Party Ice Calculator

About this calculator

Caterers and event planners use a rule of thumb of roughly 1 to 1.5 pounds of ice per guest per hour of an event, covering ice for drinks (cups and coolers) plus ice used to chill bottles, buckets and display trays — the total then gets rounded up into however many 10 lb bags are needed, since that is the standard retail bag size at most grocery and convenience stores.

Longer events, hot outdoor weather, or heavy use of iced buckets for wine and beer push toward the higher end of that per-guest-per-hour range, while a short indoor gathering can lean toward the lower end. Running out of ice mid-party is one of the most common (and easily avoided) catering mistakes, so this calculator takes your guest count and event length in hours and returns the estimated pounds of ice and number of 10 lb bags to buy.