PF

It's a martini/bridal shower so it will be all women. Most are drinkers so I was going to average 3 drinks per person. That's 75 martinis. How many bottles will I need? What is the average cost of a middle of the road vodka? I don't want the most expensive, but I don't want the cheapest either. Like what if I made raspberry martinis, or even cosmopolitans...what would I end up spending if I plan on making 75 drinks?

2 -3 large bottles of vodka, i would get kettle one, its roughtly $35 for a real big bottle. figure aprox $3.00 per drink, including sour mixes, raspberries olives etc... so if everyone drinks 3, which probably will not happen because they are driving!!!, that would be $225, not too bad.

I am a bartender at a high volume nightclub. Part of my job is anticipating how much booze I need for the night and ordering it accordingly. If you go with a middle of the road vodka, like Finlandia or Absolut, it will run around $35-$40 per 1.75 litre bottle. You should be able to get 10-12 drinks per bottle, if you only use 3oz of vodka per drink (that's a shot and a half). My rule of thumb is always to figure out how much you'll need, and add one to that. You never want to run the risk of running out!

For Cosmos, you'll need triple sec, cranberry juice and lime juice. 2 large (1 litre) bottles of triple sec should be more than enough (there $20-$25 each). I think Ocean Spray Cran comes in 3 litre bottle at $3.50, I would get 4-5 and one large bottle of Rose's Lime Juice $5.00.

For Raspberry Martinis, you would need either Razzmatazz or Raspberry flavored vodka (I prefer the flavored vodka, it's lighter in taste), sour mix and sprite. I usually go light on the sour mix, and prefer Sprite zero to regular Sprite. You would need 5-6 2 litre bottles of sprite at $2 a piece, and no more than 2 large bottles of sour mix at $3 each.

Also, don't forget plastic cups and napkins. We have plastic martini glasses that make cleanup at the end of the night much easier. Also, fresh lime slices make a good garnish for cosmos, maraschino cherries for the raspberry martinis.

I would guess your grand total for 25 people would be $500-$600 if you did both drinks. Thats around $20-$25 per person. I hope this helps, and have fun!

If your large bottle is 1.75L you'll see about 29 drinks. Martinis call for about 1.5 oz per drink so about 39 drinks per bottle..and of course the price depends on the vodka. For mixed drinks, you really don't need top shelf vodka but I wouldn't do the cheapest either - I would use something middle of the road, like Stolie. At around 35 a big bottle, you'd be looking at 3 bottles (more than you really need) so about 105 bucks, which is pretty cheap for 75 martinis!