How much Alcohol for 30th Party

[NewHome]

Hey Guys,

I am preparing a list for DH 30th. About 60 people will be coming over with an average age of 24 so I think most will drink.

I want to know how many boxes of Beer to purchase? I am limiting it to 3 choices (Crown Lager, Coopers and Corona - will this be enough? I dont wanto run out of a beer, so thats why I have trimmed it down to only 3 choices for the guests).

Also will have ****tail Machine, Jelly Shots, and bottles (more than 1 for popular mixing drinks) of Malibu, Khalua, Vodka, Sambucca, Gin, Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, Midori bottles. But I'm not sure how many of each
Beer I should get.

The food is a whole other story lol, I havent thought about that yet.

Also is it silly to write NO BYO on the invitation. I dont want anyone to bring
anything but I can't remember ever seeing NO BYO, but I know if I dont write it some may presume and bring their own stuff :eek:

[rosierose]

I guess I would work it out on how many drinks per person......do you want a drunken crowd or would you prefer to keep it low key. I know many 24 year old men would drink 6 or more beers but many girls would have about 4 glasses wine. Many bottle shops will take back unopened slabs if u buy too much..

Unfortunately there is never too much beer in our house...LOL (DH not me)

as for "no byo" just say.... drinks/alcohol and food supplied....and if people still bring then there is more for everyone else...

[rosierose]

Oh & most importantly make sure people don't drink and drive by supplying alcohol you should take some responsibility for ensuring people don't drink & drive....:thumbs up:

[stormy]

Hi NewHome,

I don't know much about beer at all (can't stand the stuff!), and I'm not sure if your beer choices include a light? Those driving may prefer to drink light beer instead of heavy's.

Are you going to have wine as well? Not everyone may want to drink beer or spirits, so some bottles of red and white may also be needed. What about champers for the toast? I know a lot of my friends just drink champers all night at parties, so you may need some too (even though most of my friends are in their early 40's!). I tend to drink wine at parties, but if there's c.0.c.ktails, then that's a whole different story! :D

[Julie-Ann]

Great advice. I would also add some soft drink for those that don't want to drink or who want to drink both alcohol and something non alcoholic.
With the food I would suggest a catering service. My Mum had a big party recently and she bought platters of warm and cold food from a local company. They delivered the food to the door just before the party. It was very reasonably priced and delicious. It meant that Mum could really enjoy the party too.

[NewHome]

I'm having soft drinks, water, pineapple juice and orange juice too :thumbs up:

No one would drink wine lol. Most are my age (23) and I can't think of one person who would want wine.

BUT I will have wine as I have heaps in my dads Bar. I guess I will get some light beer also, didn't think of this, DH will know what one to buy.

Just looked in the Bar and also found wild turkey, contreau, black label and wine bottles not open. So I'll add them to the alcohol.

I guess I just want to know how many cases of beer to purchase lol, no one knows :confused: hehe. But nothing will go to waste as the beer will get drunk anyways if not at the party.

[rachel]

I second the ideas for a lighter beer, wine and champagne and non-alcoholic drinks too.

As a temporary teetotaller I really appreciate some thought in the non-alcoholic drinks area, homebrand OJ just doesn't do it for me! I like to serve good quality juice, non-alcoholic options for ****tails if you're doing those and sparkling water as well as soft drinks which will probably also get used as mixers.

Even when I'm not pregnant I wouldn't generally drink spirits or beer and I think that's fairly common in my age group (just hanging on to my 20s by a thread). I drink sparkling wine if it is exceptional otherwise I'd usually have a few glasses of (dry) red or white. It will of course depend on what you're serving food wise though.

May I ask why you've said no BYO? Is this to make things less confusing? Some people are quite particular about what they drink and may want to bring something to share...I usually write on the invitations "wine, beer and spirits provided" or something along those lines, that way people know.

Is there a particular reason you've chosen those 3 beers? They're all fairly similar and those who drink one will usually drink the others, except maybe for Corona which is more of a "girly" beer, particularly if you're serving it with a twist of lime. I'd choose a light or mid-strength beer (Little Creatures Amber Ale is a nice mid if you're looking for something a little boutique) and a pale ale and/or a lager but that is based on what my friends drink - you know your friends best!

Julie-Ann has asked me about the law relating to serving drinks at home - I suspect it varies from state to state and I'm not sure offhand, however I would expect you to have an obligation to ensure ***ody consumes excessive alcohol, ***ody underage drinks alcohol and those who are driving have options for non-alcoholic drinks and food etc. This isn't legal advice :)

I think organising catering for canapes etc would be a good way to go, unless you've got room to seat everybody in which case you have heaps of options.

Regarding the quantities - most liquor stores will arrange with you to take back what you haven't drunk. I'd strongly advise storing some of the beer etc elsewhere and take out more as you need it. Too much beer visible could give the wrong impression! And make sure you have plenty of ice and eskies available if you don't have a spare fridge or room to store the beer in it.

[NewHome]

OK so I have counted all the Bottles of alcohol and this is what I will have, plus all bottles that are only 1 have an opened one in the Bar to top up if it gets drunk:

***e cans
Lemonade cans
Lift cans
Water bottles
4 x Orange Juice
4 x Pineapple Juice
1 x Contreua
1 x Midori
4 x Vodka
2 x Malibu
1 x Khalua
1 x Sambucca
1 x Gin
2 x Jack Daniels
2 x Wild Turkey
8 x Black Label (wont put them all out, will see as they get drunk)
2 x Johny Walker
Strawberry Dacquri/Midori Illusion ****tail Machine
100 x Jelly Shots
3 x Crown
3 x Coopers
3 x Corona
1 x Light Beer
3 x red wine
3 x white wine (no wine will get opened but it will be there, like I said most of them are single, firends, and still go out to clubs each fri and sat, most are under 24 years old and never seen them drink wine)

I want to be more on the safe side. What does everyone think?
I'm thinking most of the stuff will go to waste as I presume all the ladies will go for the ****tails and maybe Malibu and vodka mixes while the guys for the vodka, bourbon and beer.

Wine spirits and beer provided sounds like a nice way to say it. Thanks.

[thisisme]

Sounds like you've got a night club there :)
I think what you've got will be more than enoug. Not sure what the weather is like in Sydney but here in Adelaide it's freezing. If it's cold people probably won't drink as much as they normally would...

[Elements]

I would work it out this way.....by the way I think you have more than enough alcohol;)
I would say most boys drink beer and if half the party are boys and they drink approx 10 beers which is a fair amount with food and spirits and jelly shots all thrown in thats 300 bottles of beer divided by 24 in a carton thats roughly 3-4 cartons of your chosen 3 beers.
10 Cartons will serve you well......
It also depends on how long your party goes for...if you still have enough for the sun to come up some of your guests (being young and nightclub goers)...ooh I sounded so old just then:D then they will stay and drink until the sun comes up...
If you like the idea of crawling into bed by 3 am make the beer runs out at 1 and then the stragglers will change over to spirits and then it will be time to start calling the taxis:thumbs up:

[NewHome]

Thanks for all your help guys. :-)

[rosierose]

I'm loving the fact that your dad lets u raid his spirits cupboard....

[NewHome]

rosierose, yeh he said to get all the alcohol from his Bar so we dont waste money buying more when he has most of the things we want in his Bar - half the stuff my parents and their friends wouldnt drink!

[Julie-Ann]

So now we have organised the drinks- I guess you need to organise the food and the decorations (the best bit:D). Any ideas on what you are looking to do?

[NewHome]

Well I dont want a sit down buffet dinner as it wouldnt suit.

I'm thinking getting waiters to serve canape style food throughout the night.

Or filling up a table with heaps of finger food and canapes. Things like sushi,
cu***ber cream cheese and salmon canapes, cherry tomatoes and boconcini skewers, srping rolls, cheese and spinach triangle pastry things, Oysters with a cut lemon in shot glasses, peeled prawns with dipping sauce, dips with turkish bread, homemade sausage rolls, chicken satay skewers, little canape cakes, marshmellow skewers, fruit skewers, spring rolls, prawn sticks (cooked), mini choc eclairs, mini choc truffle *****, and then chips, lollies, celery, carrots, cabonosi, cheese and so on.

The food on the table all night will be most filling, but the canapes will look nicer being served but less variety.

[Julie-Ann]

I went to a party once that was catered for and they had waiters. All the food was like mini sizes of big food. So mini hamburgers and hot dogs, mini fish and chips, mini satay noodles. So filling and very yummy. But the putting platters on the table will be cheaper. And I find with that type of party, family members tend to grab a platter and walk around offering it to people- so free waiters:D

Do you have some outdoor tables or trestle tables you can use?

[NewHome]

Yes I have seen the mini burgers, and heaps of other really nice canape style food!
Did an excell spreadsheet and it would cost approx $500 for the food I would have on the table and for the same amount (and excluding the waiters) I'd only be able to get about 5 different canapes served plus the cost of waiter!!

Yeh my parents have everything needed for a party so I'll use it :-)

I'll take pics and show you all - although the party is still a while away haha.

[Julie-Ann]

An Excel spreadsheet- you are so wonderfully organised:thumbs up:.
So which month is this party? Don't tell us the date- we don't want to be responsible for a whole bunch of Decorating Forum members gate crashing the party:D.
What about decorations?And of course the cake.