# Party Provisioner

> Calculate exact quantities of drinks, ice, food, glassware, and supplies for parties and events from headcount, duration, guest mix, and weather. Uses bartender-standard consumption math (drinks per guest-hour), splits beer/wine/spirits by drinker preferences, applies food-per-hour catering rules, and sizes ice in pounds. Use when planning any party, BBQ, wedding, holiday dinner, or gathering and asking how much alcohol, soda, ice, or food to buy.

- Skill: `voronindenis5/party-provisioner` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add voronindenis5/party-provisioner`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/voronindenis5/party-provisioner/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- License: MIT
- Author: voronindenis5 (https://skillmd.com/u/voronindenis5)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/voronindenis5/party-provisioner

---


# Party Provisioner 🎉

"How much should I buy?" — the question every host asks, usually answered by
panic-buying 30% too much or running dry at hour two. This skill computes
provisioning from the four variables that actually matter: **how many
guests, how long, what mix of drinkers/eaters, how hot is it** — using the
same per-guest-hour arithmetic bartenders and caterers use.

## Overview

The core unit is the **guest-hour**: a guest consumes X units per hour, so a
4-hour party for 20 is 80 guest-hours regardless of how you slice it.
`scripts/party_planner.py` implements:

**Drinks** (a "drink" = 1 beer / 1 glass of wine / 1 cocktail-served shot)
- Baseline: 2 drinks in the first hour, 1 per hour after (industry standard)
- Adjustments: heat (+20%), dancing/active event (+10%), light drinkers
  (−20%), wine-only crowd (1.5 glasses/hr)
- Mix split: from drinker preferences (e.g. 40/40/20 beer/wine/spirits)
- Units out: **beer bottles, wine bottles (5 glasses each), 750ml spirit
  bottles (17 shots)**, mixers, plus water/soda for non-drinkers & hydrating
  drinkers
- Round-up rules so you don't buy 0.8 bottles

**Ice**: 1.5 lb per drinking guest-hour + 1 lb per bag cooler + bar ice for
chilling bottles (formula from catering guides: ~1 lb/person for the
evening + chilling needs)

**Food** (per guest-hour, catering norms):
- Meal party: 1.2 lb total food/person for a 2-3h dinner
- Appetizer party: 12 bites/hour/person
- BBQ: ½ lb protein/person/meal (⅓ lb sides)
- Kids count ½, big eaters 1.5×

**Extras**: glassware (2 per guest, or 1 + rotates), plates ×1.5 servings,
napkins ×3, cups, trash bags, tables/chairs per seating standards

## When to Use

- "I'm hosting 25 people Saturday night — how much wine and beer?"
- "Backyard BBQ for 40, kids included, how many burgers and how much ice?"
- "Wedding reception, 80 guests, 5 hours, beer/wine only"
- "How many bottles of prosecco for a 3-hour brunch for 15?"
- "Cocktail party, no dinner — how many appetizers?"

**Don't use for:** commercial/cash-bar operations (licensing, stock
management), huge catered events with pro event planners (they have vendor
math), or dietary-restriction menu design (different problem).

## How It Works — Steps

1. **Headline numbers**:
   ```bash
   python3 scripts/party_planner.py --guests 25 --hours 4 --style cocktail
   ```
2. **Refine the crowd**:
   ```bash
   python3 scripts/party_planner.py --guests 40 --hours 5 --style bbq \
     --drinkers 30 --kids 10 --heat --mix 40/40/20
   ```
3. **Read the shopping list** — bottles, lbs, bites, and units to actually
   buy (with round-up), grouped by store section.
4. **Budget check** — enter unit prices (`--price-beer 1.2`) for a cost
   estimate per category and total.
5. **Print the host card** — ratios to remember, timing notes (what to
   chill when), and the "running low?" tripwires.

## Consumption Model (per drinking guest)

```
drinks(guest) = 2 × adj_first_hour + adj_1_per_subsequent_hour
adj = base × heat(1.2 if >27°C) × active(1.1) × light(0.8)
non-drinkers: 2 non-alc drinks/hr (soda/water/coffee-tea)
```
Wine-only event: 1.5 glasses/hr flat. Champagne toast: +1 glass/guest.

## Worked Example

```
40 guests (30 drinkers, 10 kids), 5h BBQ, hot day, mix 40/40/20:
  guest-hours: 150 drinker-hours → base drinks = 2+4 = 6/drinker
  heat adj ×1.2 → 7.2 drinks × 30 drinkers = 216 drinks
  split: 86 beer + 87 wine glasses + 43 cocktails
  BUY: 90 beer bottles · 18 wine bottles · 3×750ml spirits · 43 mixer-servings
  non-alc: 300 servings (200 sodas + 100 water/coffee)
  ICE: 3 × 20lb bags minimum (plus chilling)
  FOOD: 12.5 lb protein + sides + kid adjustments
  extras: 80 cups, 60 plates, 180 napkins, 4-5 trash bags
```

## Common Pitfalls

1. **Sizing by "drinks per person" without duration.** A 2-hour dinner and a
   6-hour party are different planets — always guest-×-hours.
2. **Forgetting non-drinkers** get thirsty too. Budget 2 non-alc
   drinks/hour/guest — running out of water is the #1 real-party failure,
   and on a hot day it's a safety issue.
3. **Wine bottle math** — a 750ml bottle is 5 glasses, not 4 (poured at
   150ml catering standard). Underestimating here runs dry in hour one.
4. **Ice melts.** Bagged ice for coolers needs ~1 lb/person extra; crushed
   bar ice for cocktails melts ~30% faster. Buy more than the formula if
   it's >27°C.
5. **Kids eat half but drink like adults** (of non-alc). Count them in
   drinks, halve them in food.
6. **No round-up = buying 0.8 bottles.** The tool rounds beer to 6-packs,
   wine to bottles, spirits to 750ml — keep that.
7. **Champagne "toast inflation"**: a toast pour is 100ml, not a full glass
   — 8 glasses/bottle for toast purposes.

## Verification Checklist

- [ ] Drinks ÷ drinkers falls in 0.8–2.5/hour band (sanity)
- [ ] Non-alc servings ≥ 1.5 × guest-hours
- [ ] Ice ≥ 1 lb × drinking guests for the evening (plus cooler ice)
- [ ] Every buy-line is a whole purchasable unit
- [ ] Water available matches heat adjustment (hot day → +20% everything)

## One-Shot Recipes

**Dinner party, 8 friends, 3 hours, wine-forward:**
```bash
python3 scripts/party_planner.py -g 8 -t 3 --style dinner --mix 20/60/20
```

**Wedding, 80 guests, 5h, beer & wine only, champagne toast:**
```bash
python3 scripts/party_planner.py -g 80 -t 5 --style reception --drinkers 60 \
  --mix 50/50/0 --toast
```

**Kid birthday, zero alcohol focus:**
```bash
python3 scripts/party_planner.py -g 20 -t 3 --style birthday --kids 12 --drinkers 0
```