Party Alcohol Calculator: How Much to Buy Per Guest
Calculate exactly how much beer, wine, liquor, and champagne to buy for your party based on guest count, event length, and drinking style.
Shopping list
- Beer: 4 case(s) of 24 (12oz servings)
- Wine: 4 bottle(s) (750ml, ~5 glasses each)
- Liquor: 5 bottle(s) (750ml, ~16 shots each)
- Champagne/Prosecco: 4 bottle(s) (750ml, ~6 servings each)
- Mixers: 5 liter(s)
- Ice: 50 lbs
What this tool does
This party alcohol calculator tells you exactly how much beer, wine, liquor, and champagne to buy for any party, based on your guest count, how many hours the event runs, and how heavily your crowd drinks. It uses the standard event-planning rule of one drink per guest for the first hour and one drink per guest for each additional hour, then adjusts that baseline up or down for a light, average, or heavy-drinking crowd. Pick a preset for Day Party, Brunch, Club Night, or House Party and the beer, wine, liquor, and champagne mix updates automatically, since a mimosa-heavy brunch needs a very different shopping list than a liquor-heavy club night. The result is a shopping list in real units: cases of beer, bottles of wine, bottles of liquor, bottles of champagne, pounds of ice, and mixers, so you can walk into a store and buy exactly what's on the list.
Who it's for
Built for anyone buying alcohol for a party who does not want to overspend or run dry: birthday party hosts, house party throwers, brunch organizers, promoters stocking a private event bar, and anyone splitting alcohol costs with roommates or co-hosts. It works whether you're planning for 10 close friends or 300 guests at a ticketed club night.
How to use it
- Enter your total guest count and how many hours the event will run.
- Choose a drinker profile: light, average, or heavy, based on how your crowd typically drinks.
- Pick an event type preset (Day Party, Brunch, Club Night, House Party) to auto-set a realistic beer, wine, liquor, and champagne mix, or enter your own percentages.
- Read the shopping list: cases of beer, bottles of wine and liquor, bottles of champagne for mimosas, pounds of ice, and mixers.
- Copy the shareable summary to send to a co-host, roommate, or your venue.
Good to know
These numbers are planning estimates, not a guarantee. Actual consumption swings with weather, whether food is served, how long people actually stay versus the scheduled event length, and local drinking norms. The calculator assumes standard pour sizes (12oz beer, 5oz wine, 1.5oz liquor shots, 6oz champagne) and rounds up to the nearest full case or bottle so you're more likely to have extra than run short. It does not calculate cost or budget and is not a substitute for checking local permit or liquor license requirements for ticketed events.
Frequently asked questions
How much alcohol do I need for 50 guests?
For a 4-hour party of 50 average drinkers, plan on roughly 4 drinks per guest, about 200 total drinks. That works out to around 4-5 cases of beer, 8-10 bottles of wine, and 3-4 bottles of liquor if you split fairly evenly across beer, wine, and liquor. Enter 50 guests and 4 hours above to get exact numbers for your specific drink mix.
How many drinks per person should I plan for a party?
The standard rule is one drink in the first hour and one per additional hour, so a 3-hour party works out to about 3 drinks per average guest. Heavy-drinking crowds can run 30-40% higher, light crowds 25-30% lower.
How much champagne do I need for mimosas at a brunch?
Plan on roughly 2-3 mimosas per guest for a 2-3 hour brunch, split about half champagne and half juice. One 750ml bottle of champagne makes about 6 mimosas, so 50 guests at 2.5 mimosas each need around 20-21 bottles.
How much ice do I need for a party?
Plan on 1 pound of ice per guest for drinks alone, more if you're also chilling bottles in coolers instead of a fridge. A 100-guest party needs roughly 100 pounds of ice, or about 10 standard 10lb bags.
Is it cheaper to buy beer by the case for a party?
Yes, buying full cases (24 cans or bottles) is almost always cheaper per-drink than buying six-packs, and most stores let you return unopened cases. This calculator rounds your beer estimate up to the nearest full case so you know exactly how many to buy.
How much liquor do I need for an open bar?
A standard 750ml liquor bottle pours about 16 shots at 1.5oz each. For a 4-hour open bar with 50 guests where liquor is 40% of the drink mix, expect to need around 8-9 bottles across your core spirits.