Buying Alcohol for Reception - How Much?!

We got 6 cases of wine for 80 guests, plus we'll get beer & champagne. BevMo has a party planner guide which is helpful. http://www.bevmo.com/misc/contentpage.aspx?contentpageid=318

I'm not sure how much alcohol you'll need. Also, wait to purchase until the next 5 cent sale. We got our wine 1/2 off!

Check out this calculator from Frugal McDoogal. Should give you a good guesstimate on how much to buy based on your crowd:

http://www.frugalmacdoogal.net/event_planning/

Take into account how many of your guests will be driving. I did not take that into account and ended up with a bunch of alcohol left over. If people are driving they're probably only going to have one, maybe two drinks at the most.

How Many Drinks??? - figured for a 3 to 3 1/2-hour party - adjust as needed

http://www.greatpartyrecipes.com/how_to_stock_a_bar.html

http://www.thatsthespirit.com/en/drinks/party_calculator.asp

Estimate the total bill for the alcohol

http://thesavvyevent.blogspot.com/2009/02/free-drink-calculator-for-your-next.html

estimate for how much beer/wine you will need

http://www.weddingannouncer.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-8638.html

sample shopping list for 100 people

other links and ideas like this on my profile

~ congrats

Talk to your local stores as well they usually have a party planner that will help you figure out how much you need. Depending on the place you go as well they will let you return the left overs if you end up with a lot more than you want.

We're doing the same thing and buying all of our alcohol from Costco because we can return anything unopened. Quite a few states have laws that allow you to buy alcohol from them even if you don't have a membership, same with ordering prescriptions there.

For 64 people for a wedding weekend, we purchased the following. We came home with a hell of a lot of booze.

2 - liter 18 yr Glenfiddich (FH BM drink this)

2 - 1.75 liter of Jack Daniels

2 - 750 ml of Gentleman Jack

2 - 1.75 liter of Southern Comfort

2 - 1.75 liter of Captain Morgan Rum

1 - 1.75 liter of Bacardi Rum

2 - 1.75 liter of Malibu Rum

2 - 1.75 liter of Jphnnie Walker Red

2 - 1.75 liters of Skyy Vodka

2 - 1.75 liters of Tangueray Gin

2 - 1.75 liters of Kahlua

2 - 1.75 liters of Chambord

2 - 1.74 liters of Baileys

3 gals of Sangria(FH's secret recipe)

3 - Forest Glenn Pino Grigio

7 -Moet and Chandon Imperial Champagne

2 cases Yuengling

1 case Long Trail Brewery Oktoberfest

1 case of Miller

2 cases of Miller Light

2 cases Coors Light

1 case of Mike's Hard Lemonade

Mixers: (4) 2 ltr bottles of: Coke, CF Coke, Pepsi, CF Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, CF Diet Pepsi, Ginger Ale, Sierra Mist

Juce: OJ, Pineapple, Cranberry, Grapefruit

Garnish: lemons, limes, olives, onions, diry martini juice, grenadine and Rose's Lime (2) 2ltr bottles of Tonic Water and Club Soda

3 gallons of lemonade, 3 gallons of sweet tea

Gal each of: cranberry juice, pineapple juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice

Garnish: Cherries, Olives, Onions, Lemons, Limes, Orange Slices

My list was very similar to Carole M., with the exception that we had more vodka and we had 100 people. Most of our guests were staying at a near by resort and we had shuttle service so everyone drank heavily. We still have enough liquor to throw many many more parties. Check with the store you purchase your alcohol from. Many of them will let you return your unopened bottles.

@Beth C......LMAO....Vodka is the only thing we had the right amount on. There was only a little left in one bottle. We left so much at our venue that was opened. DH can't drive with open bottles. We go to our venue in August with our riding group, so we will consume the opened bottles then. We have crates full of unopened bottles and no, I can't return them. I figure they don't go bad, so I will have them for many more parties to come. UGG

Kimberly, ya got me all excited! but Bevmo only delivers alcohol to AZ and CA

@carole that list helps me out a bit. FH wants to get rum vodka and beer. I figured I would need a little more than that, to please the guests! We get to buy our own booze, and it wont go to waste if we buy too much!