How Many Bags of Chips to Buy for any Group Size

When preparing for a backyard barbeque, an office potluck party, a birthday party, or a back-to-school party at the end of the summer, getting the right amount of chips per person can often be a difficult task. You don’t want to get too many or too little, so how do you know how many bags to buy?

When purchasing chips for a group, the host should assume each guest will eat 2 servings, which is 36 chips. If each guest has 2 servings, a party-sized bag of chips can feed 7 people. Meanwhile, a regular-sized bag of chips can feed 4 people. In addition, more bags will be required for long events.

Although you may be worried about how many bags of chips you need to buy for your group, you no longer need to worry! Below is a detailed description of the amount of bags you will need, depending on the size of your group.

Pro Tip: Take the chips from the bags, and put them into serving bowls. You can fit more chips in a smaller area and if you add tongs, you won’t have people reaching their hands in. Here are the bowls you can use!

Regular sized bag of chips

The typical size for a regular bag of chips is eight ounces. The serving size for chips has recently been changed to one ounce, however, this serving recommendation is rarely followed by Americans. Frequently, individuals have more than one serving of chips, which makes having more than one serving per individual essential when it comes to your gathering.

As one serving of chips is one ounce and a regular-sized bag has eight ounces, that means a regular bag can feed up to eight people. However, as this serving size is only followed by a limited number of people, having at least two servings per person is important. Assuming every individual eats two servings, then a regular-sized bag of chips can only serve four people.

Below is a chart to aid in determining how many regular sized bags are needed for your group, assuming each guest will eat two servings.

Group sizeBag sizeAmount of bags needed
Five peopleRegular bagsTwo bags are needed
Ten peopleRegular bagsThree bags are needed
Twenty peopleRegular bagsFive bags are needed
Fifty peopleRegular bagsThirteen bags are needed
One hundred peopleRegular bagsTwenty bags are needed
Amount of regular sized bags per group size

Individual bags of chips

Individual bags are very common for a group of guests. Having individual bags of chips for your guests provides the most variety out of any other option. Check out this variety 50-pack of individual chipsOpens in a new tab. which is perfect for a big group gathering.

Individual bags are common because the host assumes each person will only take one bag of chips. As has been previously discussed, serving size recommendations are rarely followed, and this applies to individual bags of chips as well.

Many individuals at a party will take more than one bag of chips, especially if the gathering is over a long period of time. It can be assumed that each person within the gathering will eat at least two individual-sized bags each.

Below is a chart to aid in determining how any individual-sized bags are needed for your group, assuming each guest will eat two bags

Group sizeBag sizeAmount of bags needed
Five peopleIndividual bagsTen bags are needed
Ten peopleIndividual bagsTwenty bags are needed
Twenty peopleIndividual bagsForty bags are needed
Fifty peopleIndividual bagsOne hundred bags are needed
One hundred peopleIndividual bagsTwo hundred bags are needed
Amount of individual bags per group size

Party sized bags of chips

A party-sized bag of chips contains thirteen ounces. This means that each party-sized bag ideally can serve thirteen people. Grab a 3-pack of restaurant style tortilla chipsOpens in a new tab. for your next party here. However as said before, this serving recommendation is rarely followed.

As this serving size is rarely followed, it is important to remember that on average, each guest will eat two servings. This means that a party-sized bag can serve seven and a half guests.

Below is a chart to aid in determining how many party-sized bags is needed for your group, assuming each guest will eat two servings.

Group sizeBag sizeAmount of bags needed
Five peopleParty-sized bagsOne bag is needed
Ten peopleParty-sized bagsTwo bags are needed
Twenty peopleParty-sized bagsThree bags are needed
Fifty peopleParty-sized bagsSeven bags are needed
One hundred peopleParty-sized bagsFourteen bags are needed
Amount of party sized bags per group size

What size is best?

When you are serving a small group of guests, regular-sized bags are the most cost-efficient. Regular sized bags will be the most cost-efficient if the host does not want any chips leftover. Although regular sized bags would be the most cost-efficient, they provide little variety for the group. With a small group of guests, assuming the group size is ten people or under, only three bags of chips need to be purchased.

Potato chips with red paprika and white dipping sauce
Potato chips with red paprika and white dipping sauce.

With only three bags of chips, little variety is given to the guests. Although regular sized bags may be more cost-efficient with little leftovers, individual-sized bags will provide more variety but with more leftovers.

For a medium-sized group, the most cost-efficient with little leftovers will be to purchase party-sized bags. However, As with the regular-sized bags, these party-sized bags provide little variety.

For a large group, the most cost-efficient to purchase would be a box of individual bags. A box of fifty individual-sized bags of chips costs about thirteen dollars. This would serve about twenty-five people, assuming everyone eats two bags. This means it costs about fifty cents per person with individual bags.

How many bags for different events

The amount of bags of chips needed varies based on the event.

For events such as pot lucks, fewer chips may be needed. This is due to having a variety of options at a potluck, making fewer people choose to eat chips. At an event such as a potluck, chips are less likely to be eaten, and therefore less of them are needed.

Paper bag of potato chips and sauces on a wooden cutting board.
Paper bag of potato chips and sauces on a wooden cutting board.

At events such as a birthday party, more than usual may be needed. This is because there is likely not going to be a large number of options available. As there is little variety to choose from, more people will choose to eat chips.

For something like a tailgate party, you can plan on buying an average amount of chips if you’re also serving a main course like burgers. People will eat the chips like a side instead of the main thing, so you might not need as many.

Events that last a long amount of time will require more bags of chips than events that are short. People will continue to eat the chips throughout the duration of a long event, requiring more bags.

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Ricky

Being part of a really big family, cooking for big groups of people is just how we do things. Cooking, baking, and outdoor cooking have all been huge parts of my life, and I love sharing what I've learned with you.

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