Wedding Cakes & Food Forum

Non alcoholic drink quantities - when there's a bar

We are going to have a bar with beer, wine and cider. There will also be water, tea and coffee. All of these things have already been taken care of. However, we still need to buy the non alcoholic drinks and I can't find any sites that give estimates for how many non-alcoholic drinks you need when there is also a bar available. I know the actual number will depend on a lot of things but I'm hoping you can help me get a sense of how many drinks to buy (and I'd rather overbuy than under buy.

Our guests are mild - moderate alcohol drinkers and there will be about 100 adults and 10 kids. If we have a mix of pop, iced tea, club soda, and flavoured San pellegrino, approximately how many non alcoholic drinks per person should I assume? If I estimate three drinks per person for a total of 330, does that seem reasonable? 
Thank you!

Re: Non alcoholic drink quantities - when there's a bar

  • I would factor in the usual format (2 drinks first hour and 1 drink every hour after) + 2 extra drinks for each person that will be completely non-alcoholic (kids, guests that don't drink). Assuming your reception is 5 hours and you have approximately 20 people that don't drink ...

    2x20 (first hour) + 4x20 (remaining reception) + 2x20 (extra drinks) = 160

    3x90 (three drinks per guest of the alcohol drinking guests) = 270

    270+160=430 ... however if water is factored into the non-alcohol consumption and it is free flowing, you may need far less.

    I may be overestimating.

  • ernursej said:

    I would factor in the usual format (2 drinks first hour and 1 drink every hour after) + 2 extra drinks for each person that will be completely non-alcoholic (kids, guests that don't drink). Assuming your reception is 5 hours and you have approximately 20 people that don't drink ...

    2x20 (first hour) + 4x20 (remaining reception) + 2x20 (extra drinks) = 160

    3x90 (three drinks per guest of the alcohol drinking guests) = 270

    270+160=430 ... however if water is factored into the non-alcohol consumption and it is free flowing, you may need far less.

    I may be overestimating.

    Excellent! I love having a formula to work off of. It makes things so much easier. Water is free flowing and not considered in the total non alcoholic drink numbers. But I like your logic and will play around with those numbers. 
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