Gathering Supplies

• Big quantities call for big pots. It helps to try to estimate how much soup your guests will eat. Though calculating an exact amount is impossible, plan on each person eating about 2 cups of soup as an entree, so that 1 quart will serve two people. Adjust upward if your guests are big eaters, and down if you're serving other dishes along with it. Splitting the recipe between two or three smaller pots will cut your cooking time.

Planning Ahead

• A batch of soup that takes 30 minutes to make in a small pot might take two hours of chopping and cooking time in a huge pot. Do as much as possible ahead of time. Chop vegetables and measure out spices the day before the event, or make the entire pot of soup before the day -- it will last three days packed in small containers in the refrigerator and one month packed in airtight bags in the freezer. Thaw frozen soup in the refrigerator overnight and reheat it over low or medium heat, adding extra stock if necessary.

Perfecting a Recipe

• Consider your guest list when choosing the perfect soup. Unless you're confident everyone eats meat, plan to make a vegetarian soup that will appeal to carnivores, too. Hearty bean chili, vegetable stew or a soup of white beans and seasonal greens are flavorful options. For a group of meat-eaters, consider a beefy taco soup loaded with cumin and tomatoes. Whatever recipe you choose, make a small batch first and adjust the seasonings until it's perfect. Then, rewrite the recipe, multiplying all ingredient amounts by the same factor, to be sure the dish will taste the same when made in a big batch.

Serving the Crowd

• Soup should sit at room temperature for no longer than two hours. Keep it on a burner heated to low throughout your event, stirring the soup often, or transfer it to a slow cooker to keep the temperature consistent. At an event that includes children, put an adult in charge of ladling out soup to everyone and set up a toppings bar where people can doctor up their bowl. Set out things like shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped onion and avocado, crushed tortilla chips and hot sauce. A bowl of shredded roast chicken allows meat-eaters to tailor vegetarian soup to their liking.