Company · annual party, end-of-year celebration
Wine for the company annual party: 150 guests, a dinner, a dance floor
The party of the year: welcome reception, speech and toast by the boss, seated dinner, then the dance floor until one in the morning. For 150 people, count 150 bottles before rounding and 29 cases once rounded up. This page counts moment by moment, works out the budget per head, and reminds you that the VAT on this evening can be recovered.
The calculation for your party
Set for 150 guests, 80% drinking, a reception of an hour and a half, a seated dinner, three hours of party. If dinner is a standing buffet, untick the meal and extend the reception to three hours.
What each moment uses
Reception and toast
50 bottles before rounding for 120 drinkers, half of it sparkling. The boss's toast falls within it: one flute per person, counted.
The dinner
60 bottles before rounding: 39 red, 21 white. The moment to spend the budget, the only one where the wine is actually tasted.
The dance floor
40 bottles before rounding of sparkling and rosé. After midnight, water and soft drinks take over, whatever the organising committee says.
The total
174 bottles: 48 red, 42 white, 30 rosé, 54 sparkling. Delivered on a pallet, cold room the day before for the sparkling and the whites.
The budget per head, and VAT
An annual party is a reception held in the company's interest: the VAT on the wine is generally deductible, with an invoice in the company's name and the list of participants on file. That brings the real cost down by 20%. The VAT on wine page details the rule and its limits; your accountant has the final word.
| Level | Total incl. VAT | Total excl. VAT | Per person excl. VAT | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decent | ≈ €2,400 | ≈ €2,000 | ≈ €13 | Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur, entry-level champagne for the toast. |
| Good | ≈ €3,500 | ≈ €2,900 | ≈ €19 | Crus bourgeois at dinner, white Pessac-Léognan, champagne from a well-known house. |
| Great growth | ≈ €6,200 | ≈ €5,200 | ≈ €35 | Classified growths at dinner. Rarely justified for 150 covers; keep it for the management table. |
Orders of magnitude on the 174 bottles in the default setting and the calculator's price ranges. Excluding delivery and service.
How many bottles for a company party of 150 people?
About 150 before rounding and 174 in cases for a reception of an hour and a half, a seated dinner and three hours of party, with 80% drinkers. Without a seated dinner, it comes down to around 110. Red is only for dinner; the rest is sparkling, white and rosé.
Champagne or crémant for the toast?
The toast uses one flute per person, 25 bottles for 150: at €32 for champagne against €12 for a crémant, the difference is €500, on an item of €3,500. Many companies serve champagne for the toast and crémant on the dance floor. Crémant is available on request.
Should you have a seated dinner or a buffet?
A standing buffet drinks like a long reception: more white and sparkling, less red, and a similar total. It does however need a bar and staff behind it, whereas a seated dinner is served by the bottle on the tables. For a seated dinner of 200 with service, the gala dinner page counts the staff and the large formats.
When should you order for a December party?
Firm order before 20 November: carriers are saturated from 10 December and a pallet can't be squeezed into a slot the day before. The rest of the rules for company purchasing, invoice, payment terms, delivery on site, are on the corporate event page.
Organising committees' mistakes
- A single level of wine for the whole evening. Dinner deserves a notch up; the dance floor, a notch down. Two sparkling wines, not one.
- Counting employees, not attendees with partners. If partners are invited, the number can double; if they aren't, 15% of those registered don't show up.
- Forgetting to chill 84 bottles of sparkling and white. A pallet that arrives in the morning isn't cold by the evening. Cold room the day before, or six ice tubs and two hours.
- Letting full cases leave with employees. For VAT purposes they are gifts, and they aren't taken back. The 10% margin is there so that none are left over.
A different programme? The general calculator combines moments freely. Ask for a business quote.