Event & Party Planner
Enter your guest count and event length, and see exactly how much food, drink, ice and seating to arrange — plus a budget estimate using your own prices. Covers both cocktail-style and full meal-service events.
Secure checkout via Stripe. Instant download after payment. Excel (.xlsx) — opens in Excel or Google Sheets.
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- Appetizer, buffet, drink and ice quantities from your guest count and event length
- Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink math built on standard party-planning rules of thumb
- Seating and table counts for 60-inch and 72-inch round tables
- Four budget scenarios (cocktail vs. meal service, wine bar vs. beer bar) using your own prices
- Every quantity cited with its source, on a dedicated sheet
How accurate is this?
Food and drink guidance genuinely varies by source more than most planning math — the figures here are defensible mid-points of commonly cited catering and bar-planning ranges (appetizer counts, standard drink formulas, ice per guest, table seating capacity), cross-checked across multiple guides and cited on the "Assumptions" sheet inside the file. It's a planning estimator, not a guarantee — adjust for your specific crowd, weather, and venue. See Why Trust These Numbers for how every calculator is verified.
Questions about this calculator
Does it work for both a cocktail party and a sit-down dinner?
Yes — it shows appetizer quantities for both "this is the whole menu" and "this is a starter before a meal," plus separate buffet quantities, so you use whichever matches your event.
Why does it show wine and beer as separate totals?
They're alternative ways to serve the same alcohol budget, so the estimator prices each one rather than adding them together — pick whichever bar style fits your event, or use both as a mixed bar and split the difference.
Does it account for dietary restrictions or a very light/heavy-eating crowd?
No — the base figures assume a typical mixed adult crowd. If you know your guests eat or drink more or less than average, adjust the Assumptions sheet directly; every figure there is editable.