NYE hosting - how much booze should I buy?

[putyourshoesonnow]

I’m hosting dinner for 8 people on NYE. They are mostly middle aged, middle of the road drinkers (so quite thirsty!) Arriving at 8pm and obv staying til after midnight.
I don’t drink alcohol so I don’t want to overspend and end up with loads of leftovers. So what is the minimum I can get away with buying without being a kill-joy? Do I need to offer all of beer, red, white and fizz? Anything else? And how many bottles?

I’m thinking 8 beers, 2 white, 2 fizz (1 saved til midnight) and unlimited red (I have a rack full of that for when my Dad visits).

Is that enough? They’ve all known me for years and know that I don’t drink, so I suspect they’ll come armed with bottles as well.

YABU - Too little, you’re risking being a killjoy
YANBU - That’s enough, they can get stuck into the red if they’re desperate enough

Will they also bring drinks and do you know what they drink? You will need more than one bottle of fizz, more beers and more white wine in my opinion.

8 beers, 2 white, 2 fizz (1 saved til midnight)

Please tell me you're joking.

24 beers, 6 bottles of white, 4 bottles of fizz.

I’d at least double it all.

you are left with some it will do for gifts/donating to raffles/next year.

Oh, that'll be a dull party. You need much more booze, much more. And also, more.

does everyone drink except you?
for 7 people I’d go for:

3–4 fizz
4 white
4 red (unless you know there’s a preference)
at least 16 beers

That’s not even close to being enough! Especially not the fizz - 1 bottle will only be enough for 8 little glasses!

Thank you - I’m getting the message loud and clear!!!!

Why wouldn't they bring the booze? I wouldn't dream of going to someone's house who didn't drink and expect them to provide it.

Just because you're hosting doesn't mean you have to provide absolutely everything.

I agree (sorry)

7 bottles of white

5 bottles red

Crate of beers

Alternatively you could get gin and tonics and cut back on the wine a bit

I would say 6 beers per person and 1and a half bottles of wine pp plus gin vodka baileys port and mixers. 4 bottles of fizz and some soft drinks.

8 beers, 2 white, 2 fizz (1 saved til midnight) and unlimited red

I don't even drink and I know that's nowhere near enough for people that do!

Oh and plus 2 x champagne 🍾

Good grief! I would triple or quadruple that, although the red is the one you might not need so much of.

Have you lost the plot? Would you seriously go to a teetotaller's house and expect them to provide a full free bar as well as the meal 😂

1 bottle of fizz = 4 glasses so for a welcome drink I would expect 2pp so you would need 4 bottles plus 2 extra for midnight = 6 bottles

Wine is the same but slower drinking with dinner so would expect 4 bottles which again gives 2 drinks each.

Beer - a box of 18 should be ok

They should bring what they want to drink.

I think you have enough as they should all bring what they will drink ? I would never expect a non drinker to provide much alcohol for me , especially when cooking for me.

And I am a lush !!!

Yes, if they were hosting I would expect they host generously. I don't want to make a glass of wine last all night, I'd rather stay home. Some people don't drink beer or wine you need to offer alternatives. If it was my house we would need tequila and rum too as that's what friends. Drink on a night out.

If they know you don't drink, and you are hosting and they will lovely get some of their own you should be good. Get a couple of bottles of soft drink. You deserve nice drinks too.

I agree, and I’m a big drinker!

we always have people over for NYE but not food admittedly. All our friends bring their own drink. I would have some stuff but would expect the majority to bring what they want to drink. Even if we go for dinner, we still always bring our own drinks tbh. But we are good friends.

Seems everyone else missed the unlimited red wine comment.

Do you know what these people like to drink? I know which I my friends prefer white or red, some only drink beer. But if you don’t drink yourself I can’t blame you for not noticing.

i would add 2 bottles of fizz, so you can serve 2 pre dinner and 2 at midnight. Realistically you will find half the men don’t want that much fizz and would rather have beer or red wine.

I would make sure you have enough for half a bottle of white each.

But really if they’re that bothered they will bring whatever they themselves want to drink. You will probably end up with way more than you need at they will bring stuff with them.

Well I must live on another planet to most of you.

I'm quite a big drinker. If I, as a drinker, was hosting for 8 I'd have 8 red, 8 white, 8 fizz plus loads of spirits we already have in our cupboard. But then it doesn't go off so wouldn't matter if there were leftovers.

Dh and I would usually take a couple of bottles of wine when going to a friend's for dinner but If we were going to the party put on by someone who didn't drink I'd expect to take what I wanted - we'd probably take 3 or 4 in this situation.

In your shoes I'd message all your friends saying something like "looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. I'm excited about the food I have planned and I've a couple of bottles of fizz for midnight as well as red wine. If you'd like anything else to drink please bring it with you"

If we were coming to yours on NYE dh would bring a box of beers and I'd bring 2x fizz. Plus chocolates or flowers for you.

So if you have guests who would bring what they drink then you don't need to go mad, but 8 single beers and 2 white and 2 fizz is stingy even with the gallons of red available.