20x30 tent good enough for 40 people party?

Hi Curiousbride!! Welcome to the WeddingWire community!! I have pretty poor judgement of space, but I think that big of a tent would work. It might be a bit snug, especially if you plan on having a dance floor in the tent as well.

If it's possible and if you're visual like me, I would suggest taping out a space the dimensions of the tent in a garage/at a park/in the driveway to see for yourself.

Depends on what all you need to fit under the tent. I found this website where you can put in how many guests and what you need (dance floor, bar, DJ table etc) and it gives you a size that you’ll need. http://americanpartyrentals.com/resources/tent-size-calculator/

I'm sorry I'm bad with space. But I'd make sure the tent is big enough to fit all food, tables and chairs for guests and yourselves, and the dance floor and DJ as well! If it does rain, absolutely everything and everyone needs to be covered!

I'd also make sure the tent has sides! Again, in case of rain, I'd hate to be the one who is stuck sitting getting wet from the edges of the tent!

Http://www.apartycenter.com/tentcalc.shtml

This site says you should be okay as long as you don't want a dance floor. But like FutureMrsKC (who needs to change her name!) said, definitely get sides just in case you get a blowing rain that day. You don't have to put them down.

As one PP linked to, there’s loads of resources online that can show you potential layouts for tent sizes and what can realistically fit. Even just googling the tent size and heading over to images should help lead you in a direction where you can get a better visual sense of space. These will typically have a range of people they say they can fit— the range is taking into consideration seated versus standing, versus sitting at table, plated vs buffet etc, other things that will need to go in that space.

My tent guy said that basically every 10 people seated at one 60” table take up 10 square feet, so your PEOPLE should absolutely fit. But consider what you else needs to go in there — and if it rains, that answer is everything. Do you need a dance floor? Bar? Buffet tables? If EVERYTHING has to be in there, you may be tight. Check with the venue to see if you would be able to rent and add additional frame tents to create
more space, if necessary— these come in 10x10s, and were suggested by our tent guy as a flexible way make some more room, that they could snug them right up against the existing tent to continue the space (we wouldn’t put a guest table there, but could be good option for a bar or something!)— then this would be something you’d only need to add on in the event of bad weather.

If youre having a plated meal, or if you’re not having a dance floor, or if you are having a dance floor but no DJ are all things that will effect space and give you a roomier feel, so, when you’re considering if it’s enough space, consider what your event will be. But, google for some layouts (double check tent size on them!) and get a feel for what you’re dealing with.

For what its worth, I went for a tent where everything would fit, but would be tight if the weather was bad and everything had to be inside. But, it was a perfect day, and we were able to have the bar set up just outside the tent, and it worked perfectly! (Bad weather and we would’ve had to add a piece of frame tent [or squish, but I wasn’t super interested in that])

Thank you for your responses and links! I'm so impressed with how helpful everyone is on this forum. Looks like we'll need a small extra tent in case it rains.