The Clever Way To Determine How Many Drinks You'll Need For A Party

It's the age-old, party planning 101 question when it comes to stocking your fridge or a bar with beverages: How many bottles and cans do I need to buy to keep my guests happy? If you are like most, you end up with more leftover bottles of wine and cans of soda than you could possibly consume, which, honestly, is better than not having enough; however, if you are looking for a magic formula that gets party drinks right just about every time, there is a clever way to help you determine just how many drinks you need for your party. 

After you know how many guests you are expecting, simply calculate two drinks for each guest in the first hour and then one drink for each guest for each successive hour after that. When you think of it in these terms, it makes it a little easier to figure out just how many bottles of beer, White Claw, Pinot Noir, water, and Diet Coke you need to have in your cooler or fridge.

This formula is super easy to use when you are buying drinks that come in single servings. Bottles of beer, ready-made cocktails, soda, and juice boxes make this calculation fairly easy; however, if you are serving wine, you want to remember that standard bottles of wine have about five glasses in them. So, even if you are a little liberal with the pouring, count on two bottles of wine for every five people in the first hour, and a single bottle for each hour after that. If you are serving both red and white wine, it is great if you know your guests' preference before the big shindig, but if not, opt for having more white wine than red. If you are serving Champagne, those bottles are a little bigger and have about six flute-sized glasses in them. Kiddos make parties fun and they also tend to need to drink more than adults. 

They also tend to spill them and set them down and forget where they left their drinks. To keep them hydrated, plan on having three drinks per child for each hour of the party.  And of course, don't forget the water. Regardless if you are serving alcohol or non-alcoholic beverages, you want to have a couple of liters of H2O in the cooler. One liter serves about four people.