How much alcohol you need for your party?
This is a tricky area but we can figure it out! When you’re planning a party with adult beverages, it can be difficult to know much alcohol you need. There are a bunch of calculators online to help but let’s answer a few questions first.
How many people are attending your party?
This one is an obvious one, lol. How many people coming to the shindig is probably the most important question. You need to get those RSVPs counted. Once we have the number of attendees, let’s move on to our next data point.
Are many of the attendees not drinking?
Do you have kids in attendance? Are there many non-drinkers? Also, an interesting related question is how much your guests drink. Are they heavy drinkers or just a one glass type of group. This could be difficult to gauge but can be helpful to understand. Now, if you don’t know, don’t worry, you can just use an average amount.
How many hours is your party?
Another obvious one, maybe. The longer the party the more drinks you will need. Take into consideration party extensions. If there are more drinks, the party may never be over, lol. This can get tricky if you are the one ready to call it a night.
What time of day is the party?
Usually, if you are having an early afternoon party, people may not drink as much as they would if the party goes late into the evening. The same may be true for late evening parties that are on a weeknight. Those having to get up early the next day will not imbibe as much as if they could sleep late.
What kind of alcohol are you serving?
Is this a beer only par-tay or are you having a bunch of winos? Of course, if there are more choices you will have to purchase more. Another interesting aspect is that you may run out quicker. For example, if you choose to have red wine along with beer, white wine, and mixed drinks, you’ll buy less red wine because there are so many other things. If people go for the red wine, that will run out before all the rest.
Get Out Your Pencil
Once you have all those questions answered we can get to the math! I know, who wants to do math but at the end of this post there are a few links to articles with calculators that make it so much easier but I want you to know how to do it just in case!
First, figure out the total number of guests and multiple that by the number of hours of party time. To figure out how much beer you need, take the number of total drinks and multiple that by 40%. To figure out how much wine you need, take the total number of drinks and subtract the number of beers then multiply that by 60%. Finally, for mixed drinks, take the total number of drinks and subtract the beer then subtract the wine.
Be sure you have the right glassware and accessories (shaker, mixers, limes, etc.) for what you are serving. And, DON’T forget the drinks for those not drinking alcohol and ALWAYS enough water for everyone!
Let’s Get Down to Business
Now, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t relate this back to having your party at Songbird Karaoke! Here are a few things to consider when having your BYOB party here.
- Please only bring beer or wine (or the like – champagne, seltzers, etc.). No hard alcohol. This is not our rule. It is a New Jersey state rule. We follow it so we can keep our insurance. Thanks for understanding.
- When you have a party here, you don’t have to worry about ice, cups, or an opener. We take care of all that for you!
- There aren’t any walkable liquor stores in town. It’s a dry town so the closest is the next town over (actually walkable but I wouldn’t do it with a case of beer).
- We do have a brewery in town that is walkable but you’ll need to get a growler and be sure the hours are open when you’re here.
- We sell non-alcoholic drinks here (at very reasonable prices) – including water!
- If you get our party package it includes (among other things) unlimited non-alcoholic drinks!
Let’s Make This Easy
My favorite of the calculators I tried was the one Evite offered. It offered all the options needed to determine the appropriate amounts and gave the answer immediately. Check it out.
Here are some others with information related to figuring things out if you want even more advice!
Reventals
The Spruce
Tablespoon
