<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by squeakr:
one that worked well for the pizza party in SF was to have one check for wine/beer and one for food/sodas..Since the entrees /pizzas were similarly priced the food bill worked out and those who didn't drink weren't stuck w/ a bar tab
I also focused on places that didn;t require a deposit or a guarantee..these places are harder to find but it minimizes what happens if there are no shows who don;t ever pay..keeping a tight RSVP listis a big help..
Using cheaper places also made it easier...as mjm was clear about, the focus was the people not the food...</font>
Calculating the entire bill then dividing by the number of attendees, in my experience.. i.e. MJM pizza party in North Beach, does not work well. Many people ate and drank at the expense of others.. I ended up paying three times as much as I consumed. Planned meals paid in advance with a cash bar seems to me to be the most viable option when planning for a large group of individuals..
The chaos that acompanies bill time can be quite uncomfortable.
[This message has been edited by thommsf (edited 09-07-2001).]