Hellobee Boards

I would provide enough chairs to seat 75% of my guests if there is not a seated meal. Are you having it at home or at a venue?

@lovelife: Then yeah, I think it's okay to be short a few chairs. People can sit on the grass, on the steps, etc. and make themselves at home. If you were at a venue, it might be a different situation.

Hmm, this is something I've never thought about. We host an annual clam bake every year and tell people to bring their own lawn chairs (we do it in our backyard). I also didn't think about this when we had people over for DD's first birthday and served lunch; people just kind of made do with what chairs we did have (this was inside so we had place for about half the guests to sit aside from on the floor).

Oh I think doing 75% for sure is okay if in the backyard, kids will be running, people chatting, ect! And worse comes to worse you pull out some deck chairs or lawn chairs if needed.

Because it's outside then yes. Inside, desperate people can sit on staircases and on ottomans or something but outside they are just stranded if there isn't a chair.
However, they don't all need to be rented chairs. If you have a yard bench out there or some lawn chairs I think those will be fine. I usually rent about 20 if i'm expecting 30. But, thats because we have a bunch of pool chairs and we have benches out there so it all evens out and everyone gets a seat.