Alcohol Estimates?

Here is a rough estimate for you.

*10 people will consume about 20 of the typical 1.5oz shots of hard liquor at the average cocktail party. For a full evening I would estimate closer to 40 1.5oz shots.

*5 bottles of wine for every 10 people. You should get roughly 5 servings per bottle.

*5 six-packs of beer for about ten people.

Again this is a rough calculation that does not take into consideration the normal alcohol consumption of your family and friends.

I hope it helps.

You can also use http://www.lcbo.com which has a great drink calculator for you to use.

Good luck and have fun : )

Alisha,

Thanks for the info on alcohol consumption and the website for the "consumption calculator." I'm providing the alcohol for my wedding also and had no idea how to much to buy. Thanks again! (And thanks Christine for asking the question!)

Here is something I found online that may be helpful for you:

Standard Guidelines for Consumption

Expect each guest to have four to five drinks at the reception. You'll get twenty-five drinks from a fifth of liquor, providing you're using a one-ounce pony to make them with one ounce of alcohol each. Using one and a half ounces of alcohol (that is, a one-and-a-half-ounce jigger), you'll get eighteen drinks per fifth of alcohol. A single case of alcohol contains twelve bottles. Assuming that you're using one ounce of alcohol to make every drink, then one case will yield 300 drinks.

If you would like to serve beer on tap, half a keg will yield 260 eight-ounce glasses of beer. Seven cases of beer will yield the same amount.

With regard to unopened bottles of alcohol, don't be too concerned about over stocking. It is better to have too much, rather than not enough. Besides, unopened bottles of alcohol can usually be returned to the store.

Hello All, we suggest that although you can get 22 shots out of a fifth of liquor those guidelines are set assuming you are using an experienced bartendong staff and even then most bartenders can only get 20 shots from the bottle. At least 2 to 3 shots are lost due to spillage or the guest changing their mind about the drink. You should also add to your budget the cost of "Mixing Liquors" such as apple pucker, triple sec, etc. this items are used to make mixed drinks.

There is a very useful tool for calculating cost and quantity of alcohol for your wedding or party, it's found here:

http://www.thealcoholcalculator.com

Thanks so much for providing these websites. We are able to bring our own alcohol to the reception site so these have been very helpful!

Thanks so much for providing these websites. We are able to bring our own alcohol to the reception site so these have been very helpful!

No problem.

This is fantastically helpful!