# Party Food and Drink Calculator

> Estimates the alcoholic drinks, bottles of wine, beer and spirits, litres of mixers and water, kilograms of ice, non-alcoholic drinks, appetizer pieces and cake servings a party needs from the guest count, duration and event type, using standard catering rules of thumb (2 drinks per drinker in the first hour then 1 per hour, 5 glasses per 750 mL wine bottle, 17 pours per 750 mL spirits bottle).

- Calculator id: `party-food-drinks` · Category: Everyday Life (`everyday`) · Tool name: `estimate_party_supplies`
- Canonical page: https://tttkmbb.com/everyday/party-food-drinks · This document: https://tttkmbb.com/everyday/party-food-drinks.md · JSON definition: https://tttkmbb.com/everyday/party-food-drinks.json

## Purpose

Estimates the alcoholic drinks, bottles of wine, beer and spirits, litres of mixers and water, kilograms of ice, non-alcoholic drinks, appetizer pieces and cake servings a party needs from the guest count, duration and event type, using standard catering rules of thumb (2 drinks per drinker in the first hour then 1 per hour, 5 glasses per 750 mL wine bottle, 17 pours per 750 mL spirits bottle).

**Use when:** You are planning a cocktail party, reception, dinner or kids' party and need a shopping list of drinks, ice, water and finger food for a given number of guests and hours.

**Do not use when:** You need the alcohol content of a drink, blood-alcohol estimates or safe-drinking guidance (health calculators), or precise catering for a seated multi-course meal; the quantities are planning assumptions, not nutritional or safety advice.

## Input

| Parameter | Type | Unit | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `guests` | integer |  | required | Number of guests, adults and children. (min 1, max 5000) |
| `duration_hours` | number | h | required | Length of the party in hours. (min 0.5, max 24) |
| `event_type` | enum: cocktail \| dinner \| buffet_reception \| kids |  | optional, default "cocktail" | Type of event; sets the appetizer pieces per guest. |
| `drinkers_percent` | number | % | optional, default 80 | Share of guests who drink alcohol (80 means 80 %); the rest get non-alcoholic drinks. (min 0, max 100) |
| `wine_share_percent` | number | % | optional, default 40 | Share of alcoholic drinks served as wine. (min 0, max 100) |
| `beer_share_percent` | number | % | optional, default 40 | Share of alcoholic drinks served as beer. (min 0, max 100) |
| `spirits_share_percent` | number | % | optional, default 20 | Share of alcoholic drinks served as spirits or cocktails; the three shares must total 100. (min 0, max 100) |
| `outdoor_summer` | boolean |  | optional, default false | true doubles the ice to 1 kg per guest and raises water to 0.75 L per guest. |

## Output

| Field | Type | Unit | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `drinkers` | integer |  | guests × drinkers_percent / 100, rounded. |
| `drinks_per_drinker` | number |  | 2 in the first hour plus 1 per additional hour. |
| `total_drinks` | integer |  | drinkers × drinks_per_drinker, rounded up. |
| `wine_glasses` | integer |  | total_drinks × wine_share_percent / 100 (150 mL pours). |
| `wine_bottles` | integer |  | wine_glasses / 5, rounded up. |
| `beer_bottles` | integer |  | total_drinks × beer_share_percent / 100, one serving each. |
| `spirits_drinks` | integer |  | total_drinks × spirits_share_percent / 100 (44 mL pours). |
| `spirits_bottles` | integer |  | spirits_drinks / 17, rounded up. |
| `mixers_liters` | number | L | 1 L of soda, tonic or juice per 3 spirit drinks. |
| `non_alcoholic_drinks` | integer |  | Non-drinking guests × (1 + duration_hours) servings of soft drinks or juice. |
| `water_liters` | number | L | 0.5 L per guest (0.75 L outdoors in summer). |
| `ice_kg` | number | kg | 0.5 kg per guest (1 kg per guest outdoors in summer). |
| `appetizer_pieces` | integer |  | Pieces per guest for the event type × guests. |
| `cake_servings` | integer |  | One serving per guest. |
| `shopping_list` | list |  | Rows of item, quantity and unit, with volumes rounded up to whole units. |

## Formula

`drinkers = round(guests × drinkers_percent / 100); drinks_per_drinker = 2 + max(0, duration_hours − 1); total_drinks = ceil(drinkers × drinks_per_drinker); wine_bottles = ceil(total_drinks × wine_share / 5); beer_bottles = total_drinks × beer_share; spirits_bottles = ceil(total_drinks × spirits_share / 17); mixers_liters = spirit drinks / 3; ice_kg = 0.5 × guests (1 × outdoors in summer); water_liters = 0.5 × guests (0.75 outdoors); non_alcoholic_drinks = (guests − drinkers) × (1 + duration_hours); appetizer_pieces = guests × (12 cocktail, 5 dinner, 8 buffet, 6 kids); cake_servings = guests`

All quantities are catering rules of thumb, stated as assumptions: a 750 mL wine bottle gives five 150 mL glasses, a 750 mL spirits bottle seventeen 44 mL (1.5 US fl oz) pours, and guests drink about two drinks in the first hour and one per hour after that. Adjust the shares to the crowd (a beer-heavy or wine-only party) and round up, as unopened bottles can usually be returned.

## Data Sources

- Standard drink – serving sizes of beer, wine and spirits (Wikipedia) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink (reference, retrieved 2026-09-24)
- Wine bottle – the 750 mL standard bottle (Wikipedia) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_bottle (reference, retrieved 2026-09-24)

Data freshness: `static`. Deterministic formula with fixed constants; results never go stale. Inputs supplied by the caller determine the output.

## API

- `GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/party-food-drinks?guests=…&duration_hours=…`
- `POST https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/party-food-drinks` with JSON body `{"inputs": {…}}`
- Response: unified envelope (`success`, `request`, `result.values`, `result.units`, `sources`, `freshness`, `timestamp`, `next_actions`, `links`); see https://tttkmbb.com/docs/response-format.md
- Schema: https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculators/party-food-drinks · OpenAPI operationId `estimate_party_supplies` in https://tttkmbb.com/openapi.json
- Authentication: none. Rate limit: fair use, see https://tttkmbb.com/docs/rate-limits.md.

## MCP

- Server: `https://tttkmbb.com/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, JSON-RPC 2.0, no auth)
- Tool:  `run_calculator` with `{"calculator_id": "party-food-drinks", "inputs": {…}}`

## Example

- 40 guests, 4-hour cocktail party, 80 % drinkers: inputs `{"guests":40,"duration_hours":4,"event_type":"cocktail","drinkers_percent":80}` → `{"drinkers":32,"drinks_per_drinker":5,"total_drinks":160,"wine_glasses":64,"wine_bottles":13,"beer_bottles":64,"spirits_drinks":32,"spirits_bottles":2,"mixers_liters":10.7,"non_alcoholic_drinks":40,"water_liters":20,"ice_kg":20,"appetizer_pieces":480,"cake_servings":40}`
- 8 guests, 3-hour dinner, wine only: inputs `{"guests":8,"duration_hours":3,"event_type":"dinner","drinkers_percent":100,"wine_share_percent":100,"beer_share_percent":0,"spirits_share_percent":0}` → `{"total_drinks":32,"wine_bottles":7,"beer_bottles":0,"spirits_bottles":0,"non_alcoholic_drinks":0,"appetizer_pieces":40,"ice_kg":4}`

```
GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/party-food-drinks?guests=40&duration_hours=4&event_type=cocktail&drinkers_percent=80
```

## Limitations

You need the alcohol content of a drink, blood-alcohol estimates or safe-drinking guidance (health calculators), or precise catering for a seated multi-course meal; the quantities are planning assumptions, not nutritional or safety advice. All quantities are catering rules of thumb, stated as assumptions: a 750 mL wine bottle gives five 150 mL glasses, a 750 mL spirits bottle seventeen 44 mL (1.5 US fl oz) pours, and guests drink about two drinks in the first hour and one per hour after that. Adjust the shares to the crowd (a beer-heavy or wine-only party) and round up, as unopened bottles can usually be returned. All values are computed from the formula above; no measurement or live data is involved.

## FAQ

**How much is one drink?**

One 150 mL glass of wine, one 330–355 mL beer or one 44 mL (1.5 US fl oz) pour of spirits, each roughly a standard drink of 14 g of alcohol in US terms.

**Do children count as guests?**

Yes for food, water, ice and cake. Set drinkers_percent to the share of adults who drink so that children and non-drinking adults are supplied with non-alcoholic drinks instead.

**Is this enough food for a meal?**

No. Appetizer counts cover finger food only; dinner and buffet events need the main courses on top, and a cocktail party longer than 3 hours or held at mealtime needs heavier food.

## Related

- [Bill Split Calculator](https://tttkmbb.com/everyday/bill-split.md) — Split the shopping bill between hosts.
- [Unit Price Comparison Calculator](https://tttkmbb.com/everyday/unit-price.md) — Compare bottle sizes and multipacks by price per litre.