, dinner: three bottles of wine, then Hennessy VS or Johnnie Walker Black Label after dinner. One good bottle does more work here than another red.

Mixer, ice and the things people forget

Buy roughly one litre of mixer per bottle of spirits, and about a pound of ice per guest — double that in summer. Ice is the single most commonly underbought item at any party, and the one nobody wants to leave to get.

Have something non-alcoholic beyond tap water. It matters for the designated driver and for anyone pacing themselves, and it costs almost nothing to include.

Buying late

If the count comes up short mid-evening, the retail window has usually closed. That is what delivery is for — a late top-up of beer, coolers or a second bottle of spirits arriving in about 30 minutes is much less disruptive than someone driving out to find a store that shut an hour ago.

Common questions