It sounds like a simple choice. Open bar, drinks package, pick one, move on. But get it wrong and you either blow the budget on a crowd that barely drinks or watch guests nursing one warm beer because the package ran dry at 9pm.
The right call between an open bar and a drinks package comes down to your crowd, your venue, and how long the night runs. Here is how to think it through before you commit.
What an Open Bar Actually Means
Open bar means guests drink what they want, when they want, for as long as the bar is running. You pay a flat rate, usually per head, and the drinks flow without anyone watching the clock or counting glasses.
It is the most generous format and guests feel that. Nobody is calculating whether they have had their share. The night runs looser and longer when people are not thinking about the bill.
The downside is the same as the upside. If your crowd drinks heavily, you are covered. If half of them are on water all night, you have paid for drinks that never got poured. An open bar rewards big-drinking crowds and punishes quiet ones.
What a Drinks Package Means
A drinks package sets a fixed selection and a fixed amount. Guests choose from what is on the list, and once the allocation runs out, that is it, or they pay the difference.
It gives you a much tighter grip on the budget. You know roughly what you are spending before the night starts, and there are no surprises on the final invoice.
The risk is the other direction. A package that looks generous on paper can feel thin in the room, especially if the selection is narrow or the quantities were built for a lighter crowd than yours. Guests notice when the bar runs dry before the speeches are done.
The Honest Question to Ask About Your Crowd
Before you pick a format, be straight with yourself about who is actually coming.
A corporate lunch crowd eats and leaves. A wedding crowd with an open dance floor stays until they are asked to go. A birthday group of close friends in a villa drinks differently from a mixed professional crowd at a brand launch.
Your crowd’s drinking habits matter more than the guest count. A hundred light drinkers cost less under a drinks package. Sixty guests on a big night out may well justify an open bar. Get the format wrong for the room and either the budget or the vibe takes the hit.
It connects to the same logic behind matching your bar hire to the event. The setup has to fit the actual night, not the one on paper.
How the Length of the Night Changes the Maths
A two-hour drinks reception and a six-hour wedding are not the same calculation.
For a short reception, a drinks package usually wins. You know how long it runs, you can estimate consumption reasonably accurately, and the open bar premium is hard to justify for two hours.
For a long night, open bar starts to look smarter. As events stretch past four hours, the gap between what a package covers and what guests actually want tends to widen. Running out of drinks at hour three of a six-hour event is a worse outcome than paying a bit more upfront.
Factor the event timeline before you decide. And if you are pairing the bar with food, the way drinks and canapés or a buffet menu interact changes the pace of drinking too. Food slows people down. An event with substantial food usually drinks less than a standing reception with nothing to eat.
Venue and Licensing Shape the Options Too
In Dubai, what you can offer at a private event depends on the venue and how the bar is licensed. Not every setup supports a full open bar, and not every drinks package includes everything you assumed it did.
We cover the compliance side of alcohol at private events in our guide on licensed bar service in Dubai. Sort the licensing question before the format question, or the choice between open bar and drinks package becomes irrelevant.
How The Art of Hosting is Going to Help?
The Art of Hosting, has won Events Catering Team of the Year at the Caterer Middle East Awards five times, in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025. We run bar and catering as one operation across private events and corporate functions, so the drinks format, the quantities, and the food all get planned together rather than bolted on separately.
Tell us the date, the guest count, and the kind of night you are throwing, and we will tell you which format fits. Get in touch or message us on WhatsApp to start planning.
