Not sure how much alcohol to buy for a party? Enter how many guests will drink, how many won’t (kids, drivers, non-drinkers) and how long the party lasts. Pick your crowd’s mix of beer, wine and liquor, or type your own percentages. You get cans of beer and cases, bottles of wine, bottles of liquor, mixers, soft drinks, water and ice to buy. Choose Light for a work event or a daytime party and Heavy for a big celebration. Every amount is rounded up to whole cans, bottles and bags.
How it works: the common party rule of thumb is 2 drinks per drinker in the first hour and 1 drink for every hour after. Light takes off 25% and Heavy adds 50%. One drink is a 12 oz (355 ml) beer, a 5 oz (150 ml) glass of wine or a 1.5 oz (44 ml) shot of liquor, so a 750 ml bottle of wine pours 5 glasses and a 750 ml bottle of liquor makes about 16 drinks. Mixed drinks get about 4 oz (120 ml) of mixer each. Non-drinkers get soft drinks at the same pace, everyone gets a bottle of water for every 2 hours, and ice is planned at 1½ lb (0.7 kg) per guest.