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How many drinks for a party?

Drinks are the thing people over-buy and still run out of, because consumption is not even across the evening. This works off the caterer’s rule and then divides that one total between wine, beer and spirits — changing the mix moves drinks between columns rather than adding them.

The short answer

Plan on two drinks per adult in the first hour and one an hour after that — five each for a four-hour party. A 750 ml bottle of wine pours five glasses and a 750 ml bottle of spirits gives seventeen 1.5 oz pours. Plan soft drinks for a third of adults on top, and 2.5 lb of ice a guest: up to 2 lb chilling the drinks and half a pound in the glasses.

YOUR EVENT
Adults
Children
Hours
What are people drinking?
8 bottles
of wine over 4 hours

8 bottles of wine over 4 hours

Two drinks each in the first hour, one an hour after that — 5 each, 100 altogether. The mix below divides that total; it does not add to it.
Wine
Five glasses to a 750 ml bottle. Two-thirds white in summer, the reverse in winter.
8 bottles
Beer
40 bottles or cans. Chill it all the night before.
3 × 12-pack + 6-pack
Spirits
Seventeen 1.5 oz pours to a 750 ml bottle.
2 bottles
Mixers
3 liters, roughly three parts mixer to one of spirit. Add lemons and ice.
2 L bottle + 1 L bottle
Soft drinks
50 servings, eight to a bottle. Planned for a third of adults drinking nothing else, and for the children.
7 × 2 L bottle
Water
Pitchers on the table, refilled without being asked.
10 liters
Ice
50 lb: 2 lb a guest to chill the drinks and half a pound in the glasses. Double the chilling outdoors in the heat.
5 × 10 lb bag

The rule counts every adult, including the ones who will not drink. That headroom is deliberate: unopened bottles keep, and running dry at nine does not.

COMMON QUESTIONS

How many bottles of wine for 20 guests?

For a three-hour event where most people are drinking wine, 11 bottles. Twenty adults at two drinks in the first hour and one an hour after is 80 drinks; about two-thirds of those being wine is 52 glasses, and a bottle pours five.

How much ice do I need?

1 to 2 lb a guest for chilling, plus half a pound in the glasses, and double the chilling outdoors in the heat. The calculator buys the top of that, 2.5 lb a guest, in 10 lb bags. Ice and water together chill faster than ice alone. There is a separate ice calculator here that handles food on ice and cooler counts.

What proportion of guests will not drink alcohol?

Plan soft drinks for a third, and do not take that third off the alcohol. The drinks rule counts every adult and the headroom is deliberate — unopened bottles keep. The non-alcoholic option should sit in the same fridge as everything else, not off to the side.

Should I buy for the average or the peak?

The peak, which is what the two-in-the-first-hour rule is for. Everybody arrives thirsty and nobody has eaten yet, so hour one runs at twice the rate of every hour after it.

Skip to content

How many drinks for a party?

Drinks are the thing people over-buy and still run out of, because consumption is not even across the evening. This works off the caterer’s rule and then divides that one total between wine, beer and spirits — changing the mix moves drinks between columns rather than adding them.

The short answer

Plan on two drinks per adult in the first hour and one an hour after that — five each for a four-hour party. A 750 ml bottle of wine pours five glasses and a 750 ml bottle of spirits gives seventeen 1.5 oz pours. Plan soft drinks for a third of adults on top, and 2.5 lb of ice a guest: up to 2 lb chilling the drinks and half a pound in the glasses.

YOUR EVENT
Adults
Children
Hours
What are people drinking?
8 bottles
of wine over 4 hours

8 bottles of wine over 4 hours

Two drinks each in the first hour, one an hour after that — 5 each, 100 altogether. The mix below divides that total; it does not add to it.
Wine
Five glasses to a 750 ml bottle. Two-thirds white in summer, the reverse in winter.
8 bottles
Beer
40 bottles or cans. Chill it all the night before.
3 × 12-pack + 6-pack
Spirits
Seventeen 1.5 oz pours to a 750 ml bottle.
2 bottles
Mixers
3 liters, roughly three parts mixer to one of spirit. Add lemons and ice.
2 L bottle + 1 L bottle
Soft drinks
50 servings, eight to a bottle. Planned for a third of adults drinking nothing else, and for the children.
7 × 2 L bottle
Water
Pitchers on the table, refilled without being asked.
10 liters
Ice
50 lb: 2 lb a guest to chill the drinks and half a pound in the glasses. Double the chilling outdoors in the heat.
5 × 10 lb bag

The rule counts every adult, including the ones who will not drink. That headroom is deliberate: unopened bottles keep, and running dry at nine does not.

COMMON QUESTIONS

How many bottles of wine for 20 guests?

For a three-hour event where most people are drinking wine, 11 bottles. Twenty adults at two drinks in the first hour and one an hour after is 80 drinks; about two-thirds of those being wine is 52 glasses, and a bottle pours five.

How much ice do I need?

1 to 2 lb a guest for chilling, plus half a pound in the glasses, and double the chilling outdoors in the heat. The calculator buys the top of that, 2.5 lb a guest, in 10 lb bags. Ice and water together chill faster than ice alone. There is a separate ice calculator here that handles food on ice and cooler counts.

What proportion of guests will not drink alcohol?

Plan soft drinks for a third, and do not take that third off the alcohol. The drinks rule counts every adult and the headroom is deliberate — unopened bottles keep. The non-alcoholic option should sit in the same fridge as everything else, not off to the side.

Should I buy for the average or the peak?

The peak, which is what the two-in-the-first-hour rule is for. Everybody arrives thirsty and nobody has eaten yet, so hour one runs at twice the rate of every hour after it.

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Kit & Occasion
OPENING YOUR INVITATION

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Planning something yourself? Kit & Occasion plans the whole event — free to start.

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You’re all set

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Planning something yourself? Kit & Occasion plans the whole event — free to start.
YOUR REPLY
PICK YOUR MEAL
ALLERGIES OR FOOD NEEDS

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SIGNED IN

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Delete your account?

This permanently deletes your account, every event saved to it, your published invitations and the replies your guests sent. It cannot be undone. Events kept on this device stay here.

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One account keeps the same event on your laptop and your phone.

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Plan it. Build it. Host it.

Tell it about your party once. The invitations, the menu, the printed kit, the shopping list and the games build themselves from your answers — so the time goes into the gathering, not the planning.

A garden party set on cream paper: the printed invitation, menu card, thank-you tags and cupcake toppers in one design, with a sage napkin and a glass of water A garden party set on cream paper: the printed invitation, menu card, thank-you tags and cupcake toppers in one design
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How it works

The design kit makes itself from your answers.

Say what the party is, when, for how many and for whom. The invitation, welcome sign, menu, banner, toppers, food cards and thank-you tags are made in one design with your words already on them. Type a name here and it is set on every sign below in that design’s own lettering. Nothing typed is kept or sent anywhere.

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Why we built it

More time together, in person.

In an increasingly digital world, the planning should be the easy part. One plan builds every piece, and the evening goes to the people in the room.

In the world

Printed, and on the table.

A garden-soiree welcome sign on an easel at a wooden garden gate, with matching pennants strung above Cupcakes with garden-soiree toppers on a cream stand beside wrapped gifts with matching thank-you tags A lemon-bordered invitation on cream linen with a lemon and its leaves The garden-soiree kit laid out on cream paper: menu, place card, toppers and tags A blush-and-gold arch invitation with a silk ribbon and a wax seal A garden-soiree menu card standing on a set table by a window A celestial arch invitation with gold star confetti and a navy ribbon A chandelier gala invitation beside a champagne coupe and a wax seal A pastel balloon invitation with two macarons and a pink ribbon A papel picado invitation with a marigold and a halved lime A dinosaur-dig birthday table: the printed welcome sign in a frame, cupcake toppers, food placards and thank-you tags on favour bags, all in one design A game-day snack table with the printed welcome sign, food placards in front of the bowls and a string of pennants

The arithmetic is done for you.

Change the headcount and every quantity follows — the same figures the planner prints.

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What are you planning?

Pick your occasion and the planner opens with it already chosen.

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The games

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Prop a laptop on the table and the screen runs the game: one person taps, everyone else shouts. Or deal the cards, with the rules right there on the page. Nothing to install.

See the games
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A television in a living room showing the games page
The app

The whole plan, in your pocket.

The same planner, invitations, kit and games on your phone, with your events kept in sync.

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A long table laid for a party: a floral welcome sign on an easel, a matching menu and place cards, white roses in a jug and brass candlesticks

Plan the whole event

Free, all of it — the theme, the menu with quantities, the guest list, the budget, the shopping list, the checklist. What costs money is the printed kit, once.

A game-night table in lamplight: popcorn and pretzels, two glasses of water, a pencil and a stack of blank cards in front of a laptop

Just play a game tonight

Open a pack for your occasion on any screen. No account, nothing to install. Add the names at the table and it is personal before the first round.

Browse the games
LOADING THE GAMES

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Part of the game library didn’t arrive. We’re not showing a partial list, because it would leave packs missing formats with nothing to tell you so. Everything else on the site works, and nothing you have saved is affected.
A game-night coffee table in lamplight: a stack of blank index cards and a pencil, a bowl of popcorn and two glasses, with the television glowing behind
Game night

Games people ask to play again.

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A game-night coffee table in lamplight: blank index cards and a pencil, a bowl of popcorn and two glasses, with the television glowing behind

Build my game night

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Tonight, in playing order

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Tonight
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How many are playing?

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On the TV

The screen runs the game.

It reads out the rules, keeps the score and runs the clock, so whoever is hosting gets to play too. Open this page on the laptop or the TV and press Play.

Every game the TV hosts needs at least three players, so a night for two is played at the table. The best of it is just below.
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At the table

Or deal it out.

Card games, dice games and the ones that need nothing but a pen, each quick to learn and hard to stop playing. The rules are on every card.

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Built for the room, not the download.

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Fill this in first

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Your side

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Nothing in the colour library answers to that. Try the city with its sport, or the country.
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On the screen tonight

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Fills the screen and sizes the board for the room. Escape to come back.

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WHO IS IT ABOUT?
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IN THE GAME NOW
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EDIT THE QUESTIONS
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Saved on this device only. Nothing you type here is uploaded, and it stays put if you close the tab.
LOADING THE GUIDES

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Part of the content library didn’t arrive. We’re not showing a partial index. The planner and the games are unaffected.
Planning guides

Guides for the event you are actually planning

Written to answer the question, not to rank for it. Every figure in them comes from the same engines the planner runs.

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Party arithmetic

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Nothing published here yet

A hub goes live when it has pages worth ranking. Publishing an empty shell to hold the keyword is how a site earns a thin-content problem.

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Next step, if you want one

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RELATED
CELEBRATION TRAVEL

Where to take it

For the events that go away — costed per head for a long weekend, with the months worth going. Pick a place and the planner starts with the trip already known.

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Worth booking

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THE LONGER READ

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THE REST OF IT
Party arithmetic

Free calculators

Each one answers in a single screen, prints as a list you can take to the shop, and uses the same arithmetic as the planner — so the number does not change if you carry on there.

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For guests

Every answer below is worked for this many, and each calculator opens on it.

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The short answer

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YOUR EVENT
Which do you know?
Invitations going out
People you want in the room
How are they invited?
How far are people coming?
Total budget
Weeks until the event
Adults
Children
Hours
What are people drinking?
How are you serving it?
What is the main?
How is it being cut?
Table
How is the room being used?
The room, in feet — optional
Table
How far should it hang?
How many tables
Conditions
Kind of event
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This kind of event
COMMON QUESTIONS

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THE NEXT NUMBER YOU WILL NEED

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What you need

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How to play

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How it ends

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The planner takes the date, the headcount and who it is for, then works out which of these fit the time you actually have.
NOT FOUND

This page isn’t here

The link may have been copied incompletely, or the page it pointed at has moved on. Everything the site knows is still one step away.

A single blank place card standing alone on cream paper beside a gold pen
Why it exists

Planning a party is mostly admin

Somebody has to work out how much chicken feeds thirty, whether the sprouts and the potatoes can share an oven, what a fourteen-year-old will find embarrassing, and which of the eleven things on the list has to happen before the invitations go out.

None of that is the fun part, and all of it is knowable. That is the whole idea behind Kit & Occasion: the answers exist, they are just spread across forty browser tabs and the memory of whoever hosted last year.

Hands tying a printed thank-you tag onto a paper favour bag at a kitchen table, with a stack of matching placards, scissors and string

How it works

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What is free and what is not

The planning is free. All of it — the menus, the quantities, the guest list, the budget, the shopping list, the games, the checklist. Not a trial, and not capped at one event.

What costs money is the printing: a coordinated set of signs, labels, table cards and game materials in your own colours, sized correctly, with the paper worked out and the assembly written down. It is the gap between having a plan and having a party, and it is the part people dread. One payment, no subscription.

Start with whatever you are planning next

What the printing is

One set, drawn for the occasion and coloured for yours

The welcome sign, the menu, the place cards, the labels and the games, on six of the tables it has been set for. Pick one and the planner opens knowing what you are planning.

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Plan one →
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Kit & Occasion

One connected tool for the whole event. The planning is free; the printed kit is the part you pay for, once.

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Plan it. Build it. Host it.

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