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Bar lesson learned!

I don't know how many of you are planning on buying the booze yourself from Costco or elsewhere, but I just wanted to share our breakdown of what our caterer told us we should buy and what we acutally ended up using. Obviously everybody's guests are different, but here's what happened with us.We served three different cocktails (lilikoi mojito, pear ginger saketini, lychee bellini), white wine, red wine and beer (Kona Brewing company).We were asked to buy:1 750ml bottle of rum (we bough 1.7 litres just to be safe)2 750ml bottles of ginger vodka1 750ml bottle sake2 cases beer8 bottles champagne18 bottles wine (9 of each)We used:4 bottles wine (two of each)2 bottles champagne (mostly me, I think)1 case beer1½ bottles ginger vodka2/3 bottle sakeALL of our rum, PLUS an emergency bottle brought by the caterers.I'm embarassed that we ran out of the lilikoi mojitos! In retrospect, I think it's because it was an outdoor reception and because the drink was so damn tasty (and refreshing) that we drank it dry. So - I don't know if that info helps anyone, but I wish I'd known in advance that we were going to need THAT much more rum.

Re: Bar lesson learned!

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    pbkmompbkmom member
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    edited December 2011
    This is sooooooo helpful!! I'll be sure to post a similar report in January after our event.  I'm really surprised about the wine and beer.. well every group is different. Did you return the unused bottles or just finish them the rest of the week?
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    edited December 2011
    Hi Alyson, That is really helpful!! Can I ask a few questions? Would you say that your guests were big partiers or not so much? And how many people did you invite? Thanks!!
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    edited December 2011
    This was based on 31 people - 22 were in the 26-33 age bracket and 9 were parents of said age bracket - I'm sure that helps skew things toward cocktails.Of the parents group, I'd say most were light drinkers. Of the younger group, I'd say it was split between half moderate and half heavy. Certainly the Brits were heavy drinkers throughout the week!
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    edited December 2011
    Ooh, and yes, we did return the extra alcohol - but Costco told us they couldn't restock anything that had been chilled. So, that's something else to keep in mind.
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    pbkmompbkmom member
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    edited December 2011
    Did you use Celebrations or Stacey for the bar? Loved the picture with the Hawaiian soft drinks. Did you purchase those or did they come with the bar?Hey and how were the Malasadas and Lemongrass ginger smoothies? I will definitely buy extra rum, and I figure we will drink up any extra wine the rest of the week!
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    edited December 2011
    We used Celebrations. I didn't see the point in contracting another vendor when food & drink could be covered by one. The lemongrass ginger shooters were a huge hit! Really tasty and refreshing. We ended up not doing the malasadas, which was just as well, because we didn't need any more food. Everyone was stuffed!
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    edited December 2011
    Alyson, this is AWESOME--thank you for sharing.  We are buying our own alcohol too and I feel like we have no idea how to estimate these things. This is VERY helpful!
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