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Free Party Food Calculator
Work out food, dessert, drinks, ice, and plates from your guest count. Instant shopping list, no sign-up.
Your guests
Everything beside this updates as you change it.
The menu
How many dishes, and who eats what.
Cost
Optional. A per-head price from your caterer, or your own estimate.
Catering for 48 at your birthday party
10 kg of mains
Guests serve themselves, which reliably means larger portions than a plated meal. Children are on their own menu, so they come out of the adult quantities.
| Buy | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Appetisers | 160 pieces | Served before the meal, about 4 pieces a head |
| Mains | 10 kg | Cooked weight across 6 dishes — about 19 portions of each. Buy about 30% more raw for anything with bone or shrinkage |
| Sides and salad | 7 kg | Across 3 to 4 different sides |
| Dessert | 48 portions | More than one each — people take a second small piece |
| Soft drinks and water | 192 servings | One on arrival, then roughly one every 80 minutes |
| Ice | 72 lb | Chilling and serving together — the most commonly forgotten item |
| Plates | 106 | Guests start a fresh plate when they go back |
| Cups and glasses | 120 | Everybody loses track of theirs at least once |
| Napkins | 144 | Cheap, and running out is worse than over-buying |
Alcohol is its own calculation — beer, wine and spirits split by what your crowd actually drinks is in the drinks calculator.
By menu
Portions of each of your 6 dishes, so the caterer or cook knows how many of each to make.
| Menu | Guests | Per dish |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 32 | 15 |
| Vegetarian | 6 | 3 |
| Vegan | 2 | 1 |
| Kids' menu | 8 | 8 |
At a glance
The numbers a caterer or a shop will ask for.
Total guests
48
Adult portions
40
Kids' meals
8
Catering
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Why it helps
- Quantities you can hand to a shop or a caterer
- Counts children properly — half an adult for food, a whole one for cups
- Includes the ice, plates, and napkins everybody forgets
While everyone eats
The table is the best-lit, busiest place in the room.
OnceRoll collects the photos your guests take around it, without anybody installing an app.
Keep planning
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Frequently asked questions
Party Food Calculator questions
How much food do I need for 50 guests?
It depends far more on whether there is a real meal than on the headcount. Set your guest numbers and food style above and the calculator works it out, including the appetiser count.
How do children change the numbers?
A child eats roughly half what an adult does, but goes through just as many cups and plates. The calculator splits those two things rather than treating a child as half a guest throughout.
What about alcohol?
That is a separate calculation, because it depends on how long the bar is open and what your crowd drinks. Use the drinks calculator for beer, wine, and spirits.
Do I need to create an account to use this tool?
No. The tool is free, needs no sign-up, and shows a result in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. OnceRoll the app is separate: you create a photo, video, or voice guestbook there, and guests join from a QR code with no account.