50-Seater Tents for Hire in Nairobi (17 × 17 ft)

What size is a 50-seater tent in metres?

Ours measures 5 × 5 m. That is the 17 × 17 ft in its name, because 17 ft is 5.18 m and the two labels agree. It gives 25 m² under one square roof rising to a single point, which is why the style is called a high-peak or pagoda tent. Liri, a maker of pagoda tents, builds its 5 m model with walls 2.5 m high at the eaves and the peak at 5.43 m. Those are the maker's figures, not a measurement of our stock, but they explain the shape: an edge you can walk under and a tall point over the middle.

Compare metres, not names, when quotes come in. Events and Party Rentals, a Nairobi hire firm, lists a "6 × 6 m (17 × 17 ft)" tent as its 50-seater, and 6 × 6 m is 36 m², almost half as much floor again. Our square tent of that size is the 6 × 6 m B-line tent.

How big a tent for 50 people?

"50-seater" is a trade label. It counts more people than the floor holds once tables go in, and the gap is wide. Take the floor areas the UK marquee maker Gala Tent publishes (0.75 m² for each standing guest, 1 m² for a chair in a row, 1.5 m² for a seat at a round table): over 25 m² they come to roughly 33 standing, 25 in rows or 16 at dinner tables.

Our planner, the rule our own packages are built on, counts one of these tents for every 30 guests at tables: 1 for 30, 2 for 50 and 4 for 100. So a sit-down meal for 50 people takes two of these side by side, or one 5 × 10 m tent from our 100-seater tents. The planner packs tables closer than Gala Tent does; send your layout and we tell you what fits.

Plain or draped?

Both are the same white high-peak tent on the same square. Only the inside differs. The plain one is the tent and nothing more, the right call when your decorator is coming anyway or when all you need is shade over a graduation lunch. The draped 50-seater tent is the same tent dressed with drapes, so it is decorated before the first guest walks in; ask us for the drape colours in stock that week. Tell us your colours and we confirm which drapes are free on your date; side walls, on either finish, are confirmed on the quote too.

50-seater tent price in Kenya: what you pay

A plain tent is KSh 5,000 per tent and a draped one KSh 9,000 per tent, each for 24 hours. Pitching, striking and collection sit inside that price. Transport? That goes on top, priced on the distance from our yard on Waiyaki Way, Uthiru, and 50% of the quote holds the date. Two plain tents for a 50-guest lunch come to KSh 10,000; two draped ones come to KSh 18,000. Put dressed rectangle tables under each and the meal is seated.

Other tents on the same square

The 17 × 17 ft footprint comes in two more shapes. The 17x17 canopy keeps a flat roof over open sides, and the pergola tent is the third shape on that square. Choose the high-peak when you want a roof that rises to a point; the plain high peak tent page covers the tent itself in detail, and every other size sits on our tents for hire page.

Before the crew arrives

Pick a patch of level ground a little bigger than 5 × 5 m, with no low branches or overhead lines above it. We anchor into the ground, so point out water pipes, cables or septic lines under the lawn first. Once it stands, nobody shifts a pole or loosens a rope. Call us instead, and we send someone out. The roof keeps off an ordinary Nairobi downpour, but in a storm, safety comes before the layout.

Sources: Liri (tent maker), pagoda tent specification, read 2026-10-24; Gala Tent (UK marquee and gazebo maker), marquee capacity guide, read 2026-10-24; Events and Party Rentals (Nairobi hire company), tents for hire listing, read 2026-10-24.