How the Cocktailhire Wedding & Party Drinks Planner works

Scope

What the planner is designed to answer

The tool produces practical purchasing estimates for a private party or event. It covers standard spirits and mixers, wine, Prosecco or Champagne, cubed ice, working glassware and a Cocktailhire-level bartender benchmark. It can also use the outward part of a UK postcode to look for ice and glassware suppliers in the maintained mainland supplier list.

It does not build a Cocktailhire event menu, reserve stock, check date-specific availability or replace a supplier quote. The downloadable plan is guidance to help a host start an order, not a promise that every guest will drink at the same pace.

Wedding planning use

What couples and wedding planners can use it for

Couples can use the calculator to turn a changing guest count and drinks-service window into a clearer first shopping plan, then share the PDF with their venue, family and suppliers. Professional wedding planners can use the same inputs to make early client briefs more consistent, compare revised guest counts and begin ice or glassware supplier research near the venue.

The calculator is deliberately not a replacement for the venue or planner. Wedding-specific questions such as corkage, table wine, beer, soft drinks, children, venue stock, refrigerated storage, delivery windows and glass washing still need to be confirmed. Publishing that boundary keeps the calculated quantities useful without pretending to know details the host has not entered.

Who the quantities cover

Use the drinking group for drinks, and full attendance for staffing

The quick drinks calculation assumes every person entered is an adult drinking the selected spirits with mixers, wine or fizz. It does not subtract children or non-drinkers, and the three-way split allocates all planned serves to those categories. Beer, cider, water and alcohol-free drinks are not calculated in that quick mode. The whole-event planner below includes those categories separately. Mixer litres accompany spirit serves; they are not the event's soft-drinks allowance.

For example, 120 attendees including 20 children or non-drinkers is not the same as 120 adults drinking this selection. A 100-adult drinks estimate covers only that group. You still need supplies for the other 20, and the Bartenders tab should use all 120 attendees: three bartenders under our usual starting ratio, not the two shown for a 100-person drinks group.

If the same adults will switch between beer and the selected drinks, do not treat the quick tool's full-duration result as a complete order and then add beer on top without reviewing it. Use the whole-event planner to split the alcohol serves across beer, cider, spirits, wine and fizz. The free planner is not a booking quote and must never be used to lower the actual guest count on a booking.

The whole day, kept on your device

Whole-event planner: stages, supplies and arrangements

The optional whole-event planner uses model CH-whole-event-2026.09.06. It starts with an editable wedding example, not a recommendation for your guests. Set the reception, meal, toast and evening separately, with the number of adults drinking alcohol, adults not drinking alcohol and children at each stage. It does not include cocktails, cocktail recipes or a booking quote.

Separate the stages without counting the day twice

Timed stages multiply drinking adults by their stage hours and the entered alcohol allowance, initially 1.2 serves per hour. Fixed-round stages use the entered serves per drinking adult instead. An additional toast can overlap a meal: it adds its drinks but no extra service hours or water. Other stages must not overlap. Add any gap where drinks continue, and enter later stages on the following day when service crosses midnight.

Each stage's alcohol serves are rounded up, then divided across the entered percentages for spirits, wine, fizz, beer and cider. Whole serves are allocated by largest fractional remainder so the split preserves the stage total. Non-drinkers and children have a separate allowance, initially 1.2 soft or alcohol-free serves per hour, or the entered toast serves. Drinking adults have a separate initial allowance of 0.25 soft serves per hour. Drinking water starts at 0.2 litres per attendee per service hour. All are editable stock assumptions, not measured consumption or advice to drink those amounts. Check alcohol-free product labels and choose suitable alternatives for children.

Convert serves to purchasing units

A 70cl spirit bottle allows twenty 35ml serves, with 100ml mixer and 250g service ice per serve. A 75cl wine bottle allows four 175ml serves, leaving a small allowance; a 75cl fizz or alcohol-free fizz bottle allows six 125ml serves. Each beer or cider bottle or can counts as one serve; the editable container size describes the product rather than changing that count. Soft drinks allow five 200ml serves per litre. Soft-drink service ice starts at 50g per serve. Drinking water and mixer quantities are separate.

Purchasing quantities are pooled across stages before rounding up to whole bottles, containers or litres. Serving ice is added to the separate drinks-chilling ice quantity you enter, then rounded up to bags of your chosen size. The model does not infer cooling ice from the weather. Confirm chilling arrangements and products with the supplier.

Only count supplies you can rely on

Confirmed supplier, family or venue allocations reduce the remaining order, never below zero. Pending allocations remain visible but are not deducted. Surplus confirmed supplies are flagged so you can check for duplicate orders. Quantities are planning records: the tool does not contact, reserve or order from anyone.

Storage and glass circulation

The conservative chilled-container check counts all wine, fizz, beer, cider, alcohol-free fizz, soft drinks and mixers, with water counted as 1-litre bottles. Actual container dimensions and drinks served unchilled need a separate check. The comparison assumes the whole order arrives together; a shortfall prompts staged deliveries or additional storage, not a claim that the event cannot work. Ice storage is compared with the rounded bag order. Delivery time plus your supplier-confirmed chilling lead time is checked against the first service.

With no washing, glasses are pooled across all stages, with a fresh water glass for each person in each water-service stage and an editable 10% spare allowance. Beer and cider glasses are optional. Reuse is applied only when both collection and washing have named, confirmed responsibility. A stage's glasses remain unavailable until its end plus your collection, washing and return time. The highest number simultaneously needed determines the order. Toast glasses are added to their containing service stage. No washing within a stage is assumed.

Costs, versions and the event-day handover

Prices apply to the remaining order. Charges for supplied stock, delivery, staff, equipment, washing and other work are entered separately. A blank is unknown, not zero: the complete DIY total and price difference remain withheld until the required fields are priced. Refundable deposits add to upfront cash but not the base cost. Corkage uses the selected total, applicable bottle count or applicable attendance. The automatic remaining-bottle option covers only spirit, wine and fizz bottles still to buy; use an entered count or total for other agreements.

A possible unopened-stock refund is shown only when you confirm the supplier's terms and enter priced returnable units. It does not reduce upfront cash. Hire fees are not treated as refundable stock. Compare a venue or supplier quote only after matching its guests, service hours, quantities, staffing, tax, delivery and returns. These are your prices, not live quotes.

Local versions let you compare quantities, costs and arrangement flags. Client-summary, supplier and event-day PDFs give different handovers; the supplier and event-day versions leave out the cost comparison and post-event stock table. Shared notes appear in every PDF. After the event, received stock minus unused stock estimates usage including waste, not individual drinking. Stock returned for refund is recorded separately. These records stay yours and are not collected to train or recalibrate the public model.

Open the whole-event planner.

Starting point

How the total number of party serves is estimated

The planner starts at 1.2 drinks per guest, per party hour. The whole total is rounded up, then divided across the drinks selected by the user. Moving one drinks-split control adjusts the others so the selected categories continue to total 100%.

This is an event-planning allowance rather than a measured prediction for an individual guest. The PDF describes 30% fewer daytime drinks as a manual planning scenario, not an automatic reduction. Recheck bottle rounding and service glassware; do not cut guest numbers, staffing or bucket-chilling ice by 30%. That reduction is not applied silently because the host may know that their event will run at a different pace.

Drinks shopping

How spirits, mixers, wine and fizz are converted

If the host selects a pre-party Prosecco or Champagne reception, the tool adds one extra hour at the same 1.2-serve planning rate for every guest. Those serves are added to the party fizz allocation rather than deducted from the normal party period. Do not count that reception hour again in party length. The checkbox uses the same entered group; a different reception headcount, table service or a separate toast needs its own allowance.

The UK Government permits 25ml or 35ml measures for gin, rum, vodka and whisky, and 125ml or 175ml glasses of still wine among the specified quantities. The planner uses 35ml spirits and 175ml wine consistently so the shopping output has a visible basis. See the official specified-quantities guidance.

Ice

How serving ice and chilling ice are kept separate

When spirits and mixers are selected, serving ice is calculated at 0.25kg for every planned party serve. This deliberately follows the total pressure on the bar rather than only the number of spirit serves. If no spirits are selected, the serving-ice result is reduced to 20% of that amount for incidental use.

Chilling ice is added separately at 2kg per large bucket for every active hour. A selected one-hour reception also extends the chilling period by one hour. The public planner specifies cubed ice throughout so the output remains simple to purchase.

Glassware

How many working glasses are included

The glassware total equals all planned party serves plus any separate reception serves. One working glass is allocated to each planned serve because the calculator assumes there will be no glass washing during service. Highballs are allocated to spirits and mixers, wine glasses to wine, and flutes to fizz and reception serves.

This is intentionally a working-service quantity, not a prediction of how many glasses will be broken or left in bedrooms, gardens or other areas. A host who expects slow collection or high breakage should discuss extra stock with the hire company.

Guests reusing their own glass is not the same as a staffed washing cycle. Neither reduces the model's order automatically. If glasses will be washed and returned to service, agree the collection rate, wash cycle, turnaround and spare stock with the hire company before reducing quantities. Add glasses for water, beer and excluded drinks separately.

Bartenders

What the staffing number means

The staffing result uses Cocktailhire's working benchmark of one bartender for every 50 guests, rounded up to the next whole person. It reflects Cocktailhire's own service pace and should not be presented as a universal staffing rule for every bar company, venue or service style.

Worked examples

What the base model produces for common guest counts

These examples use five hours of normal party service, a 34% spirits, 33% wine and 33% fizz split, no separate reception and no chilling buckets. They are included so the calculation can be checked without completing the form.

The glassware figures assume no washing during service. The ice figure is Cocktailhire's public planning allowance, not measured consumption. Change the inputs in the calculator for the actual event rather than treating this table as a fixed order.

Buying and budgeting

Turn the estimate into an order you can cost

The complete planner has an optional buying section. Ice bags are the ice total divided by your chosen bag size, rounded up. Mixer bottles are the mixer litres divided by the bottle size, rounded up. The starting sizes are 2kg and one litre; change these to the products you intend to buy.

For example, 137kg of ice needs 69 bags at 2kg, supplying 138kg. A 24.1-litre mixer estimate needs 25 one-litre bottles. These are pack conversions, not extra consumption allowances. Where a shop sells alcohol only in six-bottle cases, the result also shows the case count and the extra bottles that creates.

Add your own VAT-inclusive prices for bottles, bags and glass hire, plus total corkage and delivery or other extras. The budget multiplies exact alcohol bottle counts and whole mixer bottles and ice bags by those prices. It does not cost the optional six-bottle case quantities. Use a blended bottle price for mixed brands and an average per-glass hire price for mixed glass types. Unknown prices remain unpriced rather than becoming zero.

The result is a priced-items subtotal until every applicable field is entered. Even then, it is only a total for the listed items, not the whole wedding or event. Staff, bar hire, beer, water, alcohol-free drinks and separately planned meal or toast supplies are not added automatically. Enter any agreed extras once and keep refundable deposits separate when working out cash needed.

The PDF includes the buying quantities, any entered budget and a supplier handover covering ice storage, glass return, replenishment and the decisions still to confirm. Prices stay in the page and downloaded PDF; they are not sent with analytics or used to change a Cocktailhire booking quote.

Nearby suppliers

How postcode supplier matching works

A postcode is optional. When supplied, the full postcode is reduced to its outward area before location lookup and is not retained in the plan. Supplier results are filtered by the category and fulfilment choice before distance is used for ordering. The maintained database currently covers mainland UK suppliers only.

Supplier pages, coverage and terms can change. The PDF therefore asks the host to confirm current stock, delivery charges, collection arrangements, dirty-return terms and final pricing directly with the supplier before placing an order.

There is no universal search radius in the current form. Delivery matches use each record's published distance, postcode-area, county, region or country coverage. Collection can return the nearest recorded depot even when it is a long way away; there is no user-set collection mileage cap. Check the journey before choosing collection.

The displayed miles are straight-line estimates between the outward-postcode area and a recorded supplier base, not a route calculation from the exact venue. Results are filtered for product and fulfilment requirements, then ranked using record freshness, ordering fit and coverage before distance breaks ties. Up to three options per category are shown; they are not necessarily the three closest companies.

This is a maintained shortlist, not a live scan of every UK supplier. Expired or insufficient records are excluded, and a sparse or empty result does not establish that no local supplier exists. A criteria match is not confirmation of stock, availability, price or a reserved delivery slot. The PDF keeps supplier links and the recorded checking date so a planner can verify the terms directly.

Evidence and limits

What has and has not been validated

Cocktailhire reviewed 15 anonymised historical event packs and shopping lists on 20 August 2026. Those records supported the historic planning process and the one-bartender-per-50-guests working benchmark. They did not contain measured post-event consumption, returned stock, wastage or a reliable record of shortages and surplus.

The review therefore does not claim that 1.2 drinks per guest per hour is proven consumption. It remains a transparent operating assumption for planning. Better future validation would need opening stock, returned stock, actual attendance, breakage, service interruptions and documented shortages or surplus from completed events.

Privacy and measurement

No lead form is hidden inside the calculator

The calculator does not require an email address, phone number or account. Cocktailhire measures only anonymous quick-calculator actions such as whether a tool was opened, whether a plan was completed, whether the PDF was downloaded and whether a supplier link was followed. Guest counts, drink selections and postcodes are not included in those measurement events.

The whole-event workspace makes no plan-data requests. Event labels, optional business labels, dates, quantities, prices, responsibilities, notes, comparisons and after-event records stay in the current tab unless you explicitly save them in this browser's local storage or download a file. No server copy, cloud backup, automatic email or online share link is created. Importing a downloaded file reads it locally; it does not upload it. Anyone using the same browser profile may see local saves. Clearing browser storage can remove them, so keep your own downloaded backup. Opening the public page still makes ordinary requests for its scripts, styles and fonts; the separate optional postcode supplier search uses its stated lookup route.