50 people · drinks, meal, and what comes after
How many bottles of wine for 50 guests?
Fifty people is the most requested number, because it is the one for milestone birthdays, christenings and small weddings. Allow 40 bottles drunk for drinks and a meal, 50 if the party goes on, and a little more once rounded up to the case. The calculator below does the count by colour.
The calculation for 50 guests
Set for two hours of drinks and a seated meal, 80% adults who drink. Tick the party if there is one: that is what makes the difference between 40 and 50.
Three ways to end the evening, three figures
Orders of magnitude; the calculator gives the exact figure. “Unrounded” is the expected consumption; “in cases” adds the 10% margin and rounds each colour up to the case of 6.
| The day | Unrounded | In cases | By colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meal only | 20 | 30 | 18 red, 12 white |
| 2 h drinks + meal (the setting) | 40 | 54 | 18 red, 18 white, 6 rosé, 12 sparkling |
| Drinks + meal + 2 h party | 50 | 66 | 18 red, 18 white, 12 rosé, 18 sparkling |
Between the second and third rows, ten more bottles, all sparkling and rosé: the party doesn't drink red.
What each moment uses, for 40 drinkers
2 h drinks
Two glasses in the first hour, one in the second: three glasses per drinker, 120 glasses, twenty bottles. Half sparkling, the rest white and rosé.
Seated meal
Three glasses per drinker: a white with the starter, two reds after that. Thirteen red, seven white before rounding.
2 h party
One glass in the first hour, half a glass after that. Sparkling and rosé, served very cold. This is where people over-order.
How many bottles of wine for 50 people with drinks and a meal?
Forty bottles drunk, fifty-four once the margin is added and each colour rounded up to the case: eighteen red, eighteen white, six rosé, twelve sparkling. Without the drinks, twenty bottles are enough for the meal.
And if the 50 people stay to dance?
Allow ten more bottles for every two hours, in sparkling and rosé only. Red for the party is the classic mistake: after dessert nobody wants it, and it ends up in the garage. Unopened cases are not taken back.
How do you chill 30 bottles of white and sparkling?
Not in a domestic fridge: it holds twelve and takes three hours. A tub of water, ice and salt brings a bottle down to 8 °C in twenty minutes. The chilling 50 bottles page works out the tubs and kilos of ice.
Is it for a 50th birthday?
Then the party has a number and one more bottle: the one from the birth year. The wine for a 50th birthday page deals with the party and the 1976 vintage together.
Mistakes that cost a lot
- Counting children as drinkers. Out of fifty guests, ten don't drink. The “share who drink wine” field is there for that.
- Planning red for the party. The party drinks sparkling, rosé and water.
- Buying everything at the same level. The red with the meal gets tasted; the party sparkling is drunk standing. One notch up for the first, one notch down for the second.
- Forgetting the chilling. Thirty bottles to chill need tubs and ice, or the caterer's cold room the day before.
Fewer people? The 30 people page. More? The 100 people page adds the question of delivery. The general calculator takes any number.