What to Pour for Fiesta Week

How much to buy for 40 people

A useful rule for a four-hour afternoon party: about two drinks per guest in the first hour, one per hour after that. For 40 guests that is roughly 200 drinks total, and most crowds split close to half beer and seltzer, a third cocktails, and the rest wine.

In bottles: plan on four to five 1.75L bottles of tequila or vodka for a batched cocktail, ten to twelve cases of beer and hard seltzer, and eight to ten bottles of wine. Round up on beer — it is the easiest thing to keep for next weekend.

• Beer and seltzer — 10 to 12 cases
• Tequila or vodka for batching — 4 to 5 bottles at 1.75L
• Wine — 8 to 10 bottles, mostly white, rosé or sparkling
• Ice — 1 to 1.5 lbs per guest, plus a separate bag for drinks

Two batches that carry the day

Batch margaritas at 20 oz blanco tequila, 10 oz fresh lime, 7.5 oz orange liqueur and 5 oz water per pitcher, chilled hard. Alongside it, build a batch paloma: 24 oz blanco tequila, 8 oz fresh lime and 48 oz grapefruit soda, poured over ice and salted. The paloma is lower proof, and it is what people drink at hour three.

Set both in labeled pitchers next to a bowl of lime wheels and let guests pour. A self-serve table beats a bartender who never sits down.

Cooler and ice math

Use separate coolers: one for cans, one for ice you plan to put in glasses. Cans chill fastest in a slurry of ice, water and a handful of salt — about twenty minutes from room temperature.

Buy a pound to a pound and a half of ice per guest in April heat, then buy another bag. Ice is the thing every party runs out of first, and nobody has ever regretted the extra bag.

Keeping it easy on yourself

Put out one big pitcher of something non-alcoholic with real citrus in it — agua fresca or grapefruit soda with lime — so the designated drivers are not drinking warm water from the tap.

Order delivery or set up curbside pickup the morning of, before the parade routes close streets. Restocking mid-party during Fiesta is a bad plan.