My sister-in-law is planning a couple's shower and it sounds like there will be 50 guests. Because of the large group, my sister-in-law has asked for help in providing food and drinks. I signed up for soda and am just curious how much soda to bring. Again, we are expecting 50 people and will also be serving bottled water, beer, and margaritas.
Last night a bridesmaid emailed me to ask how much beer to supply. I suggested 4 cases (24 packs) of beer? Does that sound right?
I guess I should add that I don't know the crowd. Half is my husband's step-sister's family and the other half is her husband-to-be's family (is that confusing or what??) The party is a joint family, couple's wedding shower. It will be held on a Friday evening, but we reserved a room and have to be out by 930pm. The couple lives out of state and is ‘coming home’ for the shower to see family and friends they haven’t seen in months.
As for the soda, I’m planning to do soda cans, not 2 liters. I will mix it up with diet and regular and have been picking them up on sale, so its no worry, I just don’t want to bring too little.
For almost a decade, I took lunches to Doctor's offices as part of my job. Glorified caterer in a nice suit.
I used to primarily take 2 liters because of portability. I'd estimate 5 people/2 liter. So, in the case of this party, 10 would be MORE than enough.
From my experience hosting and planning parties, hardly anyone drinks soda at parties any more. Plus it's just so unhealthy. I've quit buying it all together because it ends up sitting in my basement for years and then I throw it away. You may be better off investing in a drink dispenser and making iced tea or lemonade, or just putting water in it. It looks really pretty with lemons or cucumbers floating in it. If you feel you must have soda, I definitely wouldn't buy any more than 3 cases -- maybe one cola, one diet, one lemon-lime. That way, you won't have to lug it all back home or try to give it away.
I think the beer depends on the crowd. Are most people drinkers? Will this be a party or more reserved? You may want more beer if so.
As far as drinks, I'd get 2 Liter bottles - maybe 3-4 of each kinda (regular, diet, white soda, grape, orange, root beer). You can always take the extras home!
We had my sons graduation party a couple years ago. we had aprox 150 people. we bought 10 cases of pop, 4 cases of water and about 3 cases of beer. we had loads of beer left over and about 4 cases of pop. the water really went. I would get for your amount of people about maybe 3 cases of pop and a couple cases of water.
separate note: make sure your really careful with alchohol. is everyone attending old enough? who is going to monitor that and also who is monitoring the drinking / driving aspect. just something to be careful of. there is always that one couple who come and drink like fish becuase its free.
How long is the shower going to be? You should expect that some guests will not drink any beer. If this is going to be about 3 hours or so, I would think 2 or 3 cases should be enough. For my daughter's baptism, we had about 45 people and bought 3 cases. We still have some left. We are not big drinkers so it is waiting for the next party (we also gave some to a guest to take home). Plus we had 3 cases of soda (cola and/or lemon/lime) and 3 of water.
Dear Hosts. My question to you is does it have to be all soda? I'm a Wedding Event Planner and some events are mixed with a variety of drinks. Even though your job is to bring soda try to add something of a healthy value too. for people that dont like soda but dont drink alcohol and they dont want water. Cranberry juice or a mix natural juice is good. and sometimes it cheaper to get a fountain that way they can get all the drinks they want. but if you are purchasing a case its usually two to three cans person average. Good luck!
