How Many? How Much?

One of the most confusing and questionable elements of planning a party is figuring out the right amount of food and drinks to serve, per guest. And the bigger the guest count, the harder it is to judge the correct quantity! I've compiled some helpful tips, hints, and calculations to make this job that much easier on your budget and brain!

• A keg of beer in the U.S. is the equivalent of a half-barrel. It holds 15.5 gallons of beer. It weighs as much as 180 pounds at capacity and is about 30 pounds when empty. That breaks out to about 1980 ounces. Actual per-glass quantity will vary depending on the amount of foam. Worst case, based on a 12-oz serving with ½-inch head, will be about 200 cups and best case will be about 220 cups with a 1-inch head of foam. That equates to about seven cases of beer.

• Other keg sizes include the quarter keg, which holds about 80 twelve-ounce beers and the 1/6 Pony that holds about 50 twelve-ounce beers. The beer sphere and party keg hold about the same as the Pony.

• Mixed drinks are served based on a jigger, or 1 ½ ounce. You will get 16 jiggers from a 750 ml bottle, 22 jiggers from a 1-liter bottle, and 39 jiggers from a 1/75 liter bottle.

• Wine is typically measured in 4- or 5-ounce increments. You should be able to fill 5 wine glasses from one 750 ml bottle and have approximately 10 servings from a 1.5 liter.

• Always chill wine before serving. Observe the twenty-minute rule: remove white wines from the refrigerator twenty minutes before you serve them; refrigerate red wines for twenty minutes before you open the bottle. That is a general rule – sweet whites taste better if they remain cold.

• Soak oranges and lemons in warm water first and they will yield more juice.

• To prevent dripping when pouring from a bottle, rub a strip of wax paper around the rim.

• Shake drinks that use fruit juices. Stir beverages that contain only alcohol and water. If you are mixing a carbonated beverage, stir gently or the sparkly effect will dissipate. The fizzing action actually does the mixing for you!

• If you do not have room in the freezer to chill glasses, fill them with ice and let the cubes melt. Pour out the cold water and then fill with fresh ice when you are ready to mix.

• Calculate for at least double the number of plates per guest. Quadruple napkin quantities.

• You may expect a recipe to serve 4 that you have quadrupled will serve 16, but it will most likely serve more. Avoid multiplying by an odd number.

• 1 pound of food, per person, is the average figure for a full meal. Plus beverages and desserts.

• On average, your guests will consume 5 hors d'oeuvres per person per hour for the first 2 hours and 3 per person per hour for each additional hour. So for a 3-hour long party of 10 people, you will need to prepare about 130 appetizers, a little less if the party is to be followed by a meal.

• For a dip, you will add the total weight of the main ingredients and use the 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per person rule.

• For Fondue, you'll want to consider that one person can eat about 20 1-inch cubes of bread (1/2 to 1/3 of a loaf of French bread), 6 to 8 ounces of meat, 6 ounces of fish or seafood, 4 to 6 ounces of cheese, 6-8 ounces of vegetables, before trimming, 6-8 ounces of fruit, before trimming, 2-4 ounces of dried fruit, 4 cookies, and about 2 ounces of dessert sauce. Again, figure a total of about 1 pound of food per person, depending on the circumstances.

• For punch, figure 10 people to the gallon-- pretty good mileage. That's a conservative estimate, assuming your guests will drink about three 4-ounce servings during the party.

• For cocktails assume that your guests will consume 2 drinks per person, per hour for the first 2 hours and 1 drink per person per hour after that.

• Stock 1 pound of ice per person if the drinks need to be iced. Twice that much will be needed for an outdoor, warm-weather party, or if the party lasts a long time.

• Stock enough glasses that your guests can trade a dirty one for a clean one at least once, maybe more.

• Always round up your estimates, don't round them down.

• The more choices you offer, the smaller your calculation of individual portion size should be. That being said, you can assume your guests will taste everything on a buffet, but the tastes will be small. However, overall consumption per individual will be greater than if there were fewer choices.

• Add bulk items to your menu. For a sit-down dinner have plenty of bread to fill in any hungry spots. When hosting a cocktail party, nuts, olives, pretzels, etc. provide a little extra security so that you'll have enough for everyone, but requires no extra work on your part.

• Don't repeat a main ingredient. For example, don't serve a shrimp appetizer and shrimp main dish.

• For desserts, depending on what you decide to serve, you can figure about 1 slice of cake, tart or pastry, 4 ounces creamy dessert such as pudding or mousse, or 5 ounces ice cream, per person. When serving two or more options, reduce each by a little less than half.