Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear is apparently bad at both math and typing.
In “Freakin’ Fabulous,” Clinton proposes a formula to determine the perfect number of guests for a cocktail party. Divide the square footage of your home by five (the approximate number of feet each guest needs in personal space). That number equals how many people can fit comfortably in your home. Then, assume that 80 percent of your invitees will accept the invitation, but that five of those people won’t end up coming. For example, if you’ve got 100 square feet of space in your home, you can fit 20 guests. But really, you can invite 25 because just 16 will plan to come in the first place, and one will claim to be violently ill the day of the party.
First of all the, one must assume that it’s supposed to be 5 PERCENT not people will end up a no-show after accepting an invitation. (Unless there is a set in stone rule that 5 people will always bail on all parties everywhere, regardless of size.)
Secondly, 80% of 25 invitees is 20 attenders not 16.