How to Plan the Perfect Pizza Party for 30 Guests 

Pizza has been around since the 18th century. It’s even documented as early as AD 997 in Gaeta, Italy. In theory, people have been having pizza parties for over 900 years. Throughout time, pizza has been there to feed the masses. Thank you, Italy. Very cool. But, if you’re worried about not having enough pizzas, don’t worry!

In this article, we’ll be showing you how to throw the perfect pizza party for as many as 30 guests! First, we need to gather the essentials. 

Pizza Party Prerequisites

Before sending out invites, ask yourself whether or not you’re going for homemade or ordering from your favorite pizza place. You can’t go wrong with either. 

But, focusing too much on pizza can lead to a stale party. We don’t want that. Here are the essentials you need to throw a stellar pizza party.

Appetizers

Every main character needs solid supporting characters. In our case, pizza is obviously the protagonist. So, here’s a quick list of appetizers that complement any pizza:

• Your favorite chips: I’d go for some barbeque Doritos. But, you can also ask your homies what chips they want and get those too. 

• Breadsticks: You can buy these anywhere. If you have the time, just do it yourself! Homemade fluffy garlic butter breadsticks are the bomb! 

• Salad: People might say “Too much pizza is unhealthy”. Prove them wrong and offer a salad to keep the facade of health. But for real, salads provide a lot of texture and flavor. 

Drinks/Refreshments

Pizza can get heavy after a couple of slices. You’re going to need something to drown it down with. Beer is always a solid choice. If it’s for kids, then go for your favorite sodas or juices. But, no matter what drinks you go for, don’t forget water and keep it cold! 

Utensils and Supplies

With the appetizers and drinks jotted down, make sure to prepare the right utensils and supplies. If you’re going for large, stuffed pizzas, then you’d need forks and knives. 

To save time doing dishes, you can go for disposal utensils like plates and cups. Have enough napkins or wipes at the ready. Sauces and dips can get messy. 

Unsure of what utensils you need? Here’s a quick checklist:

• Forks and Knives
• Cups
• Napkins or wet wipes.
• Plates 
• Tongs (If you’re serving salad) 
• Serving spoons for your sauces

Also, don’t forget about the chairs. If you don’t have enough at home, foldable chairs are an affordable solution to this. 

Activities

A pizza party is perfect for doing fun activities. It can pair perfectly with something like game night. You can go for board games, charades, poker, or party games where you can pair up as teams. This’ll help keep your guests engaged and hungry for more pizza.

Set the Time and Date and Send the Invites

After gathering all the essentials, it’s time to send out the invites. Make sure everybody you want to invite is available on your designated date. For the invites, you can get all fancy and make custom cards or just text, email, or create a group chat. 

How Much Pizza Do You Need?

If you have enough appetizers and drinks, you don’t need to ball out and buy too many pizzas just to be sure everybody gets a slice. There are actually free online pizza calculators that can help you determine how many pizzas are enough for 30 guests. 

Some of these even account for the number of children and adults, and the hunger level of your guests. If you want to get nerdy, here’s how you can calculate pizza volume yourself.

This nifty formula is from Inchcalculator: P=(3a/8). P is the number of pizzas and “a” is the number of guests. They got the formula from Giordano’s that says the perfect pizza-to-person ratio is 3/8. So, for a party with 30 guests, you’d need around 11 to 12 pizzas. 

Key Takeaways

Pizza has stood the test of time as the ultimate party food. If you’re planning on doing one, consider the following:

• Pair pizza with great appetizers and drinks to avoid the food being stale to taste. 
• Prepare the right utensils and supplies for the type of food and pizza you’ll serve.
• Find activities you can do to keep the party fun and engaging.
• If you’re unsure how many pizzas to order, try using a pizza calculator.