Business · works council (CSE) · children's Christmas party
Wine for the company children's Christmas party: a hundred guests, forty drinkers, and the mulled wine question
A show, Father Christmas, an afternoon snack, two hours on a Wednesday afternoon in December. Of a hundred guests, nearly half are children and some of the parents are driving: that leaves about forty drinkers, and 23 bottles. This page counts them, works out the juice, and answers the question the works council (CSE) asks every year: can you make mulled wine with a good Bordeaux? No, and here is what to buy instead.
The calculation for your Christmas party
Set for 100 guests, 40% drinkers, two hours standing, 75% sparkling and 25% white, at the decent level. Forty drinkers, three glasses each over two hours: 20 bottles before margin. With the 8% margin, rounded to the bottle, the calculator shows 23: 17 sparkling, 6 white. Below 24 bottles, it tells you that you don't need us.
Who drinks at a children's Christmas party
For 100 guests, a typical case. This table is what justifies the 40%, the lowest share of all the business pages.
| Guests | Number | Drink wine? |
|---|---|---|
| Employees' children | 45 | No. It is their party: juice, hot chocolate, water. |
| Parents who are driving | 10 | No, or a sip for the toast. It is dark by 5 pm in December and the car is full of children. |
| Pregnant women, non-drinkers | 5 | No. |
| Adults who drink | 40 | Yes, a glass or two, no more: they are keeping an eye on the children. |
Entered on the wine and drivers page, these figures give the same share, 40%, and 70 litres of soft drinks and juice, or 47 bottles of 1.5 L, plus 50 litres of water. That calculation is made for an evening; for a two-hour afternoon party with hot chocolate, it is a ceiling, not a target.
Mulled wine: not with a good Bordeaux
Mulled wine is made with a simple red, young and fruity, low in tannin, and cheap. Sugar, orange, cinnamon, star anise and heat wipe out everything you pay for in a good Bordeaux; its tannins, on the other hand, stay, and harden as they heat. A great wine makes a more expensive and rather worse mulled wine. Transvins sells neither kits nor spices for mulled wine. Here is what to buy, and where.
The wine
Two 5-litre bag-in-boxes of simple red, from the supermarket. For forty adults, a cup and a half of 15 cl each: 9 litres served, 10 bought, because some of it evaporates. A bag-in-box keeps once opened, which matters if the pot isn't emptied.
The rest
One orange in slices, a cinnamon stick, a star anise, two cloves, 80 to 120 g of sugar. Heat gently and never let it boil: above 80 °C, the alcohol goes, the sugar cooks and the wine turns bitter.
The alcohol-free version
The same pot with red grape juice instead of wine. The children and the drivers get their steaming cup, and nobody helps themselves from the wrong place.
If you serve mulled wine, it replaces some of the sparkling: bring the length down to one hour in the calculator, which then drops to 15 bottles, 11 sparkling and 4 white. A bag-in-box of red Bordeaux can go on a quote, depending on availability; that is not where a wine merchant saves you anything. The bag-in-box or bottle page compares the two formats.
How many bottles for a children's Christmas party of 100 people?
Twenty before margin, 23 with it, for two hours with 40% drinkers: 17 sparkling and 6 white. If partners come without children, or if the party runs on into an aperitif, raise the share of drinkers; the general calculator does the count with no preset.
Can you make mulled wine with a good wine?
You can, but it is money wasted: spices, sugar and heat cover the aromas, and the tannins of a Bordeaux for laying down harden as it cooks. Take a simple, supple red in a bag-in-box from the supermarket. Keep the good Bordeaux for the annual party.
Is mulled wine safe for children?
No: heating only evaporates part of the alcohol, not all of it. Serve it on a separate table, by an adult, in cups of a different colour from the hot chocolate ones. The two pots look alike, and that is where accidents happen.
When should you order the wine for the Christmas party?
For a grouped delivery to a single address, before 5 December. If the works council is also giving gift boxes to employees, those are ordered before 15 November, and the party wine can go in the same delivery. The December timetable is on the festive season: when to order page.
Christmas party mistakes
- Counting a hundred drinkers. There are forty. At 80%, the calculator shows 48 bottles in cases: twice too many, and unopened cases are not taken back.
- Sacrificing a good Bordeaux to mulled wine. Two bag-in-boxes of simple red make better mulled wine for a fraction of the price.
- Putting the mulled wine next to the hot chocolate. Two tables, two colours of cup, an adult behind the pot of wine.
- Forgetting the juice. Forty-five children drink more juice than the parents drink wine. With water, it is the real item on the list.
The party wine and the employees' gift boxes on a single quote: see the works council gift boxes page, or request a quote for the Christmas party, reply within 48 working hours.