AIBU to not pay for all the drinks at my party?

[sailawaywithme]

Hello, I have a milestone birthday soon and am having a party in a function room at a local pub. There will be around 70 guests. We have organized a buffet, and a birthday cake large enough for everyone to have a slice. We also have a (fantastic!) cover band playing.

My question is about the drinks. There is a full bar in the function room and we did not plan to pay for people's drinks, but a friend of mine sounded surprised when I said it was a cash bar and that guests would buy their own drinks.

Would you expect to have all your drinks paid for? I certainly wouldn't but I'm interested in others' views. To complicate things further, we are in the US and around half the guests are Americans, and half British. Although I expect the Brits to drink much more than the Americans 😀

Most of the after funeral receptions I have been to were in pubs, because in a lot of cases people don't have the room to invite everyone back to their homes. Generally (at least in the circles I have always moved in) if the event is in a pub or restaurant, people buy their own drinks; if it's in someone's house, people bring along drinks though the hosts usually lay some on as well. In either case, there's usually a buffet if it's lunchtime/dinnertime.

Nope absolutely no way would I expect drinks to be paid for. Not even one.

It is so wrong to expect the close bereaved family to pay for everyone to get pissed

No, what is so wrong is anyone who would 'get pissed' at a funeral.

Guests should not pay for drinks at funerals. If you cannot afford alcohol, serve soft drinks only.

Surely nobody gets pissed at a funeral. At a wake maybe. But any funerals I have been to most have 1 drink, a few two. Nobody gets pissed.

I think outside a free single glass or two of something at a wedding or at a wake I have never been to a free bar party. Which is probably a good thing......

As the OP noted there will be a number of Brits there and unless there is a formal stage of toasting the age I dont think any would really expect it. And even then last few milestone birthdays I have been to didnt even have free drinks for that. I think if any of the US guests get a bit miffed at the lack of a free bar, you should try and write it off as some kind of cultural difference to be honest. They are getting food and a party after all.