Guest and catering calculator
Turn a guest list into the number of appetizers, mains, sides, desserts and drinks to order.
Catering quotes are usually priced per person, but the quantity you actually need depends on how long the event runs, how many children are coming, and whether you are serving a full meal or only drinks and nibbles. Guessing high wastes money; guessing low runs out of food in the first hour.
This calculator converts a guest count into portion counts you can read straight to a caterer: appetizer pieces, main servings, side servings, desserts, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks and water. Every rate behind the numbers is shown and editable, so you can match the caterer's own assumptions instead of ours.
Runs in your browser · free · no sign-up
Your event
Changes the starting per-person rates below.
A full meal needs fewer appetizers and more mains.
Everyone invited who is expected to eat, including children.
Share of the guest list under 12. Their portions are scaled by the child share below.
How long food and drinks are available, not the whole event.
Turn off for a dry event; the alcoholic drinks row drops to zero.
Per-person ratesAdjustClose
These are the numbers behind the estimate. They start from typical values for the event type you picked; replace them with your caterer's own figures if you have them.
How much of an adult portion a child is assumed to eat.
What to order
Appetizers
486
Pieces, not plates
Main courses
108
Servings
Side dishes
216
Servings
Desserts
135
Servings
Drinks
Who you are feeding
Children are counted at 50% of an adult portion. Appetizers only cover the pre-dinner window of a full meal, while drinks scale with the whole serving window — which is why a longer event raises the drinks and not the mains.
How to use it
- 1Enter the number of guests you expect to attend, not the number of invitations you are sending.
- 2Set the share of the guest list that is children. Children eat a fraction of an adult portion, so they are counted at a lower weight rather than excluded.
- 3Choose the event type to load a starting set of per-person rates. Catering a wedding and catering a cocktail reception are not the same job.
- 4Set the serving window in hours — the time food and drinks are actually available — and pick the meal style.
- 5Turn alcohol on or off, then open the assumptions panel if you have the caterer's own rates and want to use those instead.
How the maths works
The calculator works in portion units, not headcount. Adults count as one unit; each child counts as the child portion share set in the assumptions (50% by default), because a six-year-old does not eat a full adult plate. The portion units are then multiplied by the rate for each item.
Food quantities scale with the part of the event where that food is served, which is why the meal style matters. For a full meal the appetizer window is capped at the first 90 minutes — after that guests are eating dinner — while an appetizer-only reception needs nibbles for the whole event. Drinks scale with the full serving window in every style.
Every figure is rounded up to a whole item. Half a glass of wine is not orderable, and rounding down is how hosts end up short. The result is a planning figure, not a quotation: caterers add their own buffer, and a venue may insist on a minimum spend or a fixed package.
- Appetizers = portion units × pieces per adult per hour × appetizer window
- Mains and sides = portion units × servings per adult (full meal only)
- Desserts = portion units × servings per adult × a meal-style factor
- Drinks = portion units × drinks per adult per hour × serving window
A worked example
A wedding for 120 guests, 20% of them children, five hours of food and drink, a full meal and a bar:
- Adults and children
- 96 adults, 24 children
- Portion units
- 108 (children at half weight)
- Appetizers
- 486 pieces
- Main courses
- 108 servings
- Side dishes
- 216 servings
- Desserts
- 135 servings
- Soft drinks
- 540 glasses
- Alcoholic drinks
- 810 drinks
- Water
- 648 glasses
- Total drinks
- 1,998
These are the exact numbers this calculator returns for those inputs. Change the hours to four and the drink counts drop by a fifth, because drinks scale with the serving window while the meal quantities do not.
Frequently asked questions
How much food should I plan per guest?
As a starting point, plan one main serving and two side servings per adult for a plated or buffet meal, 3–5 appetizer pieces per adult per hour of reception, and one to one-and-a-quarter desserts per adult. These are the defaults in the tool; a caterer with experience at your venue will usually have better numbers, and you can type them in.
Should children be counted as full guests?
Not for food quantities. Children are counted at a share of an adult portion — 50% by default here — because they eat less and often leave most of a plate. They stay in the guest count for seating, favours and drinks, which is why the calculator reports adults and children separately.
Does the calculator include ice, garnish or staff meals?
No. It covers appetizers, mains, sides, desserts, soft drinks, alcohol and water only. Ice, coffee and tea service, vendor meals, cake-cutting fees and service charges are quoted separately by most caterers, so add them to your budget rather than to these counts.
How many drinks per person should I buy?
The default assumption is one alcoholic drink and one soft drink per adult per hour, plus about 1.2 glasses of water. That is deliberately moderate: a crowd that drinks heavily will get through more, an afternoon event with children will get through less. Lower the per-hour rates in the assumptions panel to match your guest list.
Why track soft drinks and water separately?
Because they are bought from different places and one of them must never run out. Water usually comes from the venue in jugs or from a tap station, while soft drinks are purchased by the litre or the case. Separate lines turn the result into a shopping list you can actually take to a shop.
Ready to send the invitation itself?
InviteVia turns your plan into a digital invitation with RSVP collection, guest messaging and a link you can share or print as a QR code.
Where to go next
Wedding RSVP guide for hosts
How to collect firm numbers before the caterer's deadline, and what to do about the guests who never reply.
Party budget calculator
Once the quantities are settled, split the money across venue, food, decor and the rest of the list.
What to include on a wedding invitation
The details that save you from answering the same meal-choice question forty times.
All planning tools
The other free tools in this section, in one place.
These figures are planning rules of thumb, not quotes or guarantees. Rates are editable defaults, and your venue or caterer may use different ones — treat the output as a starting point for a conversation. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored.