Ice: Figure 2 pounds per person for serving and chilling. Get it delivered an hour or so before the party begins (at least! I don’t know about where you live, but our ice vendors are notoriously “a little late”.)  You want the ice in cubes or crushed, but not in liquid form so keep it out of the sun! I store the large bags in a cool place such as the shade of a tree or in a garage or basement if feasible. It’s also a good idea to line the ground with a trash bag to provide just a  little bit of insulation.

Wine: There are 4.5 glasses to a bottle. So, when you polish off a bottle over a long evening at home, you now know many glasses you consumed.  As for the party, as long as you’re serving more than just wine, figure 2 people will drink one bottle. These days you can buy equal amounts of red as you do of white. (Adjust this suggestion accordingly depending on your menu and your guests’ tastes, if you know them.)

If you have 40 guests, I would normally purchase 15 bottles of red and 15 bottles of white. Yes, you will have leftovers…Yes, I said you want to be pretty good with your purchases so you don’t have a lot of returns, however if you don’t know the preferences of the guests, it is best to still count on two people to a bottle (but you’re not sure which they’ll drink more of, red or white, thus the quantity I suggested). You can also figure that you will be able to utilize the wine left over for another event if the vendor won’t take back the extras. As always, adjust the wine selection to fit your menu. A couple of places to find that perfect bottle of wine are: wine.com , 800wine.com

For your basic full bar, you want: vodka, gin, rum (light and/or dark), tequila, triple sec and whiskey. (BTW, our absolute favorite vodka is Stockholm Krystal. I also swear that you will be hangover free even after one too many Skyy Vodka cocktails.)

Disposables: Plan on 2.5 plates, cups, forks, knives, spoons, etc. for each guest. Guests will get seconds and there will always be that one unfortunate person who will drop their dessert (it’s usually ice-cream and it’s usually one of my kids.) It’s also important to provide 5 napkins for each person. That means 5 cocktail napkins and 5 dinner napkins for each guest. Don’t stress if you have too many, these products can store very easily and you never want to have more food than plates or forks.

Remember that the best training of all is experience. Even if you over or under buy this time around, you’ll make up for it with increased knowledge at the next event. Cheers!