Pizzas are a great group meal, they’re cheaper than preparing your own food, and they’re often a fan favorite. However, it can be hard to gauge how many pizzas to buy if you’re planning a tailgate party, birthday pizza party, or a family reunion get-together.
The average pizza has 10 slices, buying one pizza for every five people is the most ideal system to base off of. This will allow for everyone to have two slices of pizza. While this is the base system, there are situations where this can fluctuate.
There are a few other things to look at when buying pizza, like places to buy, and cost!
How Much To Buy
| People | Pizza’s |
| 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 15 | 3 |
| 30 | 6 |
| 50 | 10 |
| 100 | 20 |
| 130 | 26 |
| 150 | 30 |
| 200 | 40 |
| 200+ | 40+ |
Since the average pizza, regardless of size, has about 10 slices. However, you don’t want to limit people to just one slice, which is why we offer the two-slice rule. Allowing everyone to get at least two slices, and planning accordingly, allows you to buy a steady amount of pizza without having an outstanding amount of leftovers, or worse not having enough for everybody.
This means, on average, for every five people you’re going to want to buy one pizza.
There are a few exceptions to this rule. Perhaps you know your crowd is going to eat more than two slices, or maybe you know they’re going to eat less. However, it’s the most ideal system when it comes to predicting how many pizzas to buy. That way you don’t waste money on un-eaten pies.
Of course this chart might not work for every event, feeding a group of hungry teenagers is going to be hard if you’re limiting to two slices a person, as opposed to if you’re feeding children!
How Much To Buy For a Childs Birthday Party
Children tend to eat less than other adults, and get full quite quickly! If you’re having a birthday party with children it may be better to buy less than you may think. If you’re having adults over as well they will often make up the difference in finishing
This also allows you to stick to only one type of pizza, with not a ton of toppings. So not much is spent. Most kids won’t want things like spinach or red peppers on their pizza, so you can stick with either cheese or pepperoni. For a party of 20, maybe the ideal amount of pizza to buy would be about 5 or 6 pizzas. Less is more for children.
How Much To Buy For a Party
If you’re planning a party, depending on the formality of it, this may be a time where you buy more pizza than you normally would. While people may eat two or three slices in the beginning, as the night goes on they might get more hungry and possibly inebriated, and want more.
Having more pizza in this situation would be ideal, as you’re able to not only feed your crowd at the height of the party but also later on into the evening. For this type of party, 10+ pizza’s would be ideal depending on how many people you’re expecting. If this is a more formal party the chances of it going very late, or your party-goers getting drunk, might be slimmer. In this instance, the chart would be most helpful for your population.
How Much To Buy For a Picnic
For a standard family picnic or a tailgate party, you may be inclined to buy a little more than just one pizza. Families are diverse and can have a range of tastes, and preferences. In this case, you would want to buy two or three, medium pizzas.
Best Places to Buy Bulk
If you’re considering ordering pizza or buying pre-made pizza’s this will vary. So we’ll look at both, and your best deal/best place that caters to larger groups
Ordering
If you’re considering ordering from a business, then there are quite a few more options in terms of how much you’re going to pay. Some businesses are more expensive than others, so we have provided a chart with major pizza businesses
| Company | Price for 1 Large Cheese Pizza |
| Dominos | $11.99 |
| Little Caesars | $5.00 |
| Papa Johns | $14.05 |
| Pizza Hut | $11.49 |
Based on the chart above, the cheapest option among the top four businesses is Little Caesars. Little Caesars, now offering delivery, is going to be the cheapest option even when it comes to diversifying your pizza order.
However, maybe you’re just not looking for the cheapest, but for a pizza that’s also going to taste good. Price isn’t always everything. In this situation, Little Caesars is still going to be your best bet, with a 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google Reviews
Buying Frozen
If you’re planning on purchasing frozen pizza, however, and serving it. Your options are going to look a little different. Frozen pizza often incorporates the need for preparing ahead of time, which might not be something you’re willing to do, however frozen pizza tends to be on the cheaper side!
Here are the cheapest, ranked frozen pizzas you can buy at any major retailer
| Brand | Price |
| Tombstone | $3.34 |
| Digorino | $5.49 |
| Red Barron | $4.99 |
| California Pizza Kitchen | $8.39 |
Buying frozen pizza tend to be cheaper than ordering, however, you will have to then count in preparation time. It all depends on how
Other Tips
Stick to Two Toppings
You might like your pizza with everything on it, but when it comes to buying large amounts of pizza your wallet might not. Most businesses offer two to one toppings free, without extra charges. Sticking to a basic cheese or pepperoni pizza is going to save your price point!
Buy Sides!
While you might be wary about how much pizza to buy, there’s always the ability to buy sides! If you can’t afford to buy a large amount of pizza, opt for more sides. This will allow people to eat less pizza, but still, be full! It also allows for a little more variety so you don’t have to worry about someone not having something they like to eat
Ultimately it’s a hard thing to measure, people can show up uninvited, or people can end up cancelling, so it’s tends to be best to buy more and have some left over, as opposed to not having enough for everyone else. People can always eat more, but it’s harder to get people to eat less.