Number of cans/bottles for a party

denisodwyer

I have an 18th party coming up soon with around 100 people coming. how much drink would i need to buy and how much would it cost? Dose anyone recommend a cheep beer to get?

IrishWhiskeyCha

That's a shed load of people ... :eek:

If you take 100 people at an average of 6 drinks which is very generous on your behalf that is 600 or 25 cases of 24.

You can get loads of different bottles x 24 at around 20Euro so that would be €500

The likes of Miller & Crown Australian larger come to mind at 20EUro for 24 bottles.

Not sure on cans as I never buy them.

However I would suggest asking people to bring their own and providing a basic back up.

denisodwyer

should i just ask them to bring spirits or what?

brianthebard

BYOB. simple.

irish_goat

Ask people to bring their own, it's standard for most 18th parties.

rubadub

Bring their own as said, you can get a few crates in just in case, keep them hidden away until people have really ran out. If there is an abundance of "free" drink people have no respect for it, you will find half drank cans/bottles all over the place, and people lash it down like animals, it can get very messy...

denisodwyer wrote: »

should i just ask them to bring spirits or what?

BEER, I would discourage spirits for a bunch of 18 year olds, asking for trouble.

denisodwyer

no like ive said already beer will be provided so....

guildofevil

You could go all fancy and hire some draught equipment and get some kegs:
http://www.eventbars.ie/index.php/Keg-Hire/View-all-products.html (Allow me to recommend Galway Hooker)

But the cost effective option would be to drive to Newry and get slabs of cans in Sainsbury's.

denisodwyer

how much does keg equipment cost?

guildofevil

If you are talking about 100 people, your best bet would be to contact them and get them to cut you a deal.

http://www.eventbars.ie/index.php/component/option,com_facileforms/Itemid,66/

denisodwyer

ya but were talkin like 1 keg plus equipment for 250 euro and thats less than 100 pints yano....

az2wp0sye65487

Who is Yano?

Anyway, best bet is to just buy a small amount of 'backup' beer - maybe 4 or 5 cases/trays of 24 cans - and tell everyone it's B.Y.O.B. as previously suggested.

Then you can still be seen to offer people a drink when they arrive (and they won't be calling you a stingey pr**k behind your back) but they also have their own supplies with them.

Also, there's a danger of you getting in a LOAD of beer that:

(a) nobody likes

or

(b) nobody drinks as they all bring their own anyway

and you'll be left with a shedload of beer afterwards!

guildofevil

denisodwyer wrote: »

ya but were talkin like 1 keg plus equipment for 250 euro and thats less than 100 pints yano....

The most expensive beer they have would run you €250, but the cheapest lager is €170 all in. As you would end up buying several kegs, the price per keg would come down, as you do not need to hire separate equipment for each keg.

eventbars.ie wrote:

For customers wanting full draught bar facilities for groups over 80 guests , Event bars offers a discount on the per keg price.

Which is why I recommended contacting them an getting them to cut a deal. It's worth asking. If you don't like the figure they come back with you can go with cans instead.

rubadub

denisodwyer wrote: »

no like ive said already beer will be provided so....

I would be quite worried about this, unless they are all unusually civilised 18year olds. If their are any "friends of friends" at these things they will not have as much respect for "free drink" and it can get messy as I said already. There are 2 problems with amounts of beer got -too much and you will have loads of cans half empty & spilled since people do not look after their drinks, second problem is with too little drink people will lash it down early to get "their share". Where is all this taking place? I would not like trying to handle 100 pissed 18year olds.

I have seen this with grown men in their 30's at christmas parties, on some occasions they said "right there is €300 behind the bar and once its gone you are on your own", they began to swill down triple vodkas as quick as they could to get the most out of it. I remember girls skulling fancy cocktails to "get their moneys worth", one skinny girl was ditching her drinks on the sly to keep up with her obese heavy drinking friend. Fights broke out and one guy ended up fired. Other xmas parties worked FAR better, they handed out raffle tickets or other tokens so you got say 5 drinks and had them at your own pace, non-drinkers handed them out evenly to others etc.

guildofevil

I think rubadub is making an excellent point here. Just thinking of how I would have acted at 18 with a bunch of free drink... and multiplying by 100... messy.

moonflower

Definitely don't give our free drink for the whole night. Buy a few boxes of beer (try Stella, you can usually get 24 bottles for €15 or so) and maybe a bottle of spirits. Tell people to bring their own drink and give out the beer when people start running out. If you get a bottle of vodka or something hold it off until the end of the night when everyone's run out of drink and people are leaving, it'll keep the party going for a bit longer.

I'm 18 too and I think it's pretty standard for people our age to bring their own drink to parties and for the host to just buy a small amount as backup. Even if someone tells me they're providing drink I'll usually bring a few cans just in case, so I'm sure most people will arrive with their own booze.

Ham'nd'egger

rubadub wrote: »

I have seen this with grown men in their 30's at christmas parties, on some occasions they said "right there is €300 behind the bar and once its gone you are on your own", they began to swill down triple vodkas as quick as they could to get the most out of it. I remember girls skulling fancy cocktails to "get their moneys worth", one skinny girl was ditching her drinks on the sly to keep up with her obese heavy drinking friend. Fights broke out and one guy ended up fired. Other xmas parties worked FAR better, they handed out raffle tickets or other tokens so you got say 5 drinks and had them at your own pace, non-drinkers handed them out evenly to others etc.

To add to that; I once saw a guy at a free bar order ten pints of Guinness at the close only to take one mouthful of each pint and leave the rest. Free Bar is a by word for a messy night at the best of times; with kids it's asking for a thrashed house.

mrbruno

The common consensus here seems to be buy a limited supply of beer. You dont want to see anyone stuck for a drink but buying 600 cans is asking for trouble.
My 18th was a short while ago and I bought a few different crates of beer and cider. I had an ice bucket and just took out cans and put them into it periodically. If you just leave all the cans in a corner at the start people will stock up and be carrying around 3 or 4 drinks.
Id suggest using the extra money to buy a gazebo or something like pizzas from 4 star, you can usually get them cheap enough if you buy a good few.
If you are buying a load of drink definatley go up north. In october it was 10 pounds for 24 cans of Strongbow and far cheaper than here. I think they changed the tax rate on booze though since then but check it out.

rubadub

moonflower wrote: »

If you get a bottle of vodka or something hold it off until the end of the night when everyone's run out of drink and people are leaving, it'll keep the party going for a bit longer.

I never understood the logic of drinking spirits while already pissed at the end of the night, I said this in another thread recently and the response was.

How / why is it odd? They do that because they are plastered, and because they physically cant fit any more litres of beer into themselves. Being plastered is a good feeling, and they want to keep it going.

my response

That is exactly my point! they cannot physically fit any more beer in since they are full! it has yet to even take effect on them, so why on earth do they think they have to hit the harder stuff.

I am a very heavy drinker myself, on some weekdays I used to hit the pub and lash down 4-5pints as fast as possible, I would finish them around 10, and have about 3 pints of water the rest of the night. I would still be nicely merry going home and wake up fine. It is odd that people do not realise that alcohol takes time to take effect, if they stopped drinking at 11 they would be still as plastered and having a good feeling going home, with a belly still full of beer they force down whiskey on top of it. Its just a waste IMO, it is only taking effect when they are asleep or in a blackout. I only drink spirits at the start of a night to speed up the process, if "playing catch up" if I headed out late. Once I get to a certain level I want to stay there, coasting along, so I try and slow down my drinking as you are just trying to top up your blood alcohol level, not blow it sky high.

I have very liberal views on such things but I really would welcome a age limit of 21 years on spirits, just like provisional drivers cannot go on a motorway, they are "learner drinkers". I knew a guy who died from an alcohol overdose, and quite a few teens who had their stomachs pumped -all on spirits.

Clemon

88 pints per keg bout 6 pints per person so about 7 kegs id say. Ha that would cost ya about €1,400 ...

moonflower

rubadub wrote: »

I never understood the logic of drinking spirits while already pissed at the end of the night, I said this in another thread recently and the response was.

I have very liberal views on such things but I really would welcome a age limit of 21 years on spirits, just like provisional drivers cannot go on a motorway, they are "learner drinkers". I knew a guy who died from an alcohol overdose, and quite a few teens who had their stomachs pumped -all on spirits.

Well I suppose I'm thinking more in terms of parties after the pub. I usually have my last drink around midnight, which means I'm sobering up as I go home. But if I go to a party after the pub it's always nice if there's a bottle of vodka or something to get back to that level of tipsyness (I don't usually get very drunk).

I see what you mean with the 'learner drinkers' but I'd hate it if there was an over 21's limit on spirits! Beer gives me a hangover, I don't like cider and wine makes me sleepy so I usually drink spirits.

rubadub

moonflower wrote: »

I see what you mean with the 'learner drinkers' but I'd hate it if there was an over 21's limit on spirits! Beer gives me a hangover

Yes, spirits are purified so decent ones will result in less hangovers. It is not the fact it is distilled that I have issues with, it is the strength, i.e. I really mean the 21 limit would be on strong spirits(as opposed to say smirnoff ice), I would see no difference between beer and spirits diluted to the same strength. Many people I know get double and split a 200ml of coke between 2 people, a lot of this is due to the outrageous prices of soft drinks in pubs, a pint of coke is €8.40 in my local.

IrishWhiskeyCha

More current specials to look out for.

Box of Miller (24 x 330ml bottles) €17.99 Dunnes Stores.

Box of Budweiser (20 x 300ml botles) €15.00 Supervalue