Free Bar - How much alcohol do we need? (for 150 guests)

reformedEffortmaker

All

I am not a drinker, hence my question as I havent a clue!. I am trying to budget for the cost of paying for all drinks for 150 guests. Is it better to have an 'average' consumption for each person (i.e. each adult will drink 1/2 bottle of wine and 2 beers each), or take out the people who we know will not be drinking (driving/pregnant etc) and base our budget on how much the remaining guest usually drink plus say 10% more?. We havent told our guests its a free bar in advance, but I am just worried that people will take the mickey when they know its free, get drunk and cause us issues, or worse still, we will run out too early.

Has anyone had/planning a free bar? How did it work in reality?
Can anyone tell me what goes down well and what is not worth bothering with?

I have done a rough budget here, based on cash and carry/supermarket offer prices does the amount of alcohol seem realistic to cover 150 people?

thanks in advance for any replies
(by my dad and the 10 mates are big brandy drinkers hence the reason for so many!)

brandy -10 bottles x £23.00 =£230.00
gin - 3 bottles x £12.00 = £36.00
wine - 75 bottles x £5.00 = £375.00
beer - 150 bottles x £1.80 = £270.00
peroni - 80 bottles x £1.50 = £120.00
guiness - 75 cans x £1.75 = £131.25
supermalt - 70 bottles x £0.70 = £49.00
water - 200 bottles x £0.25 = £50.00
coke - 100 cans x £0.50 =£50.00
lemonade - 50 cans x £0.50 =£25.00
fanta - 50 cans x £0.50 =£25.00
diet coke - 50 cans x £0.50 =£25.00
Archers - 3 bottles x £13.00 = £39.00
malibu - 3 bottles x £13.00 = £39.00
jack daniels - 3 bottles x £13.00 = £39.00
rum -1 bottle x £13.00 = £13.00
cava - 20 bottles x £5.00 = £100.00
tonic - 5 bottles x £2.00 = £10.00
orange juice - 30 cartons x £0.80 =
ribena - 20 cartons x £0.50 = £10.00

Total = £1,660.25

sweetilemon

Very generous!!! I have no idea...but all i know is drink tends to flow faster when its free! You do seem to have account for plenty though.

sweetilemon

Didnt spot vodka on the list? I would maybe have back up 2ltr bottles of fizzy incase you run out of cans as these will be used as mixers and for the sober people!

reformedEffortmaker

sweetilemon wrote: »

Very generous!!! I have no idea...but all i know is drink tends to flow faster when its free! You do seem to have account for plenty though.

In part its a cultural thing, in that expecting guests to "put their hands in their pockets" would cause embarrassment to my parents (although we will have to pay for it all ourselves :mad:), and also because we got caught once at a wedding in country houses in the middle of nowhere with no cash machines and a pricey bar and it put a cloud over the evening for most of the guests (invite didnt mention this). I may be going to far in trying to please everyone but I think this might g someway in appeasing people if the food doesnt turn out right or the music is rubbish - if you get what i mean?

MrsDrink

Does this help?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3277900

FWIW I'm not sure you'd need all the spirits. We only provided wines, beers, ciders and soft drinks and everyone found something to enjoy. But you'll know your guests. I spent about £250 on our 50 guests to give you a rough idea.

payless

thats the best man and bridesmaids sorted... please post the list for the remaining guests :-)

roddydogs

Free Bars...gone in a flash........trouble is with no receipts issued, its impossible to prove the drinks actually have been consumed.

SailorSam

People being people, if the drinks are free think of a figure and double it.

neneromanova

The only bad thing about free bars are people tend to get drunk reeeeally quickly, forget that they already had a drink that they put down somewhere and just think, oh well, it's free, so I'll just go get another.

As for 2 beers per person :eek: I would say more likely 5-6 as the wedding is all day so roughly about 6-8hrs. I too wouldn't bother with spirits apart from Vodka. This is how I personally would have the list:

[STRIKE]brandy -10 bottles x £23.00 =£230.00 [/STRIKE]
gin - 3 bottles x £12.00 = £36.00
wine - 100 bottles x £5.00 = £500.00
beer - 250 bottles x £1.80 = £450.00
peroni - 100 bottles x £1.50 = £150.00
guiness - 100 cans x £1.75 = £175
supermalt - 70 bottles x £0.70 = £49.00
[STRIKE]water - 200 bottles x £0.25 = £50.00[/STRIKE] (Surely the venue has running water?)
coke - 100 cans x £0.50 =£50.00
lemonade - 25 2ltr bottles x £0.50 =£12.50
fanta - 50 cans x £0.50 =£25.00
diet coke - 50 cans x £0.50 =£25.00
Archers - 3 bottles x £13.00 = £39.00
malibu - 3 bottles x £13.00 = £39.00
jack daniels - 3 bottles x £13.00 = £39.00
rum -1 bottle x £13.00 = £13.00
cava - 20 bottles x £5.00 = £100.00
tonic - 16 bottles x 4 for £1.50 = £6
orange juice - 30 cartons x £0.80 = £24
ribena - 20 cartons x £0.50 = £10.00

Would it not be easier for you to just put £1k behind the bar and then say when it's gone it's gone and you buy your own drinks? But Obviously pre warn people about this, just don't mention how much is behind the bar as they'll take the proverbial.

minerva_windsong

Both my sisters had a free bar - my dad insisted on it, I think because of the not wanting people to put their hands in their pockets thing - and it actually wasn't as horrifically expensive as you would have thought. I think for my eldest sister's wedding, with around 100 guests, the cost came to just under £1,000. OK yes that's not pocket change, but seeing as that's roughly three drinks each I don't think that's taking the mick too much.

One of the 'tricks' they used, which my mum told me at the weekend, was having four bottles of wine - two red and two white - on the tables during the meal, so a lot of the wine that didn't get drunk during the dinner ended up being drunk by people who otherwise would have got wine from the free bar (which actually turned out to be quite a lot). Although again you have the outlay for the wine...

In terms of what to get, I would say know what your guests will want to drink - for example, we're looking at having a real ale on handpull because my OH and dad really like it. Likewise if you know you've got guests who'll only drink certain things then maybe factor in a bit more of that. I would also maybe get bottles of the soft drinks as it might work out cheaper than cartons/cans, but again check with the people who are likely to be drinking them as well as with parents to make sure it's stuff their kids can have.

LE3

You need to take note of the comment above about "free bars" encouraging people to drink far more than usual and also to abandon their drinks
Seriously, you need to limit your choices - to those which your guests drink! For instance I would buy gin (& tonic) as I have many friends who drink that, and also a bottle or so of Malibu as again I know people who do enjoy that. I'd add Vodka as some people like that, but wouldn't bother with stuff like Archers or Jack Daniels!
You don't need to fully stock a bar!

I think you are very off on your calculations if you think you should provide a bottle of brandy per person that you know drinks it (Dad & 10 mates)!

seriously, you get 28 shots from a standard bottle of spirits, so at doubles that's 14 - how many will they drink? do you know if your guests are wine or beer drinkers? How many kids (assume some as you have ribena)
Seriously, skip the water & all the fussy stuff - you don't need it. Much better to keep it simple: 1 or 2 beers, a cider, red & white wine, maybe 1 or 2 spirits (with mixer eg tonic if needed), coke, lemonade & squash