Is water and ice tea enough?

heidirs731 · July 2013

The vender at the reception we are booking only does free ice tea and water for guests. The groom and I, if we wish, can buy and bring in cans or bottles of soda that can then be served to the guests. Ice tea and water is pretty much the only thing the two of us a drink, but we know other people like soda. Any idea how much soda we should buy for around 100 guests?

Jen4948 · July 2013

I think that if water and iced tea are all you serve (I can't stand iced tea) you are going to have some very disappointed guests.

If you have soda, I'd have both a regular and diet option. I drink diet, my BF drinks regular.

itzMS · July 2013

heidirs731 said:

The vender at the reception we are booking only does free ice tea and water for guests. The groom and I, if we wish, can buy and bring in cans or bottles of soda that can then be served to the guests. Ice tea and water is pretty much the only thing the two of us a drink, but we know other people like soda. Any idea how much soda we should buy for around 100 guests?

Coke and Diet Coke, Sprite and Diet Sprite.

Should be good to go with those. DEFINITELY get cans. Pouring out of a 2-liter can be kind of yucky and it will go flat quickly.

Probably 25 12 packs.

8 coke, 8 diet coke, 6 sprite, 3 diet sprite (ratio depends on your crowd)

You may want to add more Sprite if you know you have a lot of people who prefer caffeine-free

heidirs731 · July 2013

I will be in the evening. I see what you mean about water and ice tea being good during the day. I guess people will want soda in the evening.

Thank you for your soda suggestions, it's very helpful. I wouldn't have thought of diet since I don't drink it myself. But you are right, people will want it.

itzMS · July 2013

@heidirs731, the general rule of thumb is one drink (can) per hour per guest. Since you'll also have iced tea, I think you could scale back a bit...potentially.

So if your reception is 3 hours...250-300 cans

4 hours...350-400 cans

It's far better to have extra than to have thirsty guests.

QueerFemme · July 2013

I also agree about going with cans. 2 liter bottles are a hassle and I also agree that they go flat almost immediately after opening.

I'm a pepsi fan, so I would go Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, 7up and Diet 7up, together with the iced tea and water. But, the coke products are fine too.

heidirs731 · July 2013

Thank you for the estimates. Now I just have to figure out if our families are more partial to Coke or Pepsi...

jessicabessica · July 2013

Since you won't drink the leftovers, you should see if you can return what is unused. Shouldn't be a problem if you buy from Costco, for example.

QueerFemme · July 2013

jessicabessica said:

Since you won't drink the leftovers, you should see if you can return what is unused. Shouldn't be a problem if you buy from Costco, for example.

I know some places will accept returns on liquor, but I have never heard of this for soft drinks. Certainly something for OP to look into ! Good idea.

heidirs731 · July 2013

hmm... I didn't think about what to do with the extras . . . if we can't return them, we could probably give them to FI's family as they are big soda drinkers.

LondonLisa · July 2013

I would also look into lemonade being served by the banquet hall- this could be rather economical too. In addition to potentially having different fruit to put in it (like raspberry or strawberry- yum!) guests could also make Arnold Palmers and would be a good alternative to sodas.

ElcaB · July 2013

Personally, I feel water, iced tea, and lemonade would be sufficient.

heidirs731 · July 2013

I don't know if they do lemonade. I will have to ask.

KDM323 · July 2013

You can also look into getting "kegs" of soda. Depending on cost, that might be cheaper than doing cases of soda.

You might want to do a keg of regular and diet cola and then offer a lemon-lime (sprite/7up) by the can.

Just something to think about and look into pricing options for.

heidirs731 · July 2013

I didn't even know "kegs" for soda existed. haha

RedJacks25 · July 2013

I'd be very disappointed about not having a caffeinated option. So I'm in the "yes, soda!" camp.

doeydo · August 2013

How about some juice or lemonade?

ashleyep · August 2013

QueerFemme said:

jessicabessica said:

Since you won't drink the leftovers, you should see if you can return what is unused. Shouldn't be a problem if you buy from Costco, for example.

I know some places will accept returns on liquor, but I have never heard of this for soft drinks. Certainly something for OP to look into ! Good idea.

I used to work at a grocery store and as long as the case is unopened, there shouldn't be any problem returning it.

jeull64 · August 2013

You could offer those little "Crystal Lite" packets. they have soooo many flavors and guests could mix into their water whichever flavor they want. IE: Raspberry Lemonade, Iced Tea, Lemonade.. etc.

PeachesNCream22 · August 2013

This is a perfect opportunity to make your water a little more interesting. For not a lot of money, you can have several water stations with different flavors. This article, "Flavored Waters: Simple and Tasty", is where I got the idea. I'm doing cucumber-lime and tangerine-lemon for our wedding. See if your contract covers doing that. Clear containers help make it prettier.

erika610 · August 2013

I would also suggest offering your guests coffee. That can be a lifesaver after a meal.

Is water and ice tea enough?

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