How to Plan a Dawat for 20 to 60 Guests (Menus and Real Prices)
22 August 2026
Every dawat starts the same way. The guest list was fifteen, then phupho's family confirmed, then someone said "bachay bhi to hain", and suddenly you're feeding forty people on Sunday and nobody in the house has slept properly since Tuesday.
We deliver dawats every week, so this is the planning guide we wish every host had before the panic starts — the guest-count math, the three ways to feed 20 to 60 people, and real prices for each, from the menus we publish openly.
Step one: settle the count, then stop worrying about it
Count confirmed families, add the maybes you know will show up anyway, and count children as guests — they eat less individually but they multiply. Once you have a number, hand the quantity problem to the kitchen. Our deals are portioned for the guest counts written on them, and portioning generously for a stated count is our job, not yours. The host's only quantity duty is an honest number.
Step two: pick one of three formats
Format 1 — the degh deals (most dawats end up here). Complete packages, one total price, everything included. The Rs. 40,000 deal feeds 30 to 35 guests with a degh of special Punjabi qorma, chicken pulao kabab, reshmi kabab and Chinioti kheer, with roghni naan, raita, salad and cold drinks all included. Worked out per person, that's roughly Rs. 1,200 a head for a full spread — hard to beat cooking at home once you price your own gas, groceries and sanity.
Want the signature? The Rs. 60,000 deal for 25 guests is built around our special Chinioti Kunna with chicken biryani, reshmi kabab and two desserts. And the Rs. 100,000 grand deal for 30 to 35 adds a mutton kunna degh, BBQ mix, chicken roast, qorma and zarda — the "log baatein karenge" tier, in the good way.
Format 2 — per-head set menus (the formal option). When you want a plated, event-style dawat at home, the set menus run Rs. 940 to 1,390 per head: a qorma (chicken, beef or mutton by tier), chicken biryani, roghni naan, salad, dessert and drinks. They scale exactly to your count — twenty guests on the top menu is Rs. 27,800, no estimating. BBQ add-ons like chicken boti or seekh kabab are Rs. 350 per head extra.
Format 3 — the wow layer. On top of either format, live stalls turn a dinner into an event: gol gappay at Rs. 160 a plate, dahi baray, chana chaat, bun kebab, jalebi. One stall at a 40-person dawat costs less than most single dishes and is what the guests photograph.
The math at real guest counts
- 20 guests: set menus, Rs. 18,800 to 27,800 depending on tier — or the Rs. 20,000 family deal if the count is closer to a dozen
- 25 guests: the Rs. 60,000 Kunna deal is the sweet spot for a special occasion; a simpler qorma-based degh quote comes in well under that
- 30 to 35 guests: the Rs. 40,000 deal is the workhorse — complete, generous and about Rs. 1,200 a head
- 40 to 60 guests: we scale the degh deals to your exact count and send a same-day itemised quote — the per-head math stays in the same honest range
The details that make or break the day
Give the kitchen notice. A biryani order can happen same-day; a dawat deserves a few days so the mutton is fresh and your slot is protected. The earlier you call, the calmer everyone's week.
Fix the delivery time to the seating, not the invitation. If the card says 8 pm, guests eat at 9. Tell us the honest eating time — food arriving hot for the actual meal beats food waiting under foil for an hour.
Decide the serving plan. Deghs come with naan, raita and salad; you provide plates and serving spoons, or ask us about full-service setups when you want staff, stalls and staging handled — décor, DJ and stage options are priced on the event menu page too.
What to actually serve
After hundreds of dawats, the pattern is clear: one rice that everyone trusts (chicken biryani or pulao kabab), one curry with authority — and here we'll say it plainly, if you want the dawat remembered, make it Chinioti Kunna, slow-cooked the way it's done back home in Chiniot — one kabab, one dessert, and raita-salad-naan doing the quiet work. Five things done properly beat nine things done nervously. Every time.
Questions hosts ask us
What does a 30-person dawat cost? From Rs. 40,000 all-in with our published degh deal — qorma degh, pulao kabab, kabab, kheer, naan, raita, salad and drinks included. Around Rs. 1,200 per guest.
Do the deals really include naan, raita, salad and drinks? Yes — they're printed in each package on the event menu. No invisible extras, no fourth line item on the invoice.
Can you handle 60 guests at home? Comfortably — we scale the deghs to your count and quote the same day. Beyond that, you're into our wedding menus, which have their own pricing guide.
Do you deliver to houses, not just offices? That's where most dawats happen. Our regular routes cover Islamabad and Rawalpindi; distant addresses are a conversation before we confirm, never a surprise charge after.
Can we mix formats? Yes — a degh deal plus one BBQ add-on plus a gol gappay stall is probably our most-ordered combination for 30-plus gatherings.
The short version
Count honestly, pick a format, give the kitchen notice, and spend your energy on the guests instead of the stove. The full menus with every price are at feastpilaf.com/event-menu, and a same-day itemised quote is one message away on WhatsApp at 0315 9093990.
Aap mehmaan sambhalein. Khana hum sambhal lenge.