A Guide to Choosing Bar Quantities for Your Event

Planning an event involves meticulous attention to detail, and one crucial aspect is determining the appropriate quantities for your event's bar. Whether you're hosting a soft bar, beer and wine bar, or a full open bar, ensuring your guests have various beverage options throughout the event is essential. In this blog post, we will provide practical tips on choosing the right bar quantities for your event, ensuring a memorable and enjoyable experience for all.

Soft Bar:

For events that do not serve alcohol, a soft bar can still offer a refreshing beverage selection. Consider including Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, tonic water, soda water, a variety of juices, bottled water, stirrers, lemons, and limes. This setup ensures guests have various non-alcoholic options, catering to different preferences.

Beer and Wine Bar for 100 Guests:

If you're planning a beer and wine bar, calculating the right quantities is essential to keep the drinks flowing. For 100 guests, you would typically require 6 cases of light beer, 6 cases of regular beer, 1 1/2 cases of Chardonnay, 1 case of White Zinfandel, 1 1/2 cases of Merlot, and 1 bottle of champagne for every 9 people for a toast (primarily for weddings).

A general rule of thumb to accommodate additional guests is to increase the quantities by 1 case of beer and 1 bottle of wine for every 20 extra guests. For example, for 120 guests, you would need 7 cases of light beer, 7 cases of regular beer, 1 3/4 cases of Chardonnay, 1 1/4 cases of White Zinfandel, 1 3/4 cases of Merlot, and 2 bottles of champagne for the toast.

Full Open Bar:

For those looking to provide a wide range of alcoholic options, a full open bar is the way to go. In addition to the beer and wine quantities mentioned earlier, you should consider stocking up on various spirits. For 100 guests, you might want to include 5 bottles of vodka, 2 bottles of Seagrams 7, 2 bottles of rum, 2 bottles of bourbon, 2 bottles of gin, 1 bottle of scotch, and additional bottles of beer and wine based on the previously mentioned guidelines.

Once you exceed 100 guests, adding an extra bottle of each spirit for every 25 additional guests is advisable. Preparing for additional guests ensures everyone can enjoy their preferred drinks throughout the event.

In conclusion, choosing the right bar quantities for your event is crucial to planning and ensuring your guests have a delightful experience. By considering the specific needs of your guests and following the guidelines provided, you can confidently determine the appropriate quantities of beverages for your soft bar, beer, and wine bar, or full open bar. Cheers to a successful and enjoyable event!