How Much Alcohol Per Person for a Party? The GTA Host’s Guide

Every host has stood in the aisle doing the same bad maths. Twenty people are coming, the party runs five or six hours, and there is no obvious answer to how many cases that turns into. Buy too little and someone is making a run at 11 PM. Buy too much and you are storing warm lager in a closet until Christmas. This guide gives you the actual numbers.

Everything below is built on one baseline that professional caterers have used for decades, adjusted for how people in the GTA actually drink at a house party. Use it as a floor, not a ceiling — running out is a much worse outcome than having a few bottles left over.

The baseline: two drinks in hour one, one per hour after

The planning rule is simple. Assume each drinking guest has two drinks in the first hour and one drink for every hour after that. People arrive thirsty, greet each other with a drink in hand, then settle into a slower rhythm once the food comes out.

A five-hour party therefore works out to roughly six drinks per drinking guest. A three-hour dinner is closer to four. An all-day summer barbecue that runs from two in the afternoon until midnight can reach ten or eleven, though consumption per hour drops noticeably once food is served.

The critical word is <em>drinking</em>. Not everyone at your party drinks alcohol, and assuming they do is the single most common reason hosts overbuy. In a typical mixed adult group, plan on about 70 to 80 percent of guests drinking. For 30 invited people, that is roughly 22 to 24 drinkers.

What counts as one standard drink

The per-hour rule only works if everyone agrees what a drink is. In Canada, one standard drink is 13.45 grams of alcohol, which in practice means:

• 341 ml (12 oz) of beer at around 5 percent — one regular can or bottle
• 142 ml (5 oz) of wine at around 12 percent — five glasses to a 750 ml bottle
• 43 ml (1.5 oz) of spirits at 40 percent — one standard shot or highball pour

Two things distort this at real parties. Home pours are almost always generous — a self-poured glass of wine is usually closer to 7 oz than 5, and a home cocktail often carries two ounces of spirit rather than one and a half. Tall cans are 473 ml, not 341, so a six-pack of tall cans is closer to eight standard drinks than six. Build in a little slack for both.

How much beer per person

Beer is the easiest category to plan because the units are honest. For a beer-forward crowd at a summer barbecue, budget four to six cans per beer drinker across an afternoon and evening. For a shorter evening party where beer is one option among several, two to three per beer drinker is closer to reality.

A case of 24 covers roughly five beer drinkers for an evening. If you are hosting 20 people and expect half of them to drink mostly beer, two cases is the safe number. Domestic lagers like Molson Canadian and Coors Light disappear fastest at large mixed gatherings, while imports like Corona Extra and Stella Artois move faster at smaller, food-centred parties.

How much wine per person

A 750 ml bottle gives five standard 5 oz glasses, or about four in practice once real-world pouring is accounted for. For a dinner party, plan half a bottle per wine drinker. For a longer evening where wine is the main drink, budget a full bottle per wine drinker.

The split most hosts get wrong is red versus white. In summer across the GTA, expect roughly 60 percent white, rosé or sparkling and 40 percent red. In winter that flips almost exactly. If you are pouring one wine all night, a crisp white like Jackson-Triggs Pinot Grigio is the safer crowd bet than a heavy red. Browse the full wine range if you want to build a proper spread.

How much liquor per person

Spirits need the most careful maths because one bottle stretches much further than people assume. A 750 ml bottle holds roughly 16 standard 1.5 oz pours. A 1.14 L bottle holds about 25.

For a cocktail-driven party, plan on each spirits drinker having three to four cocktails across the night. That means one 750 ml bottle covers four to five people comfortably. For 20 guests where half are drinking spirits, two to three bottles across your chosen categories is right.

If you are stocking a general-purpose bar rather than serving one signature drink, the reliable spread is one vodka, one whiskey and one rum or tequila. Vodka is the workhorse — something like Tito’s or Smirnoff No. 21 will outsell everything else on the table because it goes with every mixer you own.

Worked examples by party size

10 guests, four hours

Around 8 drinkers, roughly 5 drinks each, so 40 drinks total. That is one case of 24 beer, three bottles of wine, and one 750 ml bottle of spirits with mixers. Comfortable, with a little spare.

25 guests, five hours

Around 19 drinkers, roughly 6 drinks each, so 115 drinks total. Budget three cases of beer, eight bottles of wine, and three bottles of spirits. Add a second bottle of vodka specifically — it will go first.

50 guests, six hours

Around 38 drinkers, roughly 7 drinks each, so about 270 drinks. That is six to seven cases of beer, 18 bottles of wine, and six bottles of spirits. At this size, order a few days ahead and keep one backup case in reserve rather than trying to judge it perfectly on the night.

The part everyone forgets: ice, mixers and garnish

More parties are ruined by running out of ice than by running out of alcohol. Plan on 1 kg of ice per guest if you are chilling drinks in tubs, and roughly 0.5 kg per guest for drinks alone. On a hot GTA July afternoon, double the chilling figure — ice melts far faster than people expect.

For mixers, budget one litre of mixer for every 750 ml bottle of spirits, split across tonic, soda and cola. Add two limes per bottle of vodka, gin or tequila, and a bag of lemons if you are serving whiskey. Garnish is the cheapest part of the night and the first thing to run out.

What to do when you run out anyway

Even good planning meets a party that goes longer than expected. The LCBO closes at 9 PM on most weekdays and 6 PM on Sundays, which means the moment your party actually needs a top-up is usually the moment retail is shut. That is the gap late-night delivery exists to fill.

If you are hosting in Toronto or anywhere across the GTA, a delivery order placed mid-party arrives in about 35 minutes — faster than sending someone driving, and considerably safer. Keep the number handy before the party starts rather than looking for it at midnight.

Order what you need, when you need it

J&J Alcohol Delivery covers Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington and North York, seven days a week and long after the LCBO has closed. Browse the full range at our shop or call (437) 328-0030.