a couple or three
A couple or three is like saying you're not sure how many people came, but you're definitely not going to admit it was a lot.
My friend said, 'Only a couple or three people came to the bonfire,' and I saw 10 people burning my trash.
My mom said, 'A couple or three kids came over for pizza,' and now my kitchen is covered in cheese and chaos.
My dad said, 'A couple or three people showed up to the funeral,' and there were 50 people and 2 pizzas.