Punch serving sizes?

[BigDog]

Alright, this is a bit late, as the event is this weekend, but I need to make sure my computations are accurate.

Anyways, my in-law's 50th is this weekend, and punch needs to be made. Attendance is expected at about 150, and it is estimated that due to the warm weather, everyone will be good for two servings (in a 2 hour event). That's 300 servings. Now, I don't know the size of cups purchased, but I assume 8 ounce, knowing my siblings-in-law. That's 2400 ounces of punch, or about 19 gallons, yes? I'm trying to open their eyes to the fact that is going to be a pricey quantity of punch, even with a very basic recipe!

Is 8 ounce a reasonable consideration for a serving size? The punch, along with coffee, will be the primary beverages, but like I said, due to the heat, the coffee isn't likely to be the "hot choice" pardon the pun.

As a side note, anyone have any mass quantity, low cost suggestions for this? Apparently the flavor theme (at least for the cake) is raspberry and lemon. The punch is to compliment those flavors. At this point, battling the irrationality of the sibs-in-law, I'm thinking of another kind of punch; one in the nose!

I never thought I'd want a weekend that isn't even here to end so quickly!

 

[Andy M.]

Eight ounces is a generous serving.

You can get a powdered lemonade mix and flavor it with raspberry syrup or extract.

Add any booze to that.

 

[Alix]

My punch glasses are much smaller than 8oz. At best they would be 4-6oz. Are you serving it in plastic glasses? Find out what size glasses you are putting out for the punch and then go from there.

As to the recipe, well there are TONS of punch recipes on this site, but not sure how cost effective any of them are.

In your shoes, I think I might do garbage can punch.

Buy a couple of new plastic garbage cans (might manage with just one), and wash them out. Buy a couple of those big tins of lemonade powder and use one of those and a few big jugs of cranberry juice per can. Add lots of ice, and a few gallons of ginger ale. Have some frozen raspberries on hand to toss into the punch bowl whenever you refill it from the garbage cans.

 

[BigDog]

Booze ain't an option, it's a dry event. (bummer)

The garbage can punch sounds like a possibility though. Thanks!

 

[Alix]

Make sure you have a couple of lemons sliced up too BigDog, toss those into the punch bowl whenever you refill.

PS, try not to let anyone see you refilling the bowls from the garbage can! LOL! And I have found ice cream buckets to be very handy for all sorts of punch related things.

You can freeze lemonade or juice of some kind in them so that you don't dilute your punch with regular ice too much. AND, they are just the right size to refill a bowl.

 

[purrfectlydevine]

Not exactly what you asked, but might consider having something available without sweetener in case someone is diabetic. With a crowd that large I suspect there will be several.

 

[Gretchen]

4-6 oz. per serving. Probably 3 or 4 servings per person on a hot day.

 

[Swann]

Punch cups of the crystal variety hold 4 or 5 oz meaning that you seve 3 or 4 oz per serving. You can make a very nice punch with a tea base, fruit juice and soda. I would collect as many gal milk containers as possible to put the base into for flavor melding and pour into the bowl adding soda. You can use a diet raspberry soda or plain. The less sugar the better. I make ice molds in my bundt pan along with fruit as orange, lemon. and march.cherries. I agree you will need 4 drinks per person if it is really hot. 12 oz X 150 = 1800 oz / 32 = 56 qts/4 = 14 gal of punch. If you use 8 oz cups you will need twice as much punch as folks will fill the cups to at least 6 oz and still drink 4 cups. You can rent lge containers for punch at some fast food places (we did this for kid parties) and serve from the backroom via pitchers to the bowls. You can buy fruit drink mixes and add water and soda too. For a 50th I think you ought to pay the extra and use real juice... fortunately you do not need liquior! Even so you can make the punch for less than $100 and probably less. Aren't they worth a 100 bucks? My 50th comes up in a couple months and I hope my family isn't planning to scrimp on the punch! Altho we will have a sit down lunch for about 50 family members. I vetoed an open bar because of children.