A drink calculator for a party, wedding or any event
Running out of drinks halfway through the reception is a host’s nightmare; a garage full of unopened cases is the other one. This drink calculator for parties turns your guest count and the hours the bar is open into a shopping list: bottles of beer, wine and spirits, soft drinks and mixers, drinking water, a sparkling toast and bags of ice.
It starts from a common planning rule — about two drinks per drinking guest in the first hour and one an hour after that, plus a small buffer — and then lets you change every number. Presets for India (60 ml pegs, 650 ml beer bottles), the US (NIAAA standard drinks in ounces) and the UK (25 ml measures, 70 cl spirit bottles) give sensible starting serving sizes, so you only adjust what you know about your own crowd.
How to use the Wedding & Party Drinks Calculator
- Pick a preset: India, US or UK. It fills in serving and bottle sizes in ml or ounces.
- Enter the number of adult guests, the share you expect to drink alcohol and the hours the bar will be open.
- Adjust the drinks per hour if your crowd is lighter or heavier than average, and keep a buffer of around 10%.
- Set the split between beer, wine and spirits. Shares that do not add up to 100% are scaled automatically.
- Open “Soft drinks, toast, water and ice” to change mixers, water, the toast and the ice per guest; add prices for a cost estimate.
- Press Copy shopping list and paste it into a message to your caterer or liquor shop.
Wedding & Party Drinks Calculator features
Hour-by-hour rule
Two drinks in the first hour, then one per hour (both editable), applied only to the guests who drink.
Beer, wine and spirits split
Each type gets its own serving and container size, so a 650 ml beer bottle or a 70 cl spirit bottle is counted correctly.
Soft drinks and mixers
Non-drinkers get soft drinks at the same pace, and every spirits drink adds a mixer to the soft-drink volume.
Toast, water and ice
A sparkling toast for every guest, water per guest and ice in kilograms or pounds with the number of bags.
Optional cost
Add a price per bottle for any line to see the total.
India, US and UK units
Millilitres or ounces, kilograms or pounds, and rupees, dollars or pounds sterling.
How the drinks calculation works
Drinks per drinker = first-hour drinks + later-hour drinks × (hours − 1). Multiply by the number of guests who drink and by 1 + the buffer. Each type’s share of those drinks × its serving size gives a volume, divided by the container size and rounded up to whole bottles.
Worked example: 100 guests, half of them drinking, a 3-hour bar and no buffer give 50 × (2 + 1 + 1) = 200 drinks. With 50% wine that is 100 glasses of 150 ml = 15 litres, or 20 bottles of 750 ml. With 20% spirits poured as 60 ml pegs, 40 drinks need 2.4 litres — 4 bottles of 750 ml.
Servings per bottle at a glance
| Bottle | Pour | Servings |
|---|---|---|
| Wine, 750 ml | 150 ml (5 oz) glass | 5 |
| Wine, 750 ml | 175 ml UK glass | 4.3 |
| Sparkling wine, 750 ml | 90–100 ml toast | 7–8 |
| Spirits, 750 ml | 60 ml large peg (India) | 12.5 |
| Spirits, 750 ml | 30 ml small peg (India) | 25 |
| Spirits, 750 ml | 1.5 oz (44 ml) US shot | 17 |
| Spirits, 70 cl | 25 ml UK single | 28 |
| Beer, 650 ml bottle | 330 ml glass | 2 |
Planning tips for the bar
- Know your guests. Family weddings with many non-drinkers need fewer bottles and more soft drinks; a late-night party needs more. Change the drinking share rather than the rule.
- Ask about returns. Many shops take back unopened bottles, which makes a generous buffer cheap insurance.
- Ice runs out first. In hot weather or with lots of cocktails, raise the ice per guest; keep a cooler for beer as well as the bar.
- Budget it. Put the cost into the drinks line of the wedding budget calculator, and use the split bill calculator if friends are sharing a party’s costs.
Wedding & Party Drinks Calculator FAQ
How many drinks per person per hour should I plan for a party?
A common rule of thumb is about two drinks per drinking guest in the first hour and one per hour after that. It is an estimate, not a measurement, so the drink calculator lets you change both numbers and add a buffer.
How many bottles of wine do I need for a wedding?
A 750 ml bottle pours five 150 ml glasses. Multiply the guests who drink by their drinks over the evening and by wine’s share; for 100 wine drinks you need 20 bottles.
How much liquor do I need for a party of 100?
With 70 drinkers over four hours the rule gives about 70 × 5 = 350 drinks. If a fifth are spirits at 44 ml, that is about 3 litres — four 750 ml bottles — before any buffer. Change the share and pour size for your crowd.
How much ice per guest?
Planners usually allow around 1–2 lb (0.5–1 kg) per guest, more in hot weather or for cocktails. Enter your own figure and bag size.
What is a peg?
In India a small peg is 30 ml and a large peg 60 ml of spirits. The India preset uses 60 ml; change it to 30 ml if your bar pours small pegs.
Does the drink calculator include soft drinks?
Yes. Guests who do not drink get soft drinks at the same pace, every spirits drink adds a mixer, and water is counted separately for everyone.
Is it okay to rely on these numbers?
Use them as a starting point. Crowds differ, and you should always serve responsibly: food, water, safe transport home and no alcohol for anyone under the legal age.