Keep every drink cold
Buy enough ice for glasses and coolers.
Split serving ice from cooler ice, then convert the total into the bag size sold by your store.
Read the party ice planning guideHow the party ice estimate works
The calculator estimates serving and cooler ice separately, applies one visible buffer, and rounds only the final purchase count to whole bags.
- Serving ice is based on pounds per guest.
- Cooler ice scales with party length and the share of guests using chilled packaged drinks.
- Prechilling beverages, shade, insulated coolers, and opening coolers less often reduce melt.
- Bag availability varies by retailer, so choose the size you can actually buy.