Drinks help please

[janeite]

We have a party coming up and I have no idea how many drinks I should be ordering in; please help oh wise ones!

It's a late afternoon/early evening "do" with about 20 adults, about 8 of whom will probably be driving. I was thinking of offering:
Pimms
Wine
Lager
Some kind of nice soft drink eg: homemade ginger beer or something
Fruit juice
Lemonade (mostly for the children I should think)

SO - how much do you think I'll need? And does this sound a big enough variety please? I'm a complete novice at this.

Or have you all vowed not to drink this year so won't even discuss it?

Or are you all out at drinks parties?!!!

And in January should one serve Winter Pimms still, or does one begin to think Springily and serve the normal pink one?!!!

bump as I've got no idea.

Yes, sounds like good variety. No idea on quantities though.

"Winter Pimms"???!

[Shiny laughs at uncultured self and buggers off to bed]

What is winter pimms is it like a punch?? How long are you expecting people to stay and what sort of food are you serving?

Homemade ginger beer sounds LOVELY!!!! You could also do hot spiced apple cider which is a non-alcoholic version of mulled wine (use apple juice instead of cider)? Beer for the lads and some wine on standby is perfect - people probably won't drink a huge amount at that time so I would guess:

2 cases of lager e.g. sam adams is a bit diff and the blokes seem to like it
3 x red wine and 2 x white
2 x 2l bottles of lemonade (how many kids??)
3 cartons of fruit juice
I assume having leftovers is ok or do you need to judge it as right as poss?

while the homemade ginger beer sounds lovely (as does the hot spiced apple cider!!) you could consider some non-alcoholic beer for the male non-drivers. Completely depends on your guests but non-alcoholic becks has appeared at a few parties I've hosted/attended lately and it seems to be acceptable!

Ooh hot spiced cider sounds amazing! Any recipes please? Non alcoholic Becks also a v good idea. Most people will probably stay until around 8ish I think and then the ones with children at least will clear off. A (very few) may stay later. I'm doing buffet food plus chilli, rice etc. About 8 children. Those quantities sound very sensible but how big is a case of lager please?!!! Leftovers no prob at all either!

Hot Spiced Apple Cider.

Also - waitrose and tesco do 'low alcohol cider' which is fab - I'm PG and living off it!

Thankyou - so could you make it with apple juice to make it non-alcoholic then?

And the Waitrose stuff sounds v good - do you know what brand it is please?

Oh, and I always find apple juice works best for parents with young kids (if they not too keen on their dc's having fizzy drinks).

Dont forget - people normally arrive with a bottle of wine or whatever too.

Ah yes but the wine people bring means you can restock your own supplies !

I agree - fizz and children are a dreadful mix before bedtime especially .

Yes you can just use apple juice - cheap and cheerful own brand stuff should be fine as you're adding lots of lovelies to it.

It's their own brand - very dull label in plain glass bottles saying 'low alcohol cider'!!! Tescos is 0.3 units of alcohol per bottle and waitrose is 0.5....
I would say for beer to work on 2 bottles an hour for the first hour and then one an hour after that....does that help???

Yes very helpful thanks.

The children are all old enough to cope with a bit of fizz and are also old enough for all the parents to have lapsed in the what's not allowed stakes! So they can have lemonade until tea time and then fizzy water and apple juice afterwards.