Buying guide
Cups for a brunch or shower drink station
Updated
Short answer
Plan about 2 drinks and 20 oz of drink per guest for a 2 to 3 hour brunch (our planning assumption). Serve iced coffee and iced tea in 16 oz cups, so there is room for ice and milk, and lemonade and juice in 12 oz cups. For 30 guests that is 60 cups and about 4.7 gallons of drinks. Oojami's clear cups come with snap-on sip lids, 100 cups and 100 lids to a pack.
How much to make per guest
Our planning assumption: at a brunch or shower of 2 to 3 hours, a guest has about 2 drinks, and each drink is about 10 oz of liquid after the ice. That is 20 oz of drink per guest, and 2 cups per guest.
Not every guest drinks every drink. Split the 20 oz across the drinks you serve. If iced coffee is the main drink, make about half of the total as coffee.
| Guests | Cups (2 per guest) | Total drinks | Packs of 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 40 | 400 oz, about 3.1 gallons | 1 |
| 30 | 60 | 600 oz, about 4.7 gallons | 1 |
| 50 | 100 | 1,000 oz, about 7.8 gallons | 1, or 2 for spares |
The math: guests x 20 oz, then divide by 128 to get gallons. If you use two cup sizes, buy one pack of each size.
Ice takes up part of each cup. Our planning assumption is about 1 pound of ice per guest, and more on a hot day. Keep a second bag in the freezer.
Which cup size for which drink
| Drink | Cup size | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Iced coffee | 16 oz | Room for ice, about 10 oz of coffee, and milk |
| Iced tea | 16 oz | Room for ice and a lemon slice |
| Lemonade | 12 oz | Guests often come back for a second small cup |
| Juice | 12 oz | Served with little or no ice |
If you want only one size, choose 16 oz. A 12 oz pour of lemonade or juice fits in it, and the iced coffee fits too. For a large iced coffee, the 20 or 24 oz cup holds more ice and drink.
Why sip lids at a drink station
At a brunch or a shower, guests stand, walk around and set their cups down on side tables. A snap-on lid cuts splashes when a guest carries a cup across the room. On Oojami cups, the lid's flap opens for sipping and closes again, so no one needs a straw for iced coffee or lemonade. The lid is not leakproof: a full cup should stay upright.
Clear cups also show what is in each cup, so a guest can tell the iced tea from the iced coffee.
A bridal brunch
A bridal brunch often has an iced coffee station next to a lemonade station. Put the 16 oz cups at the coffee and the 12 oz cups at the lemonade. Put a small card with the drink name on each dispenser. Set the lids next to the cups, not on them, so that guests can add milk or syrup first.
A baby shower
A baby shower often runs in the afternoon, so iced tea and lemonade are common. Many guests at a shower do not drink coffee, so make less coffee and more lemonade and iced tea. Use the same 20 oz per guest total.
A graduation party
A graduation party at home often has more guests than a brunch, and they come and go. Plan by the total number of guests. For 50 guests, buy two packs: one pack of 16 oz for iced coffee and iced tea, and one pack of 12 oz for lemonade and juice. Our party cup guide has the table for 25 to 100 guests.
Supply list
- Cups with lids: 2 per guest, from the table above
- Drink dispensers or pitchers: one for each drink
- Iced coffee: cold brew or coffee made the day before and chilled
- Ice and a scoop
- Milk, a plant milk and simple syrup for the coffee
- Lemon slices for the iced tea
- Cards with the name of each drink
- A marker, so guests can write their names on the lids
- Napkins and a bin for used cups
The cups are for cold drinks only. If you also serve hot coffee, use paper hot cups for it.