Party Drink Calculator
Pick the kind of party, enter guests and hours, and get beer, wine and liquor in bottles and cases, with mixers, soft drinks, water and ice. Change the beer-wine-liquor split to match your crowd.
Spirits-led; guests stand and drink faster
Kids, drivers, non-drinkers come off the top
Normalised if they don't sum to 100
Of the wine bottles
Total drinks
340
4 per drinking guest over 3 h
Beer
68 bottles
3 cases of 24
Wine
21 bottles
11 red, 10 white · 102 glasses
Liquor
11 × 750 ml
170 cocktails at 1.5 oz
Mixers
33 L
soda, tonic, juice; 3 L per bottle of spirits
Soft drinks & water
195 + 150
cans and bottles, for everyone
Ice
100 lb
1 lb per guest; more outdoors
A full bar from 11 bottles
| Spirit | Share | Bottles (750 ml) |
|---|---|---|
| Vodka | 30% | 3 |
| Whiskey / bourbon | 25% | 3 |
| Tequila | 15% | 2 |
| Rum | 15% | 2 |
| Gin | 15% | 2 |
Drinks = drinking guests × (2 in the first hour + 1 each hour after). Split by the shares above, then bottles at 5 glasses of wine, 16 cocktails or 24 beers per case. A signature-cocktail-only bar runs about 20% less liquor than a full bar.
Shopping lists for 50 guests by party type
Same guest count, same 85% drinking, different party. The split and the hours do all the work: a dinner party is mostly wine over three hours; a backyard party is mostly beer over four.
| Party | Hours | Split B/W/L | Drinks | Beer | Wine | Liquor | Mixers (L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding reception | 5 | 30/50/20 | 255 | 77 | 26 | 4 | 12 |
| Cocktail party | 3 | 20/30/50 | 170 | 34 | 11 | 6 | 18 |
| Backyard / BBQ | 4 | 60/20/20 | 213 | 128 | 9 | 3 | 9 |
| Dinner party | 3 | 10/80/10 | 170 | 17 | 28 | 2 | 6 |
| Holiday / office party | 4 | 35/40/25 | 213 | 75 | 17 | 4 | 12 |
Bottle maths worth memorising
| Container | Serves | Pour |
|---|---|---|
| 750 ml wine | 5 glasses | 5 oz |
| 1.5 L wine (magnum) | 10 glasses | 5 oz |
| 750 ml sparkling | 6 flutes | 4 oz toast pour |
| 750 ml spirits | 16 cocktails | 1.5 oz |
| 1.75 L spirits (handle) | 39 cocktails | 1.5 oz |
| Case of beer | 24 beers | 12 oz |
| Half keg (15.5 gal) | 165 beers | 12 oz |
| Sixth keg (5.2 gal) | 55 beers | 12 oz |
| 2 L soda | 8 mixed drinks or 6 glasses | 6-8 oz |
A keg replaces cases when beer is more than half the drinks and you have a way to chill it: a half keg is nearly seven cases. Handles are cheaper per drink than fifths but harder to return, so buy fifths for the spirits you are unsure about and a handle for the one you know will go.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many drinks do I need for a party?
Two per drinking guest in the first hour and one each hour after. A three-hour cocktail party for 40 people where 35 drink needs about 140 drinks; a four-hour backyard party for the same crowd about 175. The calculator splits that into beer, wine and liquor by the kind of party and converts to bottles and cases.
How much beer for 50 people?
At a beer-led backyard party (60% beer) over four hours with 45 drinkers, about 135 beers, or 6 cases of 24. Add a case if the weather is hot or the crowd is mostly under 35. If beer is only a third of the drinks, four cases covers it (75 beers).
How many mixers per bottle of liquor?
About three litres. A 750 ml bottle makes 16 drinks at 1.5 oz, and most mixed drinks use 4-6 oz of mixer, so three litres of soda, tonic and juice per bottle covers the pours with some left for non-drinkers. Buy in a spread: cola, diet cola, lemon-lime, tonic, soda water, cranberry and orange.
What about non-alcoholic drinks?
Plan one and a half soft drinks per guest for the evening plus one an hour for each non-drinker, and a bottle of water per guest per two hours. Non-drinkers are always more than you expect, and mixers double as soft drinks, so the two lines overlap comfortably.
How much ice for a party?
A pound per guest indoors, a pound and a half outdoors, two pounds in summer heat, plus half a pound per can or bottle you are chilling in coolers. The ice calculator on this site works it out in bags.
These tools use the caterer's and bartender's planning rules (drinks per guest per hour, ounces per plate, pounds of ice per guest, square feet per seat, Wilton's cake chart), all stated on each page. They are planning estimates for an average crowd: know your guests, round up, and check what your venue, caterer and local alcohol rules require.