How much ice for a party in Trinidad heat? A simple guide

For a party in Trinidad and Tobago, plan at least 1 kg (about 2.2 lb) of ice per guest for drinks, then add more for chilling bottles and cans. A US ice maker's rule of thumb is 1 to 2 lb per guest, but that is written for cooler climates. In our heat, outdoors and in the dry season, ice disappears fast.

Here is how to work out your number, how to store it and where to get it.

How much ice per person?

Two published guides give a useful range:

• Reddy Ice, a large US packaged-ice producer, recommends 1 to 2 lb of ice per person, more for outdoor events in warm weather and less for cool indoor ones.
• Reviewed worked it out from the drinks themselves. At about 7 oz of ice per drink and three drinks an hour over three hours, it came to roughly 4 lb (1.8 kg) per guest. That was based on an 80°F (about 27°C) day.

Trinidad afternoons are often warmer than that, and even air-conditioned halls warm up once the doors open. These are the planning ranges we suggest:

These totals assume ice in most drinks plus some chilling. If drinks are only being chilled and served straight from the bottle, you need less. Reddy Ice's own example is 15 bags of 7 lb (about 48 kg) for a 50-guest outdoor barbecue with chilling only.

Tip: Ice is sold in different bag sizes. Check the weight on the bag, then divide your total by it. Round up, never down.

Serving ice vs chilling ice

Treat these as two separate supplies:

• Serving ice goes into glasses. Keep it in a clean, covered bin or cooler that nobody puts bottles or hands into. Scoop it with a proper scoop, never a glass.
• Chilling ice surrounds bottles and cans in coolers or tubs. It gets handled, wet labels, sand and melt water. It should never go into a drink.

Mixing the two is the most common hygiene mistake at home parties. If you are short of coolers, a clean, lined plastic bin works for chilling bottles, but never use it for serving ice.

How to pack a cooler so ice lasts

A common guide is about twice as much ice as contents by volume. If drinks fill a quarter of the cooler, ice should fill about half. Then:

1. Pre-chill the drinks. Put beer, soft drinks and mixers in a fridge the night before. Ice that has to cool warm cans melts much faster.
2. Chill the cooler first. A bag of ice in an empty cooler for an hour cools the walls down.
3. Layer it. Ice, drinks, ice, with ice on top. Mixing block ice with cubes gives fast cooling and slower melting.
4. Keep it in the shade, lid closed. Every open lid in the sun costs you ice.
5. Use one cooler per drink type so people are not digging through everything.

Tip: Need drinks cold in a hurry? Fill a tub with ice and water and add a good handful of salt. Bottles chill much faster in icy water than on dry ice cubes.

How much ice for punch and cocktails?

For a punch bowl, use large blocks rather than cubes. They melt more slowly and water the punch down less. You can freeze a block in a cake tin or ice-cream container, or freeze some of the punch itself so it does not dilute at all.

For shaken cocktails, you need ice for the shaker as well as the glass, so a cocktail bar uses more ice per drink than a rum-and-coke bar. Our Trinidad rum punch recipe covers batching for a crowd.

Worked example: 100 guests outdoors

A 100-guest garden wedding running from late afternoon into the night needs about 180 to 200 kg of ice on the planning ranges above. A sensible split:

• Serving ice: about 100 kg in clean, covered coolers behind the bar
• Chilling ice: about 80 to 100 kg for beer, wine, water and soft drinks

Ask for it in two drops if your supplier can do it: most of it an hour before guests arrive, and a top-up about three hours in. That way the second batch has not been melting all afternoon. Keep one empty cooler spare for melt water and for moving ice around.

Where to get bulk ice in Trinidad and Tobago

For a big event, your options are usually:

• Supermarkets and gas stations for small top-ups. Fine for a lime, risky for 100 kg.
• Local ice suppliers and ice plants that sell in bulk and may deliver. Ask around your area and book early.
• Your bar service. Ice is often included, so check your quote.

Whichever you use:

• Order ahead for busy dates such as Christmas, Old Year's Night and Carnival weekends
• Ask for delivery close to start time, not the morning before
• Have enough coolers ready before the ice arrives
• Ask whether the ice is food-grade if it will go into drinks
• Keep a phone number for a second supplier as a backup

Watch out: Running out of ice at 9 pm is one of the hardest problems to fix. When in doubt, order 20% more. Leftover ice costs very little compared with warm drinks.

Don't forget water

Ice is half the hydration story. In our heat, put out plenty of cold water and make it easy to find, especially at day events and fetes. A cold water station next to the bar helps people pace themselves, and a good mocktail means non-drinkers and drivers are not stuck with warm soft drinks. Our mocktail recipes for parties have ideas.

Next steps

Our alcohol calculator estimates drinks, mixers and ice for your guest count. If you would rather not haul a single bag, request a quote: our bar services include ice, and we reply within 24 hours. For everything else, see the bar equipment list.